News & Stories

Madrid. Halal tourism is growing worldwide: Tasneem Mahmood of CM Media, who organised the world's first Halal tourism conference in Spain in September, said that this tourism sector was worth €103 billion in 2013 representing around 13% of global travel expenditures; she expects this figure to reach €141 billion by 2020. Dinard Standard and Crescent Rating, a global consultancy in Halal tourism, believes that this segment will already generate a market of 192 billion USD in 2020. Spain is one of the European countries that could take advantage of these travellers with an average expenditure and stay above the rest of Europe. Europe's first Halal hotel is located in Spain as well as one of the first Halal tour operators in Europe.

Stockholm/Berlin. The Scandinavian investor Pandox AB has established its own hotel operating company, Pandox Operations AB, thereby allowing it to allocate future activities either to its operations as property owner or as hotel operator. The move goes hand in hand with the desire for more hotels, primarily in Germany.

Hanover/London. A difficult company construct was cleared on Tuesday resulting in the foundation of the largest travel group in the world: At two separate General Meetings in London and Hanover, the stockholders of the parent company TUI AG and those of the British subsidiary TUI Travel PLC voted for a merger of the two listed companies.

Paris. Demand for lifestyle hotels appears unstoppable. This week, Accor acquired a 35-percent stake in Mama Shelter.

Munich. Internet reservations are increasing and guests are more enlightened than ever. It is no wonder today that hotel owners are very critically questioning the costs for a connection to a uniformed brand from the hawker's tray of international chains. New strategies are being adjusted accordingly; moreover, they are additionally continuing to receive backing from banks for expansion. Nevertheless, consortia are increasingly resembling the chains and are scoring with lower costs.

Madrid. Barceló Hotels & Resorts is one of the most well-known Spanish hotel chains – at least inside Spain. Founded in Mallorca 83 years ago, the company has become a pioneer in the development of resorts, the first in the Caribbean and the US market. Today, the group is present in 17 countries and its growth seems unstoppable, even in the Spanish and European economic context. Their main expansion target: Italy. All hotels will undergo a transformation to achieve 4 and 5-star standards. Step by step, the group is silently adjusting its strategy for different markets and partnerships. Raúl González, CEO EMEA of the Group, about the company policy.

McLean/Phoenix. On Wednesday, Hilton Worldwide announced the start of its new lifestyle brand "Canopy by Hilton"; only a few days prior to this, Best Western USA presented "Vib" as its new lifestyle brand.

Munich. Sébastien Bazin acted resolutely at the Expo Real hotel conference: not for one second did Accor's CEO leave the audience in the dark about the new "asset heavy" strategy of Europe's largest hotel chain and that it left little leeway. Next to him was Wolfgang M. Neumann, CEO of The Rezidor Group. His group remains true to its "asset light" approach, for which he presented good arguments – both self-confidently and differentiating. Two CEOs embodying the ongoing contradictory debate across the industry. The audience was curious and eager.

Istanbul. "We'll attack the market a lot more aggressively using more capital in the future," announces Stephen P. Joyce, President and CEO of Choice Hotels International. With 6,300 hotels under its roof, the second largest franchisor in the world is willing to support its franchisees by issuing guarantees, but in addition, Choice is ready to use incentive capital regarding both new buildings and conversions. In some cases, the company is even willing to invest equity capital. "We want more deals," postulates Joyce towards hospitalityInside.com in Istanbul, where the group celebrated the opening of its first hotel last week, presenting new projects in Turkey at the same time. The unusual capital message is hitting the headlines right before upcoming Expo Real in Munich.

Innsbruck. Enthusiasm fluctuates regarding the Alpnet platform that was founded four years ago and aims at improving the marketing of the Alps. Nonetheless, there are initial thoughts about the future marketing of mountain regions on distant markets.