News & Stories

Paris. On Monday evening, the French President Emmanuel Macron announced the curfew. 100,000 police officers will ensure that the strict rules are observed. A good initiative: Medical staff will be allowed to take taxis and stay in hotels – the state will pay. This helps the hotel industry too.

Wiesbaden. After Italy, neighbouring German-speaking countries in Europe are now also seeing severe losses in the hotel, tourism and catering industries. The countries are now busy developing their first economical support programmes, but these appear to be far from adequate for the hospitality industry, neither in Austria nor in Switzerland and certainly not in Germany, where a massive chain reaction has started.

Vienna/Madrid. Italy has been closed off from the rest of the world this week, the neighbouring Austria is adopting harder measures all across the country, too. In Spain, however, the coronavirus crisis has not been fully realized yet, as it seems.

Palma de Mallorca. Die Balearic Islands are trying to change their image – away from alcohol tourism and towards higher-quality offers. In this context, the government of the Balearic Islands recently passed a decree, which forbids all-inclusive offers, happy hours and party boats in certain areas. Apart from praise, resistance is building now against this law that is to set a good example for other regions in Spain.

Wiesbaden. Now, the world of tourism is also upside-down in Europe. Large events of all kinds and in all industries are being cancelled on a major scale or postponed; the hotel industry is experiencing an unprecedented cancellation wave and has to decide the following: remain firm concerning cancellation fees, give in or refrain entirely? The legal situation is clear in most cases: Those who have booked have to pay. But this legal attitude also draws criticism. Hotel chains and a medium-sized cooperation describe their current stance: Accor, Achat, Dorint, Event Hotels, IHG, Marriott, Plateno, Ringhotels, Steigenberger, and Yotel. And a comment at the end.

Augsburg. At the close of editing last night, Germany could still claim not to have suffered any deaths at the hands of coronavirus. Last night 482 infections have been reported – in a country of 83 million inhabitants. Yet a whole range of trade fairs, congresses and other events have already been cancelled or postponed. And not only in Germany! Within a week, society and various company heads appear to have lost their heads. As easily as the virus travels, fear unfortunately travels with it. Event organisers, hotel groups and other companies respond equally emotionally. Background information, details and sentiment in an industry caught between hysteria and pandemic. The good news first: The day before yesterday, the ITB stated on its Facebook page that it will refund tickets and stand rental fees.

Milan. On Wednesday evening, Italy decided to close all schools and universities in the country until mid-March. The coronavirus emergency is understandably filling the headlines of media, while the contagious disease seems not to have reached its peak yet. The government has started to back companies.

Berlin (February 28, 2020). In its 54th year, ITB Berlin will not take place for the first time ever. "The travel fair ITB in Berlin is cancelled due to the novel coronavirus. "A spokesperson for the fair told the German Press Agency on Friday," it was said a few minutes ago in a news in the German daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Apparently the political pressure has become too high.

Since this morning, almost nobody in the hotel industry believed any more in the ITB after the organizers of the preceding International Hotel Investment Forum officially announced at 1 pm that the event will be postponed from next week to May 4-6, 2020. According to the IHIF, 2,500 people had registered.

This means that next week, at least in the city of Berlin, there will be an unexpected "void" – at least from the point of view of tourism experts. The economic damage to the hotel and restaurant industry is likely to be considerable.

More on the coronavirus and its impact on the hotel industry next week at hospitalityInside.com. / map

Berlin (February 28, 2020). As hospitalityInside.com learned from reliable sources, Questex Publishing Company has cancelled the IHIF Berlin next week. It will will be postponed to May 4 - 6, 2020 and take place again at the InterContinental Hotel Berlin.

According to media reports a decision about ITB Berlin will be taken tonight. / map

Milan. The coronavirus has hit Italy and one of the most prosperous regions in the country: Lombardy. Now it is hitting the headlines being labelled as a "Red Zone". hospitalityInside's correspondent Massimiliano Sarti, who lives close to the designated area, reports in facts and figures how the virus has changed the region within days – massive cancellations have overrun the hotel industry. The impact is big. Experts already see the first quarter of 2020 lost. Fred Fettner reports about the incident in a hotel in Innsbruck.