News & Stories
Munich/Vienna. The hospitality industry is furious. In Austria, higher VAT looms and the smoking ban has been resolved; in Germany, the sector is suffering under the weight of a new flood of bureaucracy following the introduction of minimum wage. But the industry is no longer putting up and shutting up. Both managers and staff have taken to the streets in protest, or have resigned.
Munich. The longing of travellers for the "authentic life" in their destination has evoked a new trend in recent times: Slum tourism. Slum tours in Johannesburg, Rio, Mumbai or other cities are becoming increasingly more popular. This trend is controversial, but can nevertheless be a cause for the positive. A supplier of slum tours in Mumbai, Reality Tours & Travel, was distinguished with an award during ITB 2015 for socially responsible tourism.
Berlin. The new sharing market has revolutionised market standards, so much is clear. The model used by Airbnb & Co works because providers satisfy client emotions in a targeted and uncomplicated way. Will the hotel industry be on the losing side? It looks like it, but it isn't, as a current study by the Berlin-based marketing consultancy DICON shows. The hotel industry and sharing economy contradict and supplement each other, Managing Director Robert Wissmath says. In the recent study, he looks for the second time at the sharing trend. In 2013, he looked at the new movement under the aspect of "social tourists". Now, he takes the subject further.
Worms. An empiric study by ITB Berlin and the University of Applied Sciences Worms has analysed the experiences of users of the private accommodation booking platforms and has come to the conclusion: Those who have used private accommodation once will remain with it and are lost as a hotel customer.
Florence. The UNA Hotels & Resorts affair is finally at its turning point. After a long waiting period, Fenice Holding decided to conduct exclusive negotiations with Unipol Gruppo Finanziario SpA in order to finalize a merger between the Florentine hospitality company UNA and Atahotels.
Berlin. A hot shower in 10 seconds?! Ten years ago, this was the quality promise with which the Chinese hotel group launched - today it counts 2,300 hotels in China. Its main brand is the budget brand 7DaysInn which was able to deliver on this quality promise. Now, Plateno plans its market entrance in Europe, specifically through the budget door. As the first Chinese chain, it plans to move into Europe directly through Germany. Up to now, Chinese chains have only ventured into Europe through the joint venture. Plateno's European development team currently forms up in Berlin. Maria Puetz-Willems met Roland Paar, Regional Vice President Europe for Plateno Hotels - and got a first lesson in Chinese expansion policy and strategy.
Berlin. The Spanish hotel group Meliá International plans speedy expansion of three of its eight brands. CEO Gabriel Escarrer sees the brands ME by Meliá, Innside and Sol as top sellers among millennials; in addition, he wants to satisfy their appetite for flexible all-round service through more F&B as well as new food concepts.
Berlin. Marriott reports great figures again, which is why the US chain has started to hold press conferences once again – even with the top management. This was true in Berlin and in Milan, two days later. CEO Arne Sorensen mentioned generally favourable purchasing opportunities regarding hotels and confirmed that he could imagine taking over small chains. Apart from that, Moxy remains Marriott's main driver.
Munich/Zurich. Recent years have shaken Samih Sawiris and his companies. But the Egyptian entrepreneur with headquarters in Switzerland and various projects in crisis-buffeted destinations remains with his long-term strategy. "One crisis would have been enough," he says looking back on the fallout from the Lehman bankruptcy in 2008, "but a second immediately in the aftermath?" Here he refers to the Egypt crisis which also hit the billion euro Orascom Hotel Development business. Meanwhile, he's streamlined certain projects and has brought third parties on board. At the same time, he strengthened distribution last year - with participations in the German tour operator FTI and the RT Group. With FTI, he aims to give a massive boost to hotel business - for the benefit of both sides. A very close partnership is in the making here. hospitalityInside.com met Samih Sawiris in February in Munich.
Frankfurt/M. Since last week, Steigenberger has its own lifestyle brand: Jaz. This way, the German-based group participates in the current wave of the international brand providers. However, the group did not create this brand but "lent" it from Travco Group Egypt for the expansion outside of Egypt via name license agreement. The travel and tourism group Travco is the business of the owner of Steigenberger, Hamed El Chiaty. The news just became public during talks behind the scenes between Steigenberger's CEO Puneet Chhatwal and Maria Puetz-Willems about the group's hotel strategy abroad.