News & Stories
Frankfurt am Main. "The cooperation with our parent company, New World Hospitality in Hong Kong is becoming increasingly closer ", says Peter Voit, Managing Director of pentahotels with headquarters in Frankfurt. The lifestyle hotel subsidiary has passed its baptism of fire in Europe and is now becoming tailor-made to Asian conditions – and indeed without star architect, Matteo Thun. The Asian´s development pipeline aims at the 15 pentahotels of today to 80 worldwide in 2020. An ambitious goal. However, they wish to grow not only through management contracts, but also through real estate and takeovers.
Genf. Ein einzelner Raubüberfall auf einen Chinesen in Genf hat eine Ketten-Reakton ausgelöst. Jetzt meiden chinesische Reiseveranstalter die Destination. Genf Tourismus rechnet mit Einbussen von etlichen tausend Übernachtungen. Auslöser für diese Ketten-Reaktion war die Tatsache, dass der Betroffene der Chef von Google China war und den Vorfall natürlich ins Netz hob. Im Hintergrund ist damit einmal mehr eine Diskussion um die Sicherheit von Touristen und um die Auswirkungen von Kleinkriminalität entbrannt.
Bern. The strong Franc, sinking overnight figures, second home ban, new minimum wage discussions, dramatic staffing bottlenecks, renovation delays and tenacious, few innovative hoteliers … The Swiss hotel industry can not escape the negative news any more. The industry is partially in a stranglehold of external developments on which it has no influence itself. Even more dramatic is the appeal of Guglielmo Brentel, the President of the industry association, hotelleriesuisse, to his colleagues to deal with the home-made problems. "We waste ourselves", he criticises, for example, the incorrect dispersion of marketing money. "The hoteliers must sell experiences and operate destinations like a company", he sends a reminder: "We must do our job perfectly, otherwise we have no chance." And the association defends itself - in the name of the industry: For the second time in history, hotelleriesuisse took shares again in the national reservation platform this past Tuesday. Maria Puetz-Willems spoke with Guglielmo Brentel about the current challenges through policy and economics and the reactions of the industry association.
Frankfurt/M. Without InterCity Hotels, maybe there would be no Steigenberger Hotels either. The solid 3-star subsidiary is the rough diamond among the jewels of the luxury-oriented hotel company in Frankfurt. "Without the Steigenberger family, there would be no InterCity," says Joachim Marusczyk as he praises the reliable backbone of the past. The 63-year old is not only Managing Director but also the founding Managing Director of InterCity Hotels. A rare title today, and he is looking forward to the official celebration at the end of September all the more, when he will be able to toast to the 25-year existence of "his" hotels. It was his idea to establish sophisticated, strategically oriented "station hotels" – this idea was born in a bar in the middle of the eighties. Joachim Marusczyk on the development of the formerly dull "Bundesbahn-Hotels" to lifestyle-oriented midscale products, and on the status of InterCity Hotels today.
Vienna. The future advertising line of the Austrian National Tourist Board focuses on the imagery from the eyes of the guests and their need for relaxation. And drops its colour along with it.
Vienna. A career from cook and waiter apprentice to one of the bed-richest city hoteliers in Austria. The self-made hotelier, Georg Imlauer, has invested 60 million Euro in his 900 beds since 1985. The 50-year-old also sees his native Salzburg home as a tougher market than Vienna where he officially opened his latest 10 million Euro investment in recent days. Imlauer belongs to the special hoteliers who come in as the first generation and without academic background to build up a stable bed size.
Munich. For some time now, serviced apartments have been identified as promising niche products by numerous investors and project developers. International chains like Ascott/Citadines, Accor/Adagio, Frasers or Adina/Medina are pushing their global expansions. However, the largest German provider, Derag Livinghotels from Munich, is growing only slowly. Since its start in 1982, Derag's portfolio today only comprises 14 aparthotels with about 2,600 rooms at locations like Berlin, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna; three more hotels in Munich, Duesseldorf and Frankfurt are currently planned. Managing partner Professor Dr. Max M. Schlereth continues to place his bets on a manageable expansion on the well-established 70:30 mixture of serviced apartments and hotel rooms in a building. Two years ago, he founded The Living Hotels as well, the first booking platform focussed on serviced apartments. A background interview on the special segment, marketing and economic expectations.
Paris. After an increase of VAT passed by Sarkozy’s team, French hoteliers face school calendar changes and winter holidays cut off from Hollande’s government. Freshly elected President of France on May the 6th, François Hollande and his government didn’t waste a minute bringing the change they promised during the campaign.
Zurich. Twelve independent hotels with the "Schweizerhof" name have united in Switzerland in a new marketing consortium that will initially concentrate on an online platform. A further expansion of the activities is planned.
Paris. While pulling out from economic lodging in North America selling Motel 6 and Studio 6 to Blackstone, Accor strengthens its position in Australia and New Zealand by investing in Mirvac Group. Following the sale of the two US brands, Accor is going to lose almost 1,102 hotels and 107,000 rooms. According to MKG Hospitality Consulting Paris, the fifth largest hotel group in the world with 531,714 rooms as of 1 January 2012 for over 4,400 hotels in the world, will then slide back a notch behind Choice Hotels International.