News & Stories

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.

Singapore/Berlin. They are not ready to leave the accommodation service sector to Airbnb entirely yet: 9flats, the third largest provider among the Sharing Economy platforms up to now, purchased its competitor Wimdu – the number 2 so far. This way, Europe's largest portal with nearly 500,000 listed properties has been created. Roman Bach, Managing Director at 9flats, explains.

Frankfurt. Invisible for the guest, but certainly visible for the insider, a long-standing name is now set to disappear in the German hotel industry: Steigenberger Hotel Group will now become Deutsche Hospitality.

Paris. The French group is now hunting on hostel territory. AccorHotels announced the birth of its new brand JO&JOE this week. Dedicated to Millennials, it involves venues designed and equipped for them. A perfect marketing wrapping covering the plain message that AccorHotels now goes low budget – opening up another category in its brand pattern.

Goslar. "Families, who nurse their relatives at home, should also be able to go hiking and leave their patients in the care of the hotel during that time." This is part of the philosophy of the young operating group "carehotels" from Goslar. "The subject itself is complex and very detailed," as Managing Director Karina-Anna Doerschel has experienced since the project started three years ago. The first project, which is currently under construction, has been delayed; however, a second project has already been signed. Her idea is a balancing act between hotel services and nursing care services. But Doerschel has identified a promising niche.

Valetta/Malta. IBB Hotels has properties in Spain, Poland and Germany and is currently on course for expansion. The IBB Hotel in Ingelheim has just celebrated the completion of the building shell. The hotel is set to open in 2017. Further B and C destinations in Germany as well as A cities in Poland are on the cards. By 2020/21, the investor Sven von der Heyden and CEO Vladimir Saal hope to have more than doubled the number of IBB hotels to 20. At present, there are nine hotels in operation. The next three are set to open in 2017.