We take you to the 'next level'

Augsburg/Berlin (March 10, 2023). Take the next sustainable step with us. We will take you to the "Next level: Measure. Benchmark. Drive. Lifting sustainability from intention to traction". This is the title of the 6th HospitalityInside Think Tank (HITT), which will take place in Berlin on 26/27 June 2023, once again on the ship. The focus of this English-language event is "Measurement". How and with what do you measure and manage measurement data? They influence the carbon footprint of your company. Once again, high-profile international specialists will be on board and ready for a lively debate. The programme.

Editorial: Creating value from the crisis

Dear Insiders,

Motel One has risen like a Phoenix from the ashes of the corona crisis: Sales of €639 million were the highest ever in the company's history. Since April 2022, everything has changed for the better: Hotel openings, occupancy, RevPAR, EBITDA, equity, net income. "It took a lot of discipline and work on our part," said co-CEO Stefan Lenze in a conversation with us after the annual press conference yesterday. "The cake is smaller, but we’re getting a bigger slice," he added, matter-of-factly. The crisis plan worked. Motel One appears unshakable.

Susanne Stauss has summarised the Group's figures and innovations, and I have tried to elicit additional information about the second brand, The Cloud One, from Stefan Lenze. After New York and Chicago, the first German hotels will be built in Hamburg and Düsseldorf at the end of 2023. In landmark buildings, with spectacular location, everything will be much more colourful, individual and of even higher quality, he promises. From the description alone, the leap from motel to the clouds isn't quite there yet. Lenze's advice: "Just come, then you'll see and feel it."

Hardly anyone was that confident at the MIPIM in Cannes. The fair also appears to be losing its beach party image. It was "The quietest MIPIM ever," says my colleague and experienced MIPIM visitor Beatrix Boutonnet. The framework conditions for finance will not improve in the short term, transactions are down, prices are down, costs are up, investments are stalled, institutional investors are holding their money. "It's like Mikado," says one insider, "whoever wobbles first loses." And despite everything, there were positive words about the hospitality industry. Incidentally, hotel stocks across Europe were up about 3% in 2022, reports a British Valuation Index independent of MIPIM.

When it comes to ESG, it's already clear who the losers will be, namely those who do not confront the issue and are failing to implement changes. The climate time bomb is ticking, the cry from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this week was loud. Every insider knows: Investors will have to make the first move. That's why we're dedicating today and next week to Funds and ESG. We being with the current regulatory environment.

Operators are developing more and more activities in terms of ESG, of course also in response to changing customer behaviour. For example, the Global Hotel Alliance in Dubai has now packed more than 200 climate-positive motivated hotels into a new "Green Collection". What I like about this is that every hotel has to be certified by a globally recognised environmental organisation.

Opening up to the new issues of the day, thinking outside the box and finally seeing the one-way street as a dead end will help shape your own future. We do our part to provide you with the platforms to do so. For instance, at our joint stand "World of Hospitality" at Expo Real in Munich. October is still seven months away, but today we already register as main exhibitors - and with us the first 19 co-exhibitors, whom we can introduce to you now. For all others: We still have some space in reserve. More details on this can be found on our Page 1.

And in our Expo Real announcement you will also find our latest video: Images and voices from WoH 2022, recorded in our new design stand and a positive reflection of the hospitality industry finding its place at the real estate fair.

Keep your eyes on the future! We are here for you every Friday with well-researched news from the hospitality and tourism sector and with dynamic business platforms.

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com