News & Stories

Sydney. Going niche and exclusive is the new mantra of luxury travel. Helen Logas, founder of "Luxperience", a Sydney-based experiential luxury travel fair, is certain about that. As her second season of the "Luxperience" ended on a positive note, she hints there is much more in the pipeline. The fair promises exclusivity to both buyers and exhibitors. Exhibitors are defined by the quality of their offering, and the organizers add value by arranging travel pop-ups around the world. Hoihnu Hauzel met Helen Logas in Sydney to talk about the future of luxury B2B travel events.

Sydney. Luxury may mean different things to different people, but in essence, it is now veering towards what's now popularly called an "experiential travel". Either soul-searching travellers find instant nirvana in the rhythmic silence of a nature reserve, or they are keen on learning new things about their holiday environment. Today's luxury guests are looking for experiences beyond five-star: for a completely different thrill, for a rare experience, for enjoying inhabitants' customs and daily live. "Luxperience", a luxury and experiential travel fair held in Sydney last month, talked and discussed veered around the evolving luxury travel market. It is being redefined like never before.

Paris. Julie Grégoire, Senior Vice President Operations MGallery Europe wants to grow the brand to more than 100 hotels soon. The development plans and contracts of Accor's lifestyle brand with the M for 'Memorable hotels' in its name.

London/Munich. Great Britain's biggest budget hotel chain has set its sights on the German market: Premier Inn counts a total of 670 hotels, most of them located in Great Britain, the minority in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and India. In Britain, the group operates 53,000 rooms. CEO Mark Anderson told hospitalityInside.com at the Expo Real that the group intends to raise capacity in Great Britain alone by a further 50 percent. Behind Premier Inn is the listed and powerful brewery, restaurant and public house group Whitbread. The hotel subsidiary also has an excellent credit rating, and so Mark Anderson's most important statement sounds like a field march: "We're buying!" Premier Inn will buy not only the land, but will also develop and operate the hotels itself. The group will stay away from franchising. Accor, B&B and Motel One are watching closely.

Hamburg/Munich. Exactly one year ago, Munich Hotel Partners started as a new hotel investment and hotel management platform; now, the young business has signed its first notable deal in Hamburg.

Vienna/Munich. The new hotel brand Ruby Hotels, to become public in the context of year's Expo Real in Munich, wishes to establish a new category on the market: "lean luxury". For its Munich-based creator, Michael Struck, it is the next - sustainable - level of "design budget": centrally located hotels with streamlined cost structures but luxurious rooms. The first hotel is set to open in March 2014 in Vienna, in the same building at the renowned Sofiensaele in the 3rd district. As co-founder, Michael Struck created elements of the concept of Kameha Hotels and recently pushed forward the high-tech and high-touch developments as a member of the board of directors of Dormero Hotels. He designed the Ruby concept not only from a hotelier's perspective, but also through the lens of a real estate expert and as the next evolutionary step up from budget. From today, the concept also has the endorsement of Design Hotels. An exciting new concept.

Barcelona. Hotusa Hotels strengthens its position in the independent hotel sector. According to an annual ranking of consortia representing independent hotels, the Spanish group now is the leader of this segment by the number of hotel rooms. Experts predict an important development of consortia in the coming years.

Lausanne. Over the past few years, some hotel chain executives have expressed the wish that frequent guest programmes would simply disappear. Meanwhile hotel marketers extol the virtues of the programmes for their value as CRM tools. In any case, any major chain seeking to eliminate its loyalty scheme would find itself at a significant competitive disadvantage. This is because FGP are heavily used by frequent business travellers, the core customer base of most hotel chains. Looking at the big chains' rewards programmes, most groups silently tightened the conditions of their loyalty schemes throughout the last years or in 2013. Since business has recovered to a large extent from the difficult crisis period after Lehman, hotel chains feel less obliged to offer inducements to their 'loyal' guests. The new facts and figures.

Frankfurt. Over the course of the second half-year 2013, Ritz-Carlton will celebrate openings for a total of six new projects. By 2016, the luxury hotel group will have raised the number of its hotels from 80 at present to 100 worldwide. The brand is to continue to grow in major cities as well as in upcoming tourist destinations and tap into new markets. In Europe though, not a single new hotel is in sight despite the chain's positive assessment of the market. Susanne Stauss met Sandeep Walia, Market Vice President Europe for Ritz-Carlton.

Paris. With 128 hotels, France is Choice Hotels' largest franchise unit in Europe. But the franchisor will not reach its growth targets there this year. Frame conditions have become worse, in particular for the single hotelier. Isabelle Rochelandet, Vice President Europe for Choice Hotels International, analyses the situation in France and other European markets, multi-channel distribution, tools to have and use in order to survive, and competition.