News & Stories

Wiesbaden/Cork. Rich Indians are increasingly celebrating their ostentatious weddings in Europe. Thanks to Bollywood, Switzerland is benefiting most from this trend. But Vienna's imperial backdrop is also increasingly attracting status-conscious romantics from the Far East, who are prepared to spend millions for perfection in kitsch. An Indian wedding is comprised of two separate celebrations, 1,000 guests are not unusual and celebrations can last for days. This can often mean that several hotels are booked out simultaneously for one week at a time. A young wedding portal based in Ireland is now organising the boom online: Similar to an OTA, it brings together hotels and bridal couples for the most beautiful day of their lives – and organises everything for the event, Facebook services included.

Nuremberg. Germany retakes the top ranking in the latest Anholt-GfK "Nation Brands Index" study. The result is based on six criteria, in tourism Germany is – not yet – among the best countries.

Madrid/Beijing. Chinese giant HNA faces liquidity issues. Actual owner of a quarter of Hilton Worldwide Holdings and majority shareholder of NH Hotels, the firm is selling a piece of its Spanish assets. Analysts predict and even recommend selling it all out.

London/Berlin. Of course, there was no reaction towards hospitalityInside.com from Meininger Hotels in Berlin and its parent company, Holidaybreak, in London with respect to the accusations issued by German media saying that both companies had hidden millions of euros from the tax authorities. The hostel group is part of a global scandal uncovered by the so-called "Paradise Papers".

Riyadh. Billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed has been arrested in Saudi Arabia over allegations of corruption and illegal activity. Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Company holds shares in Citigroup, Twitter, Apple, Four Seasons, AccorHotels, Moevenpick, Rotana, etc.…His arrest led to an 11% drop of KHC value at the stock exchange and over the weekend, Alwaleed lost 2 billion dollars.

Munich. It is an unusual joint venture: Ruby Hotels partners with an advertising agency group in the field of co-working spaces. A lifestyle hotel teams up with a European-wide agency. The first joint project will be developed in Hamburg. With this approach, Ruby's CEO Michael Struck sees a way to develop attractive locations with larger and more diversified land utilization. Investors have already identified co-working spaces as a high-yield segment – and as a bridge between hotel, office, living and trade. Today, JLL published an up-to-date study about co-working spaces with Hamburg as an exemplary market.

London/Paris. Whether luxury or budget, hotel groups are trying to reach their guests via all channels – especially social media – with emotional videos, pictures and stories. Belmond Hotels make use of nostalgia, B&B Hotels of its mascot. Romantik Hotels, as consortium of privately managed upscale hotels, has initiated such an emotion-led campaign throughout Europe for the first time.

Brussels. Alongside Terror and Migration, Tourism is the third key subject on which the European Parliament plans to focus. Euro billions are to used to create five million additional jobs. On the "World Tourism Day" on 27 September 2017, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, invited tourism professionals, lobbyists and the media to a "high-level conference" at the EU Parliament. It sounded as if the EU plans to flood tourism with money.

Valencia. Europe is a complex and uncertain marketplace but is the best region to develop a franchise model. Like many other hotel chains, Choice Hotels International is betting full force on Europe and, to make a difference, is investing millions of dollars in developing innovative tools and personalized services. Could all that accelerate the growth of its footprint and its brand awareness in Europe? Nothing is certain, but it might well keep the independent hoteliers' attention riveted on the brand. In-house news from the franchisor's European Convention in Valencia, including new innovative technology tools.

Valencia. In Valencia, Spain earlier this month, Patrick Pacious made his debut in Europe as the new President and CEO of Choice Hotels International replacing Steve Joyce. During the group's second European Convention, the former COO shared his vision on stage for Choice in the region and described the group's new tool box to enhance hoteliers' experience with a certain enthusiasm. Among others, Choice is shifting away from tertiary markets and smaller hotels to primary and secondary markets with larger hotels. In terms of technology, the group has already figured out how to use chatbots to book a room through its CRS.