News & Stories

Singapore. Not even two months after the merger of Airbnb rivals 9Flats and Wimdu, the Danish holiday home provider Novasol seeks to acquire Wimdu. For Novasol owner Wyndham, this could make sense.

Paris. Foreign visitors are avoiding France. A group of luxury operators and brands recently joined forces to create extraordinary experiences for a happy few. The goal? Convince them that Paris is still the city of lights and magic and let them spread the word.

Paris. AccorHotels is taking a 5% stake in one of Asia’s leading luxury hotel groups, Banyan Tree. This could put AccorHotels in an interesting situation, allowing the group to secure a stronger position in two key markets: luxury and Asia. And help Banyan Tree to overcome its financial struggles.

Lausanne. Over a two-year period, Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne had been dealing with current global developments and their impact on the hotel industry. Now the "Lausanne Report" with its future scenarios is online.

Bethesda. Two months after the official completion of the merger with Starwood Hotels, Marriott is granting more insight into its brand strategy. In future, all brands will be distinguished by "classic" and "distinctive", which was strongly influenced by customer feedback.

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.