News & Stories

Cam Ranh. 3,000 palms at the hotel facility of the brand new The Anam in Cam Ranh in Vietnam: The lush Bermuda grass stands in contrast to the light-coloured, wide sand beach. Numerous gardeners with pointed coolie hats tend to the grass. Four fishing boats bob up and down in the water in front of the resort. At the resort, an Austrian citizen is in charge: Herbert Laubichler-Pichler. The 59-year-old, born in Radstadt, is the General Manager of the newly opened luxury hotel The Anam – and has to cope with similar challenges concerning staff just as in Europe. In the meantime, close contacts and university co-operations have been established between Vietnam and Austria. The demands are increasing in Asia – concerning everything. Even chefs should be academics now.

London. From Turkey to Switzerland, OTAs are under pressure across Europe, and England is the latest country to take a closer look at their practices. Last Friday, UK's Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into hotel booking platforms.

Barcelona. Suffering from tourist disturbances, Barcelona often let the world know that the locals want fewer visitors. Now, holidaymakers are avoiding the destination due to the political fight for independence. Revenues and hotel bookings are decreasing. Investments are being put on ice.

London. The meetings & events industry can be optimistic about growth prospects next year, driven by increased competition in the supply chain for market share, and robust investments and a desire for consolidation of spend by buyers.

Munich. Nothing can daunt investors anymore: not excessive rates not a scarcity of properties, not low interest rates or decreasing yields. Real estate bubble? Real estate boom! Hotel bubble? Hotel boom! The Expo Real 2017 moved between basic trust and gut feeling. The bubble will come, but when? Until then, everything continues as usual, driven by flows of capital from all over the world, which – seemingly – all have one target in Europe only: Germany! "Germanomania" is quickly becoming a buzzword in the industry. However, there are also cautioning voices. The hotel industry is turning the real estate wheel too, the asset class is becoming increasingly popular. An atmospheric picture, spiced with figures.

Augsburg. In today's edition, "hospitalityABC" addresses the term "No-show". Explained by Christian Buer, Professor for International Management and Tourism Management at Heilbronn University and our hotel management expert.

Munich. With an urgent appeal to "see China differently", four top China experts attempted to convince Expo Real visitors that the strategy of Chinese partners may be difficult to comprehend, but is not to be viewed negatively. The podium of the hotel conference "Hospitality Industry Dialogue" at the Expo Real brought together experts from Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, CBRE London, and from Kempinski Hotels. The discussion was hosted by renowned China expert Prof Wolfgang Arlt, Managing Director of China Outbound Tourism Research Institute. You all know: Investors continue to place their capital in the west – despite all current government restrictions. This is also true of the hotel industry.

Shanghai. When a still relatively unknown hotel company lists 18 hotels on its home page under the heading "Coming Soon", it generally sounds ambitious. Yet for Greenland International Hotels Group based in Shanghai, it's almost an understatement, as the Austrian Cluster General Manager Arno Nicolussi-Moretto confirmed. Company plans state that by 2020 already more than 100 hotels will be operated under their own brand - under the luxury label Primus Hotels. The company aims to graduate from the list of the biggest 500 companies in the world into the list of the Top 100, and to do this within just five years' time. In China, people think differently, as hospitalityInside author Fred Fettner discovered in an interview with the Austrian Manager.

Munich. The first two days at the Expo Real 2017 Munich knew just one scenario: packed halls, hectic crowds, non-stop meetings and networking to excess. The sector is already breathless, working as if there were no tomorrow. Is this the fear that the bubble is about to burst? Even the experts attending the hotel conference completely denied this was the case. They see no end to the boom, at least not in Germany.

Amsterdam. The city of Amsterdam has too many tourists. To stop the flooding, the municipality is banning all new hotel development and is encouraging investors to check out opportunities in the Amsterdam region. A new strategy has been established to showcase all the assets and qualities that the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region has to offer to attract potential hotel developers. Good timing one would say as many of them are looking for new opportunities. 2017 promises to break a new record in terms of investments.