News & Stories

Bethesda. For the first earnings call since Marriott and Starwood merged, Arne Sorenson, CEO of the new Marriott International shared his top priorities which include: reach out to associates to knit the company together culturally; seize, top line synergies as soon as possible; property cost efficiencies and save 250 million dollars in general and administrative expenses.

Berlin. Technological changes are breathtaking. As a result, "time" will be the dominant factor in human activity in 2030, Prof Peter Wippermann says. Running the Wippermann Trend Research institute in Hamburg, this was his central message at the workshop "Reisen 4.0" in Hamburg a few weeks ago. Technological "media" like the smartphone, augmented reality and self-learning robots are gradually changing our lives - and self-driving cars are changing mobility. Uber is already experimenting with self-driving vehicles: Its transport service defines itself as part of the sharing economy, but: It's not the service that's the objective, but rather control of the crowd through the car. A look at beyond the hotel.

Paris. AccorHotels continues to purchase lifestyle knowhow: the French hotel and investment group purchased 30 percent of the German 25hours Hotels. The respective agreement was signed by AccorHotels' CEO Sébastien Bazin und 25hours' CEO Christoph Hoffmann this afternoon at the hotel chain's headquarters in Paris. For this first step in the new "strategic partnership", as they call it, the creative minds from Hamburg receive 34.7 million euros.

The negotiations started more than one year ago after Christoph Hoffmann personally showed Accor's leader the 25hours Bikini Berlin. Taken by the unusual and individual concept, the negotiations started... "We will definitely not standardise the creativity of 25hours," emphasised Gaurav Bhushan, Global Chief Development at AccorHotels, right at the beginning of the press conference in Paris. The group was looking for another brand instead classed above the Mama Shelter group, which was just purchased in October 2014, and which is able to form a bridge between lifestyle to luxury concerning the price-performance ratio.

Currently, 25hours operates seven hotels and has five additional hotels in the pipeline. The expected turnover is at 67 million euros in 2016. "We are very profitable," said Hoffmann, referring to the group-wide average occupancy of 83 percent and a net net ADR of 130 to 135 euros.

"We will carry the 25hours brand around the world," assured Gaurav Bhushan, "and we will purchase additional shares of this company in the next five years." It was the easier access to expansion opportunities outside the German-speaking countries, which allowed the associates Christoph Hoffmann, Kai Hollmann, and Stephan Gerhard to undertake this step.

The entire business remains in the hands of Hoffmann and his team. "They will keep everything under control," said Bhushan. However, there are no concrete figures available about how many 25hours will exist in future; they playfully talked about 50 or 75 hotels at the press conference... At any rate, 25hours Hotels plans to grow by management or "manchise" agreements – at the side of AccorHotels.

"For us, the question arose, how much further we could go with our current resources," explained Christoph Hoffmann to hospitalityInside.com. "We believe that AccorHotels will even strengthen our own culture. ... There is no rivalry between their and our brands; our small brand fits well into the large chain... And as long as AccorHotels does not change its concept, we will be an asset for the corporation."

Laurent Picheral, CEO Central & Eastern Europe and Head of Germany at AccorHotels: "25hours is a think tank of the 21st century... and the 25hours concept is an ideal addition to our brands and for our positioning concerning new customer groups in the lifestyle segment."

Today, the German cartel office received the participation for approval. This is only a formal matter and should be approved within four weeks' time.

More details will follow in our issue on Friday. / Maria Puetz-Willems

Warstein. The British private equity company Terra Firma has acquired 12 of the 14 "locations" of the German group Welcome Hotels. The owner, the Haus Cramer Group, behind which is Warsteiner Brewery, has long been on the lookout for a buyer.

Paris. French hospitality professionals met earlier this month with unions to crunch the performance numbers of 2016, which are alarming. The countryside is suffering most, but Paris is in fact facing thousands more new rooms. From 2017, however, the French capital can rely on a 23-million-euro "rebound" plan.

Madrid. The Vallet family, owners of Catalonia Hoteles & Resorts, invest 20 million euros in Wanup, a loyalty program for independent hotels and chains. Wanup is exclusively focused on individual hotels and chains that don't have an own loyalty program.

Beijing. Last Monday, Hilton announced that Chinese conglomerate HNA was acquiring 25% of the hotel chain for 6.5 billion dollars. HNA, which intends to expand in both domestic and overseas markets recently agreed to buy Carlson Hotels and currently owns 29.5% of Spanish group NH Hotels. Nothing seems to be stopping Chinese investors from taking control of stakes in western iconic assets. At this pace, one might well ask if Marriott will last long as the largest hotel group in the world.

Munich. Global giants like the Chinese Plateno Group certainly have the necessary power for a rapid brand expansion. Yet the real innovation in terms of the conceptual approach for new brands continues to come mainly from medium-sized businesses. Three small young German budget groups - LetoMotel, Cocoon/Buddy and MQ Real Estate - describe their concepts and state their figures at the Expo Real hotel conference in Munich, whilst Plateno surprised with a new soft brand for hotels looking to gain a foothold in China.

Madrid. Noise drives guests crazy: 13% of them refrain from coming back to such a hotel. Two Spanish companies plan to create a new brand for hotels with acoustic comfort.

Munich. Pipeline, development, expansion: for the heads of the big international hotel chains, their company's size still plays an enormous role. But how much better is big? And does rapid expansion not bear certain risks? And what part do renowned brands play in this? A panel at Expo Real's "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" conference touched on this topic two weeks ago.