News & Stories

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.

Vienna/Berlin. Art at the hotel is a topic since there are jobless artists who are in search of a harbourage. Today, artists are happily welcomed as guests - if they check in and pay. A few hotels and hoteliers have given their heart to artists and are also trying to promote this. Then the stay is sometimes free in exchange for art in the form of painting, photos, music or a literary work. These actions hardly generate revenue, but rather the image is polished and in the best case, provide for a lasting advertising value. Examples from all over the world.

Munich. His two Cocoon hotels are mainly known among the people living in Munich and the guests who provide these young, peppy budget hotels with an average occupancy of more than 90 percent. The hotels have the best locations near Stachus and Sendlinger Tor. The third Cocoon in Munich will be located even closer to the Central Station. The man behind these hotels: Johannes Eckelmann, career changer. Three weeks ago during an interview with hospitalityInside.com, he had another surprise in store: Buddy Hotel. At Sonnenstrasse in Munich, within eyeshot of the luxury hotel Koenigshof, a stylish hotel with rooms that have only 9 sqm will open in October. Introductory price: 66 euros per night. Eckelmann wants to expand with this concept as well. For the first time, he opened the door to the showroom for us. How to obtain maximum comfort for the night in a mini room. And the market is still in motion: at the end of April, Rilano Hotels presented their "room of the future" – on 15 to 18 sqm and with a bathroom in cylindrical shape.

Stuttgart. The newly established real estate operating company resident in Stuttgart, Primestar Hospitality, has big plans in Germany and Austria. The first agreements with international hotel brands are already signed.

Vienna. Many Austrian politicians do not want to position themselves clearly on the subject of refugees; they are concerned about their votes in the next election or about the country's loss of image as a tourist destination. However, the hotel industry acts differently: it has already started to organise official relief operations.

Doha/Dubai. In times in which the future host nation of the Football World Cup, Qatar, is making lots of headlines, the national hotel company Katara Hospitality is pushing forward quietly and consistently with its brand and expansion drive. And it is achieving its expansion targets far in advance of its own forecasts. Maria Puetz-Willems met Chief Executive Officer Hamad Al Mulla in Dubai and received news, amongst other things, on the newly founded management company. Europe's hotel real estate also remains in the sights of Katara Hospitality as owner - though not at excessive prices. With respect to the successfully launched Peninsula Paris, in which Katara owns a majority stake, the CEO said that he could see scope for improvement.