News & Stories

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Eastern Europe catches up

ITB 2007: Destination News

16.3.2007

Berlin. Every year, the world's largest tourism fair produces out a huge amount of destination news. hospitalityInside.com summarizes news from countries which are of influence in the European market.

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Well-known subjects reissued

10. Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin (IHIF) with 1,500 participants

16.3.2007

Berlin. India is becoming a more important market than China, the USA will suffer economically, Europe will recover. Private equity is developing into a financial promoter and the service industry has to remember its "human capital" more than ever. These are some of the quintessences of opening panels of the International Hotel Investment Forum, which attracted a record number of 1,500 participants to its 10th anniversary. The overall motto was "Where are we going from here?"

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Squeaky clean room for 19 euros

Focus India: A country is discovering budget hotels - Rates too low

9.3.2007

Delhi. India's hotel industry is booming, as the hotel market overview of last issue demonstrated. However, signs for expansion are not only observed in the top segments. It is still unclear though whether the planned budget hotels will be able to maintain their drastically increased property rates in the long term. Now, the government has decided to support the enormous demand: It is approaching families and encouraging them to convert their houses into B&B.

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The superlatives are tarnished

Focus India: Leela Palaces & Resorts expanding self-confidently but:

2.3.2007

Mumbai. The Indian hotel group Leela Palaces & Resorts is expanding its present hotel volume of four to nine hotels in India by 2009. It also plans to expand outside of India. However, management agreements have priority. Peter Leitgeb is very optimistic concerning the future. "In Chennai, we will tread all over them," says the German president of the Indian hotel group convincingly. Nevertheless, internal problems such as high fluctuation and slightly decreasing occupancy rates are a worry to him.

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Miserable infrastructure, enormous potential

Focus India: Perfect year for hotel industry - billions are being invested

2.3.2007

Delhi. This year, India is the partner country of the ITB, the world's biggest tourism fair, which starts next Wednesday in Berlin. For a good reason: The year 2006 could not have been better for the Indian hotel industry. The room rates have increased further, the occupancy remains high, although some people are not willing to pay the high rates any longer. In addition, investments of 4.53 billion USD dollars are expected to close the wide gap between supply and demand. - A research in the country, complemented by a new HVS market study about India and a survey about increasing salaries in Asia-Pacific.

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Amex business travel targets small firms

2.3.2007

Frankfurt/M. For the first time American Express has entered into a consortium agreement with another business travel company in an important market. In Germany, TUI business travel subsidiary First Business Travel, newly set up just a few months ago, is to become franchise partners with Amex and will primarily serve small and medium sized businesses.

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Still a lot of space in the cities and countryside

Remarks on the hotel situation in Egypt

16.2.2007

Cairo. The fierce competition mentioned by Hesham Radwan, General Manager of Sonesta Cairo Hotel & Casino, expresses itself in terms of figures and statistics: there are currently 1,179 hotels with 154,453 rooms all over the country; another 150,000 rooms are under construction. Although there are no restrictions regarding foreign investors, 97% of all hotel investments come from Egyptians, asserts Fathi Nour, Chairman of the Egyptian Hotel Association.

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Dolce to take another go

16.2.2007

Paris/Unterschleissheim. The conference specialist, Dolce International, sold its hotel in Chantilly near Paris. In March, a new 200-room hotel will be built in Unterschleissheim near Munich.

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New: Booking conferences directly & real time

HRS and Lindner united in a pilot project - Insider sees difficulties

16.2.2007

Cologne. Booking the entire conference, convention or seminar without time-consuming comparisons of quotes or negotiations - this will be possible via Hotel Reservation Service in Cologne as of March. When it comes to "directly booking conferences", 10 to 20 rooms can be booked together with a conference room at a fixed rate. Lindner Hotels are the pilot partners. But conference expert Kurt Schueller says: "This model won't prevail." (photo: HRS)

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Owner of Aldiana suspected of corruption

9.2.2007

Madrid. The Spanish contractor Santiago Santana Cazorla is hitting the headlines in his own country. On February 5, he was arrested at Gran Canaria airport, but has been set free again. He is said to be involved in a corruption scandal. Cazorla is the owner of the former Thomas Cook brand of Club Aldiana and President of the Anfi group on Gran Canaria, the biggest timeshare facility in Europe, once owned by TUI.

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