News & Stories

Palma de Mallorca. Four weeks after the attack of IS terrorists on the Tunisian RIU Hotel Imperial Marhaba, the Spanish hotel chain has registered a decrease in bookings in all its Tunisian hotels, but not in other countries. The hotel chain continues to follow its expansions plans.

Paris/London. The sale of B&B Hotels has been under discussion since March, 2015, as has now been publicised in a French newspaper. And alongside this in England, the Travelodge budget chain is up for sale – or it will enter the stock exchange.

Rome. A new hospitality player has just entered the Italian market. And it has been done with a business concept that is reminiscent of traditional models: the player is more of an asset management company than hospitality operator. Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has recently acquired the 5-star luxury Grand Hotel Palace in Rome from Boscolo Hotels: the transaction was carried out as part of the debt restructuring process of the Paduan company, previous owner and operator of the Roman asset. M&C intends to extend its Italian footprint very soon. "We aim at developing other primary locations such as Venice and Milan, where we are in advanced negotiations about some interesting assets at present,” reveals Fabrizio Gaggio, Italy CEO and Vice President Global Asset Management of M&C.

Munich. On average, brand hotels in Germany achieve 15 percent higher room prices than the individual hotels even though they still dominate the market. But, this could soon change. The last bastion of superiority for the individual hotels in terms of price, the 3 Star segment, is swaying.

Amsterdam/Brussels. Amsterdam has one of the highest supply pipelines in the hospitality industry within Europe. Hundreds of rooms are added to the inventory every year. In the luxury segment, competition is definitely on. Fancy boutique hotel concepts are pushing the 4-star segment. Among all these, established chains have to keep pace with this dynamic development. Right now, the Spanish NH Hotel Group is investing over 227 million euros in order to keep running upfront across the core markets. Maarten Markus, NH Hotel Group's Managing Director for Benelux, France, UK, USA, and Africa explains the strategy in his area and talks about the fierce competition in Amsterdam where several NH hotels are partially closed for renovation at the moment. NH Collection is the up-and-coming brand. Also in Central Europe, NH is repositioning itself in the background: Managing Director Christian Koerfgen about similar measures and differences.

Amsterdam. Two weeks ago, Maarten Markus, Managing Director for NH Hotel in Benelux, invited his best event partners to the Netherlands for them to witness the last innovation service available at NH: the 3D holographic telepresence technology. In a dark ball room, the audience was quickly amazed by the 3D full-sized objects floating in the air over the stage such as the inside details of a heart and an eye, all the small details of a new car engine, a globe spinning by itself and even a top model walking the runway. Event specialists told hospitalityInside.com what they think about it.

Nuremberg. The busy pace of life is a popular complaint for many people. But the majority of people internationally – 58 percent – say they are completely or fairly satisfied with the amount of leisure time that they have.

London/Berlin. The London company, Secret Escapes, wants to turn over a billion Euro in four years and become active within all relevant markets worldwide. An ambitious goal considering that only four years have past since its foundation. To date, the hotel mediation portal has provided a total of 1.5 million overnight stays - of which, approx. 300,000 from the German market where the supplier has been operating since April, 2013. The commercial model: Secret Escapes offers the so-called "Flash Sales" in the luxury hotel and travel segment: So, the short term offers with significant discounts that are provided within a shopping club for a restricted period of time. A driver of the growth: JustBook. Secret Escapes had absorbed the last-minute App supplier the last year.

Wiesbaden. Customer loyalty has never been as important for hotel chains as today. Now, three chains have announced the revision of their loyalty programmes and are following various approaches. Wyndham is focussing on simplification, Meliá on three new modules, and Taj on a new online appearance and social commitment.

Munich. Own TV channels and film productions or Social Media campaigns – an increasing number of hotel chains want to connect with their guests through new formats and gain new customers. Instead of irritating their hotel guests with meddlesome commercials, they are presenting interesting content to them and all that involves travel and lifestyle. Starwood Hotels' "SPG TV" had already developed into a spontaneous, and also financial, success story years ago. Now the Marriott chain giant is following and wants to become the "the world's largest publisher of content in the travel and lifestyle areas". Since December, 2014, there has also been the global first, regional Social TV "Enjoy St. Moritz" in the Swiss, Nobel city of St. Moritz – sponsored by the Kulm Hotel St. Moritz and its sister hotel. Accor is also experimenting with Mercure.