News & Stories
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.
Berlin/Pisa. Luxury travel is booming: high-price trips grew nearly twice as much as global travel did in general over the past years. Most luxury travelers come from the USA and China. Germany and France are the most popular luxury travel destinations in Europe.
Paris. Louvre Hotels Group invests in upscale and luxury properties by becoming the majority shareholder of the French Hôtels & Préférence Collection. The group adds 140 mostly charming hotels with 9,165 rooms to its international portfolio and secures itself a small market share in the high-end segment. Louvre will continue to buy wherever it finds opportunities. Saurabh Chawla, VP Development at Louvre Hotels Group, comments on this deal and future thoughts.
Paris/Syndney. While Chinese investments are said to be keeping the pace despite government restrictions, M&A is becoming a hot topic in the Asia Pacific region. This week, AccorHotels and Australian Mantra Group as well as Millenium & Copthorne Hotels made the headlines with multi-billion-dollar deals. Global consolidation continues.
Paris. AccorHotels announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement to acquire Gekko, a major player in the business travel hotel reservation segment valued 100 million euros. Also AccorHotels acquired a 50% stake in the share capital of Orient Express. And in Berlin, the private hotel Das Stue now belongs to the group's luxury hotel brands.
Chicago. Preferred Hotels & Resorts are growing by 30 to 40 hotels per year at the moment. Philipp Weghmann, Executive Vice President Europe, is very happy about that. This year, the global consortium is also growing through Preferred Residences: Up to 100 properties are to be added to the portfolio by the end of the year. In addition, the consortium distinguishes itself by its young but already internationally operating consulting subsidiary.