News & Stories
New York/Paris. The Blackstone Group and Pierre & Vacances have reached a formal sale and purchase agreement with the owners of the real estate of seven Center Parcs resorts located in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. At the same time, Center Parcs has announced two new facilities in France and expressed its interest in the German market.
Frankfurt/M. Two decisions of the German Convention Bureau serve to secure its future existence. Chains and conference centres may now join its present 200 members.
Munich. The vacation country of Italy is not making friends among its own people: every week, a TV channel denounces profiteering and its makers. In a bar in Portofino, three cups of cappuccino even cost 28 euros. The consequence: the holiday behaviour of the Italians is changing. If they stay in the country, they can still be deeply disappointed as travellers will not find any reliable hotels thanks to their chaotic classification. A fact that displeases hoteliers themselves.
Frankfurt/M. While the demand of football fans for hotel beds did not meet expectations everywhere, business travellers are pleasing the hospitality industry with bustling revenues. Last year, German business travellers spent 11.3 billion euros for hotels all over the world, twelve percent more compared to 2004. Three quarters of this overnight expenditure remained in the country.
Bad Kreuznach. Almost 70% of corporate planners dedicate less than half of their working time to the organisation of meetings. Half of all decisions are made by just one single person. These are just two finding of the Event Planner study which assessment 1,600 responses from corporate planners in Germany. The study was presented yesterday in Frankfurt.
Ruesselsheim. Consultant Peter Bierwirth now wants to shake up the MICE market with a budget initiative: Two hotels operated by his company are now offering one night's stay with breakfast and conference fee for the dumping price of 39 Euros.
Augsburg. The call for online booking for seminar and conference groups has been audible for quite a while. Now Best Western Hotels claims to have established the first of its own online conference portals for event organisers. The portal allows organisers to compare rates and thus better plan spending. On the fringes of the IMEX trade fair in Frankfurt, Dorint Sofitel and Worldhotels also introduced their internet presence. The differences between the three groups are extreme.
Zadar. "Punta Skala" is the name of Falkensteiner Hotel's first mega project, a new hotel in paradisiacal surroundings near Zadar in Croatia. The project is the biggest hotel complex in the whole of Croatia. The South Tyrolean hotel group first plans a Residence & Vacation Club concept. Biggest investor is the Austrian Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank which contributed 110 million of the total 150 million Euros for the project.
