News & Stories

Wiesbaden. In spite of all the video conferences and all the Internet communication: The conference and conventions market in Germany is continuing to grow strongly. Events for continuing education in easily accessible locations are trending while at the same time, the demand for green meetings is also rising – if they do not cost any more.  

Paris. Last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, where 17 people were brutally killed by three French radical Islamists, marks the beginning of a war against terror on French soil. Among the victims, 8 were journalists from satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo", 2 were cops attached to their protection. On a separate attack, four French Jewish citizens held hostages in a kosher supermarket were also killed. Will France’s tourism industry be another victim? hospitalityInside correspondent Sarah Douag stayed in Paris while the attacks happened. This week she tried to talk to hoteliers – all refused to answer. Do they expect a double-digit decrease?

Warsaw. The number of foreign tourists in Poland is constantly growing and some of the markets experience better hotel performance results. New and reputable hotels arise. However, a distinct polarization of the market has occurred. But the outlook for 2015 remains positive.

Rome. Although it was founded only a little over 4 years ago, JSH Hotels and Resorts, with its18 properties offering 2,150 rooms, is now ranked amongst the top ten integrated hotel operators in Italy, a country notorious for its fragmented lodging sector. In spite of having the EU's largest accommodation capacity, hotel chains have a limited presence in Italy. Raniero Amati, JSH Hotels and Resorts' Chief Marketing Officer, who spoke at Henry Stewart's "Finance for Hotel Investment and Development in the UK and Continental Europe" conference which took place at the end of November in London illustrated the current status by facts and figures. He also explained JSH's business model which is to act as a B2B development platform for the major brands.

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.