News & Stories

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.

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.