Read the latest hotel industry news from around Europe.
Scandic Boss Says Trusted, Empowered Teams Must Show the Way
Speaking to Terence Baker for Hotel News Now’s “Pandemic Reflections” series, Jens Mathiesen, president and CEO of Scandic Hotels Group, said the COVID-19 years showed him the need to trust employees and that leaders must be ready to change quickly and be humble and intelligent enough to know when change is going to upset strategy.
“Invest a lot in the team and organization. … We have a lot of new team members that came on board, and we want them really to get on board with the Scandic culture and leadership culture, which is like from the Nordics with a lot of trust and empowerment. We have 20,000 team members, and it is like we have 20,000 decision-makers,” he said.
How Years Spent in Private Equity Prepared Yazbeck for Accor Development Role
Promoted in January to global chief development officer for Accor’s premium, midscale and economy division, Camil Yazbeck credits his time working in private equity as one of the biggest stepping stones to his new C-suite position.
He told Hotel News Now’s that “one of my key messages to our development teams is to always remain focused on the owners’ mindset. As an owner, working with various hotel groups, it was always appreciated when a brand understood our investment profile and proposed a deal that aligned with our objectives. In my experience, that begins with matching the right brand to the right project, matching the owner’s cost-of-capital and return-on-equity expectations.”
UK Hoteliers Feel Pressure To Raise Room Rates as Inflation Erodes Profitability
Amid high inflation and surging energy costs, United Kingdom government officials have asked business owners to not pass on higher costs to consumers, but members of the U.K. hospitality industry say that’s asking too much of them, especially as business rates and taxes have not been reformed or lowered.
Higher wages and continued inflation, especially in food and beverage, will result in many businesses facing imminent failure, said Steve Alton, CEO of the British Institute of Innkeeping, who added, “our members have been absorbing price increases in every area of their business for many months now, and the harsh reality for many is that they can no longer continue to do so.”
Blantyre and Fairtree Acquire Scotland’s Crerar Hotel Group
London-based special-situations investment fund Blantyre Capital and its operating partner, Bath, England-based Fairtree Hotel Investments, have acquired Edinburgh-based Crerar Hotel Group and its seven hotels for an undisclosed sum.
Blantyre and Fairtree established their joint venture in 2021 and already own Fonab Castle and Dunkeld House Hotel, both in Perthshire, Scotland, and Daffodil Hotel & Spa in Cumbria, England.
Harnessing Global Experiences, Greek Sisters Develop Wellness Hotel Brands
With vital educational and career skills gained in such places as Miami, San Diego, Spain and Italy and across such disciplines as economics, management and design, Greek sisters Danae Orfanake and Konstantina Orfanaki returned to their native Crete to fill in a gap in the market for domestic, luxury, spa-driven resorts. So far, they own and manage two resorts, ACRO Suites and Seaside, a Lifestyle Resort, both under the umbrella Omicron Resorts, named for the Greek letter “O” and a reference to their family name, Orfanaki.
Wellness and sustainability also are behind the sisters’ decision to “collaborate with local architects, designers and craftspeople across all our projects by means of supporting local businesses and preserving the island’s culture and values,” said Konstantina Orfanaki.
Deals and Developments
- Whitbread PLC opened the 180-room Hub by Premier Inn Clerkenwell on London’s Farringdon Road at a cost of 90 million pounds sterling ($111 million) and its second hotel in Dublin, Ireland, the 113-room Premier Inn Dublin City Centre;
- Spanish real estate investment trust Azora has bought the 199-room Tryp Charmartín for 34.6 million euros ($37.7 million) from Barcelona-based Meridia Capital, which bought the hotel in 2019 for 27.5 million euros ($30 million);
- Radisson Hotel Group has debuted its soft brand Radisson Individuals in Paris, France, with the 75-room Hotel YAC Paris Clichy;
- Ruby Group and owner BNP Paribas Real Estate will open in 2025 an as-yet-unnamed Ruby hotel in Marseille, which will have 237 rooms and be the hotel brand’s debut in France;
- German hotel firm Motel One, after debuting its Cloud One brand in New York City in December, is to bring the brand to Europe with the openings before the end of the year of two hotels in Germany — one in Düsseldorf, the other in Hamburg;
- Firmdale Hotels has bought for 55 million pounds sterling the 58-room Covent Garden Hotel from CBRE Investment Management;
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts opened the 207-room Dolce by Wyndham Milan Malpensa, the first of that brand in Italy;
- Radisson also is coming to Milan with the Radisson Collection Hotel, Santa Sofia Milan, which has 159 rooms and occupies the original office from the 1960s of the Allianz Italia insurance firm;
- Thai hotel firm Dusit International has made its European debut with the 36-room Dusit Suites Athens in Glyfada, a suburb of the Greek capital Athens;
- With the 247-room DoubleTree by Hilton Vienna Schönbrunn, Hilton has debuted its DoubleTree brand in Austria in cooperation with owner Primestar Group;
- The 40-room Casa da Companhia in Porto, Portugal, has become part of IHG Hotels & Resorts’ soft brand Vignette Collection.
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