News & Stories

Munich. Trade fairs affect the hotel industry in a special way. Fairs increase the hotel-occupancy rates. Among the German trade fair cities Duesseldorf benefits most, according to a brand-new study also pleading for expo sites in the smaller cities - seen from an economic perspective. Smaller cities benefit most from additional jobs.

Singapore. At the opening of the 2009 ITB Asia in Singapore this Wednesday, Asia's travel industry is optimistically showing that the lowest point of the global recession has been passed and that the tourism industry can expect positive growth figures in 2010.

Munich. As generally expected, this year’s Expo Real, the 12th International Commercial Property Exposition, showed a decline in attendance of around 15% to 21,000 visitors from 73 countries. In addition to the visitors, the exhibiting companies brought 14,750 representatives to the trade fair. Expo Real 2009 thus hosted over 35,000 participants.

Hanover. The new summer catalogues for 2010 which have been on the market since yesterday are also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Robinson Clubs. Following the motto "time for emotions", the anniversary's slogan confidentially says: "I love Robinson". Here is some news on this matter.

Frankfurt. An online survey among the visitors of the sixth "Business Travel Show", which took place from September 30 to October 1, 2009, in Duesseldorf, turned up interesting results about what business travellers really want. The main desire is that hotels offer good service. The trade fair itself focused mainly on the issue of saving money.

Moscow. In terms of hotel development in Europe, Russia is king, according to the June 2009 Smith Travel Research Global Construction Pipeline Report. Moscow has the largest number of rooms in the continent's total active pipeline: 5,127 of the total 94,695, which includes projects from the planning stages to those under construction. Russia also is one of the countries seeing the most development, said STR vice president of content management Duane Vinson. "I don't think the global recession has impacted Russia as much as its own internal issues have, so we've continued to see a lot of development in that country," Vinson said in a statement. Nevertheless, new properties are reset in new contexts, one group has initiated bankruptcy procedure for tax reasons but also new groups come up. The Ukraine belongs to the prospering marktes and big plans are announced. But about 85% of the announced projects will not be realized, experts say.

Palma de Mallorca. The Spanish RIU Hotels chain wants to expand more strongly in Turkey. To achieve this goal, RIU has formed a long-term strategic alliance with a local hotel group. Yesterday, RIU also announced its first city hotel for 2010.

Side. TUI managers shine with pride when they talk of the new Sensimar brand. Last weekend, Sensimar was officially "born" - with the opening of the Sensimar Side Resort & Spa in Side in Turkey. In total, three Sensimar hotels are in operation with the hotel in Side as the flagship. With this "special, emotional product", hotel makers of the German travel giant appeal, as they put it, to the "best of the best of TUI's customers": TUI's affluent older clientele who only travel in pairs and prefer to remain among their own - among other Germans. TUI's strategy concentrates on exactly that - on the typically German. Whether the company will be able to deliver the traditionally high German quality standards remains unclear. After all, TUI wants nothing to do with operations. Sensimar is built on a franchise model and remains silent in the discussion as to quality standards.

Bonn. The Wirtschaftsfoerderung of Bonn will issue the 2009 annual economic report at the commercial real estate trade fair of Expo Real in Munich in early October. The report contains detailed figures about the city and its potential for tourism. Here are some facts at a glance, also about the hotel industry. In addition, the Wirtschaftsfoerderung commissioned a "hotel demand analysis for Bonn". Regardless of this, Bonn's most recent showpiece, the World Conference Center is hitting the headlines these days. According to media reports, Bonn's public prosecution is investigating, among other things, a case of suspected fraud and bribery in connection with the construction of the WCCB. Investigations are focussed on the Korean developer SMI Hyundai, the general contractor, and the lawyer who represented the city during the search for an investor. However, the construction of the conference centre is not affected by this.

Bonn. Since 2007, Bonn's object of prestige has been growing in the city's former government quarter: the World Conference Center Bonn, creating headlines in these days. And in the middle of it, the tower of the Ameron World Conference Hotel reaches up like a landmark. A good many hoteliers might envy the Althoff Hotel Collection for this location. For Thomas Althoff, the hotel is the biggest of his collection and poses a new challenge for him. Since his decision to take on operations of the hotel, he has unexpectedly got some competition, amongst others from the Grand Kameha Bonn, which will open up in mid-November. The former federal capital is considered a hotel location with great potential.