News & Stories

Barcelona. The industry's big issues such as the influence of the Chinese, technology and Airbnb are occupying the Spanish hoteliers as well. This was apparent at the 4th "Tourism Summit" of the IESE Business School in Barcelona in cooperation with the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration from Ithaca in December.

Madrid. The Spanish tourist sector is pleased with its global results for 2015, according to a report published by Exceltur. Nevertheless, a lot is not directly linked to an improvement of the tourist offer.

Bern. Exactly one year ago today, the Swiss economy was struck by a financial earthquake. Without any previous indication at all, on 15 January 2015, the Swiss National Bank took the country off the euro peg and in one fell swoop made everything 20 percent more expensive for euro guests. Since then, the Swiss hotel industry has lost ground. For the service industry, the move left a deep and painful wound. A wound which caused particular hardship in mountain regions. Christoph Juen, CEO of hotelleriesuisse, looks back on the SNB decision one year later. Following the move, the Swiss hotel industry had to reinvent itself, and fast. Did it manage?

London. After the record year 2015, the VisitBritain Bureau forecasts even better visiting figures for 2016 despite having no big sports events in sight. In the hotel industry, budget hotels are becoming the new norm. The sharing economy is increasing.

Milan. At the end it was a substantial success, with few shadows cast on a generally positive scenario: Expo 2015 took place in Milan from May 1 to October 31, and despite discordant expectations, the event proved to be a golden egg for the local hospitality sector. Moreover, it also contributed to accelerating the changing image of the Lombard city: a long process that started about ten years ago and has been transforming a traditional business destination into an attractive location for leisure travellers too, from Italy and abroad. Still Expo probably failed in one of its targets: boosting the demand outside the regional boundaries as well. Is this the reason why the Milanese Chamber of Commerce still refuses to compile hospitality data about the public event? Probably it's more about lobbying and marketing, since they want to withhold the data until the end of December, when they are going to organize a "big event" with many of the most important local political stakeholders. But they already disclosed some data during a public event ten days ago. hospitalityInside author Massimiliano Sarti obtained the data and is able to draw the big picture.

Sierre. The Swiss hotel industry and para-hotel industry are feeling the effect of Airbnb. Recent figures show this clearly. The Airbnb offer has more than doubled since 2014. Even hotels are in on the game.

Madrid. The president of Portugese Visabeira Group is proud to partner with the Spanish hospitality company Paradores which is going to open its first member hotel and its first franchise hotel outside Spain in 2016.

Washington. Just like after the Paris attacks, the stock exchange reacted negatively to a global travel warning issued by the US Department earlier this week. Several sensitive sectors, especially hotels, were notably weaker at the beginning of the week.

Paris. Almost one year after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, terror struck again in the French capital. The local hotel industry is already feeling the impact. Occupancy and RevPar went down immediately and significantly.

Munich/Milan. Milan, Rome, Venice, maybe Florence… Most hospitality companies present at this year's Expo Real Munich in October have a piece of Italy in mind when thinking about expansion. Italy is not enjoying the "festive feeling" Germany is experiencing at present but still, the interest of international hotel groups towards Italy is real and concrete. The groups already present, like AccorHotels are reaching out to 100 hotels, franchisors like Choice show serious interest, also budget hotel chains like B&B and Meininger. Luxury groups like Kempinski or Hyatt face stronger challenges in Italy.