News & Stories

Hong Kong/Mumbai. Two of Asia’s luxury hotel groups, Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and Mumbai-based Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, have formed a strategic alliance to broaden their reach.

Wiesbaden. The flood of brands is neverending. Year after year, hotel chains invent new ones, but tour operators have been following suit recently. And: the number of young, more innovative individual hoteliers creating their own brand is growing as well. They simply want to stand out from the crowd – in order to be able to maybe sell both brand and concept later on should they be lucky, as prizeotel and 25hours have been. Getting that far requires a lot of dedication, endless engagement and quite some money. Does building up an own brand really pay off? Why do hoteliers cling to their brand? Susanne Stauss asked Ruby and Rilano Hotels, Vienna House, Gambino Hotels, which are currently being developed and the young resort brand Arobrea – all German and Austrian companies. Germans are known for clinging.

Augsburg. The deal is unique in the history of the hotel industry: A standardised global chains acquires a group of eccentric creatives which have up to now completely refused to be pigeon-holed and who are committed to not letting this happen in future either. How do AccorHotels and 25hours fit together? Speculation abounds here. Maria Puetz-Willems asked two of the three partners: Christoph Hoffmann and Prof Stephan Gerhard. They report how the deal came about and what exactly has been agreed. One core statement from this long and relaxed interview already provides an indication: "AccorHotels has stated that it wants to become a lifestyle group. In order to get their lifestyle, they will pamper us. We are already a lifestyle group."

Salzburg. Pokémon GO is the first example of virtual reality for the masses. It shows clearly that virtual reality is an empathy engine. Tourism should utilise this fact. After all, the industry sells emotions. There have been first attempts. The lines between virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality are already blurred, fuelled by an enormous momentum in this world. In the tourism environment, the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences has dealt with this subject matter intensively. Their findings: The consumers are increasingly using VR and already putting pressure on the industry today... Fred Fettner on an excursion into another world.

Rome. Boscolo Hotels are moving towards Northwood. Last October, the American financial and real estate giant obtained the exclusive right to discuss the deal with the Padua-based company. Northwood has thus beaten the competition of various funds.

Amsterdam. With an "hotelier" soon to take over the White House and control the Congress, Donald Trump's fellow professionals should be ecstatic knowing that they have an ear on Capitol Hill…but they are not. A handful of them actually took position after the election, the rest is probably thinking: "If your business isn't politics, keep politics out of your business." Nevertheless, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson sent a public letter to the President-elect.

London. So far, 2016 has been a solid year for the European hotel industry, despite terror attacks, which changed the prognostic symptoms especially in metropolises. Nevertheless, the entire picture has looked positive so far. After the Brexit and in the light of Trump's election, many figures and questions arose in a new – and even more uncertain – light last Wednesday in London. The 28th "European Hotel Investment Conference" by Deloitte, which took place the day after of the US election, felt the current pulse of the industry.

London. The Brexit is putting the British pound under pressure thus influencing the travel behaviour of the British people in other destinations. The "World Travel Market" described initial signals and figures.

Paris. With its investment in 25hours Hotels this week, AccorHotels has added another piece to its lifestyle jigsaw. On the fringes of the announcement of this deal, AccorHotels CEO Sébastien Bazin told hospitalityInside.com what the next steps in the company's restructuring would be.

London. "The Americans voted for a hotelier as president," Nick von Marken, Global Head Hospitality at Deloitte, joked as he opened the 28th "European Hotel Investment Conference" in London this Wednesday. Laughter rippled through the 400 people gathered at the Dorchester Hotel – British humour at 9 o'clock in the morning soothed the shock, dismay and incredulity of the election result, if only for a short while. In the breaks and in a number of talk rounds, the first spontaneous responses after Trump's election win were to be heard.