News & Stories

Innsbruck. These are not rosy times for winter sports: The global ski market is stagnating at low levels. The world market leader in this scene is and will remain to be Austria. But what happens when there is no more snow? Already now, fewer skiers are coming to the country, but this first deficit was still able to be compensated for. However, the persons responsible for tourism in Austria only recognise one plan: Plan A. There is no Plan B for periods without snow. The Austrians have therefore filtered out another meticulous analysis of where the customer potential for the new season is: In "Empty Nesters" and cliques of like-minded people, among others.

Wiesbaden. Real time booking systems in the MICE segment lag years behind room reservation. Enquiries are still handled manually and with age-old software. Yet the experts agree that this is now all likely to change and quickly. Efforts to secure this are running high. In Germany, Okanda announced that it would launch a booking system for conference space. In Belgium, Book2Meet is already on the market and aims to link the same offer with room reservations. And last but not least there's Expedia with its MeetingMarket portal focusing on enquiries and price comparisons.

Innsbruck. In the past season, hotel openings beyond the well-known ski regions dominated investment in Austria. This winter, it's different. The investment stronghold is in Salzburg's Skicircus Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Leogang.

Vienna. Austria's holiday hotel industry has started with a defensive approach into the winter. The industry wants to attract more German guests to come and enjoy the alpine winter in order to strengthen Austria's position as market leader for skiing holidays. Although statistics partly tell another tale, investments have been made in the mountain industry again. However, the Russian guests will tip the scales in Austria's coming winter season.

Berlin/Frankfurt. The "global middleclass" with its increasing travel activity is also influencing the flow in business travel. Moreover, business travellers no longer want to be bothered by new products but desire solutions for their overfilled schedules. They want seamless travel. First companies are reacting.

Vienna/Munich. Vienna or Munich? In which city is the hotel industry doing better? A broad comparison of the two cities reveals: Bavaria's biggest city is doing much better than the Austrian capital. Yet the latter is investing enormous sums in marketing to fill its growing number of hotel beds. The number of beds in Vienna is growing faster than in Munich.

Freiburg. The German Tourism Association) is expecting a fifth successive record year for 2014. President Reinhard Meyer spoke of a "positive interim balance for 2014" during the "German Tourism Day" in Freiburg.

Dubai/Doha. Dubai's hosting of the Expo in 2020 and Qatar's hosting of FIFA’s World Cup in 2022 may bring a lot of opportunities for hotels, but these mega events come with a whole set of problems, from displacing regular demand to rising construction costs, hoteliers and analysts said. Dubai's and Doha's challenges were highlighted in the 3-day "Vision Conference" that took place during the 15th "Hotel Show" in Dubai at the end of September.

Munich. Good times for hotel real estate sellers: A fierce competition has broken out among the bidders since projects are rare. This is driving the prices. The increasingly positive image of the asset class hotel and the current low interest rate environment are additionally attracting more and more institutional as well as private investors. At the same time, the banks are opening their monetary sluices again. Reason enough for a super mood at this year's Expo Real in Munich. Exactly this also is bringing sceptics to the scene who have been considering this to be the last real estate and investment trade show with this mood – at least for Germany. Some nuances have changed within the hotel development and financing itself. The summary of facts and opinions.

Hannover. The management of TUI AG as well as TUI Travel PLC have contractually agreed to the conditions of the merger between the two companies. Their strategic advantages and synergies should lead to considerably higher savings than originally assumed. The hotel portfolio should grow further.