News & Stories
Geneva. Reto Wittwer is braced for a comprehensive legal counterattack. After a charge of fraud, which surprised the former Kempinski Hotels CEO last week, he brought charges of his own on Wednesday against the sitting Kempinski CEO Alejandro Bernabé and Supervisory Board member Michael Selby. The charges are for false accusation, slander and defamation.
Amsterdam. Buying, not buying, bidding, withdrawing from the bidding, just looking…rumor has it in the dynamic world of M&A lately and not many companies are eager to comment. IHG and AccorHotels, which are allegedly trying to acquire Fairmont/Raffles/Swissôtel are hyper secretive. So are Hyatt and the Chinese trio Jin Jiang/HNA/CIC, which are supposedly bidding for Starwood's well-known brands portfolio. It is no secret that the environment has been tough for the lodging industry lately, as the strong US dollar weighs heavy on the hotel business across the globe. So who is buying whom? Are rumors only rumors or becoming facts? Rumors are getting louder. So let's take a closer look at the market.
Munich. Since this week, the Mandarin Oriental Munich has defined 5 stars anew in Germany – and namely with the word "Class". The freshly renovated hotel with the first, refined Japanese restaurant by celebrity chef, Nobu, in Germany, as well as within their own group, with its new elegance and concept also would succeed in London or Paris. In any event, it has now managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the European hotel hotspots. And it's demanding guests have always been looking to the lifestyle metropolis of Germany for big culinary "brands". The turnaround of a luxury hotel: Courtesy of sushi.
Berlin. Design Hotels is moving closer to Starwood: The consortium will receive its own microsite and its own access to the "Starwood Preferred Guests" loyalty programme.
Geneva/Bangkok. The story has real Hollywood style: it is nebulous and contradictory, with man-to-man friendship and rivalry, rise and fall. And a real motion picture plays a role in this story too, whose dramaturgy was drastically increased by Kempinski Hotels this week. On Monday, November 2, 2015, the luxury hotel group filed a complaint against its former CEO Reto Wittwer at the chief public prosecutor's office in Geneva: on grounds of suspected fraud. The accusations are severe. However, the timing was not a coincidence: since November 1, the one-year confidentiality obligation imposed on Reto Wittwer one-sidedly, no longer exists. After this public affront, Wittwer is no longer remaining silent: "I will take all possible legal action against these allegations!" he explained to hospitalityInside.com yesterday. And described his version of his Hollywood-style exit one year ago.
Bellevue/Austin. Expedia, Inc., and HomeAway, Inc., announced on Wednesday that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Expedia has agreed to acquire HomeAway, including all of its brands. The OTA buys a leading provider for vacation rentals.
Duesseldorf. A year ago, there was lots of discussion surrounding the new "streamlined" brand of Lindner Hotels & Resorts. Now, the Duesseldorf-based hotel group has launched the new brand with five signed contracts and a revised, much clearer position. "me and all hotels" will be Lindner's Boutique brand, and will not include a reference to the name of the parent company. The hotel will have a different face in each city. "There is lots of room in Germany for individual Boutique hotels," Lindner CEO Andreas Kroekel said in an interview with hospitalityInside.com just a few days ago.
Salzburg. Not from an economic predicament, but rather on account of different perspectives within the family, the Austrian Koller family has sold its K+K Hotels to American investors. It is one of the few deals in Austria with international partners.
New York/Beijing. The rumor spreading for months now that Starwood has found a potential buyer has become more persistent. According to the "Wall Street Journal" and TV channel CNBC, not one but four contenders are bidding for the US hotel chain. And the Chinese government plays an important role in this.
Munich. The change has also taken hold of the hotel industry and in a tremendously fast tempo. Among other things, this has been made clear by the rapid brand development over the last decades. Yet now, it is a matter of keeping pace with the dynamic changes from the IT world. During Expo Real in Munich at the beginning of October, Dirk Bakker, Head of Hotels EMEA with the international consulting firm, Colliers International, summarised the current trends.