Expo Real on the finishing straight

Munich (September 16, 2022). The registration deadline for co-exhibitors at Expo Real 2022 in Munich ends today. In total, more than twice as many exhibitors have registered as last year, a record number of exhibitors have registered for the Career Day and seven exhibition halls are open again - just like in the record year 2019. The World of Hospitality, a magnet in Hall A1, has also gained another co-exhibitor at the last minute. The new stand design is there, the team is prepared. After a two-year break, there will again be a SPECIAL in print and online and the survey for the hospitalityInside Investment BAROMETER will start again soon.  

Editorial: Disruption must be priced in

Dear Insiders,

The crises have many of us firmly in their grip, as they do much of this issue. With inflation in Germany running at 10 percent, the Federal government finally put the brakes on gas prices yesterday - on the heels of banks and economic institutes predicting gloom for 2023/24 that very morning. The German Angst is back.

Though British hoteliers are also feeling anxious: 300 CEOs have written to the Prime Minister. One-fifth of the businesses will not survive. The association presents an action plan and is equally hopeful of a price cap. In France, unions are working with government on energy-saving measures that cost no money.

That sounds more pragmatic than in Germany, where special broadcasts and talk shows aim to outdo each other every evening well into the night. Even Germany’s generally more modest public broadcasters are now losing any sense of proportionality.

Sarah Douag describes the energy crisis in the UK and France in terms of facts rather than media hyperbole. All correspondents have researched how many hoteliers already demand an "energy cost surcharge" from their guests. €10 per night or only two? Whether Italian, Austrian or German: Here, most hoteliers are apparently showing sensitivity. They still want to welcome guests in the 4th quarter.

In any case, the energy crisis continues to fuel the employment crisis. Italy's luxury hoteliers are jubilant about a great season, but they will be short of staff in the future... "Disruption" must be priced into business models and HR strategies in the future, say tourism professors Celine Chang and Markus Pillmayer of Munich University of Applied Sciences soberly. They have been conducting interdisciplinary research into the HR spiral since the outbreak of the pandemic and are now formulating initial strategies for action. "There's no going back to the old days for the industry," they conclude in an interview with Sylvie Konzack about crisis resilience in HR.

In the coldly calculating real estate world, Macy Marvel sat in on an OpCo/PropCo conference in London to see if it currently makes sense to merge operations and real estate companies. Unbelievable what is now (again) being discussed...

Positive is: Europe's companies (in all sectors) want to gradually scale back their China activities and produce and sell in their own region again. Finally, an end to the globalisation mania! Consolidation, on the other hand, is not over. In Germany, there is now one less white label operator: Bierwirth & Kluth will be merged into a Dutch finance and real estate group.

At Expo Real - starting next Tuesday - we will certainly hear more rumours than news; quite a few will want to play with fear. Nevertheless, hoteliers are showing a fighting spirit; they do not want to sacrifice their life's work or long-standing commitment on the gas burner. That, by the way, is what I sensed and heard from the briefings on the discussion panels at the Expo Real hotel conference (you can find the programme on our page 1).

The HospitalityInside team looks forward to seeing many of you next week. You will find the World of Hospitality in Hall A1 (A1.144 and A1.040): Experience our joint stand in a new design this year! Do you already have appointments with our 15 co-exhibitors? Contacts and emails for each exhibitor can be found bundled on the HospitalityInside Marketplace! Just click on the company logos!

And last but not least: Our current autumn survey, the Investment BAROMETER 2022 in cooperation with Union Investment, is already up and running! In these exciting times, we need your insider opinion. Vote - go directly to the online barometer here! 

In addtition: The hospitalityInside SPECIAL on Expo Real is back again! Online here as a PDF to browse through and in print at the trade fair at our stand. Or in the lobby of more than 50 hotels in Munich! 

See you in Munich. I wish you every luck for your journey, with trains that roll and planes that fly!

Yours, Maria Pütz-Willems
editor-in-chief

Your opinion? editor@hospitalityInside.com