In a presentation to the UK House of Lords last June, we raised the alarm that the UK independent hotelier share of market was declining rapidly, falling from 78% in 2010 to a projected 22% by 2026.
In the latest episode of the new season of Accor’s industry leading podcast, Heart of Hospitality, Duncan O’Rourke, host and CEO Accor Northern Europe, speaks to Kate Nicholls, CEO UKHospitality. They discuss UKHospitality’s role championing the hospitality sector in the UK and lobbying the Government for positive action and change, including the impact a VAT cut and greater training flexibility would have on the sector.
The hospitality industry and Swiss hotels are a clear example of the unbalanced effect of Covid-19 in a specific industry. For instance, while social distancing might have handicapped revenue for a three-star Michelin restaurant downtown, it may have represented an opportunity for the basic take-away. Why and how is it that some fractions of the same industry have come out winning from the crisis, with others losing?
More than 150 years ago, Georges Nagelmackers turned a dream into a reality when he launched the first luxury Orient Express train. Soon, Orient Express will head back on track to offer travellers an unforgettable journey through one of the world’s most beloved countries: Italy.
Inspired by its recent international tourism campaign focusing on adventure tourism, Slovenia is expected to see inbound tourism rise to 5.7 million arrivals by 2024, a 22% increase on pre-pandemic levels, according to GlobalData. The leading data and analytics company notes that ‘adventure and sport’ is the fifth most popular holiday type, and has particular resonance with Slovenia’s traditional visitors: Czechs and the Dutch.
Kew Green Hotels, one of the leading international hotel management companies, with over 55 hotels in its portfolio, has launched a partnership with Othership, providing co-working lobby spaces and private alternatives to home working in all 47 of their UK hotels. This comes at a time when 9 out of 10 job seekers are looking for increased flexibility and 60% of people are looking for remote working. With the Minister for Women and Equalities calling for flexible working to be “normalised” as part of the UK econ omy’s Covid-19 recovery, flexible working is set to become a permanent feature of life post-pandemic.
After many months of video calls replacing in-person meetings, business travellers are slowly getting back on the road.
Westminster’s 3,700 bars, restaurants and pubs, 56 theatres, 21 LGBTQI+ night time venues and world-class retail and cultural offerings are ready to jump back to life. The hotel industry will be playing a vital part in contributing to the safe and successful reopening this summer.
Within this service, multilingual face-to-face and telephone health assistance is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Today, Hilton is celebrating hotels reopening across England and welcoming back leisure guests for the first time in months, marking a significant milestone in the hospitality industry’s recovery from the pandemic.
The outsourcing debate is not new, but the current global situation is causing it to heat up again. The argument typically revolves around whether an outsourcing agency is capable of delivering the same quality and service levels as a hotel can with a team of their own, that they employ and thus control.
It's a very interesting subject: the quality of service delivered by the housekeeping department shouldn't be defined by the employment type of the employees. Housekeeping operations, usually only seen as a cost centre, are delivering an essential service to hotels - without this service hotels don't have their core product available: a clean hotel room.
Added safety for conferences: Anyone holding a meeting, conference, trade fair or even a wedding at Kempinski Hotel Frankfurt can book rapid antigen tests for participants. "We have set up a mobile rapid testing station in the treatment rooms of our Country Club & Spa, where guests can be tested directly before an event or a meeting to determine whether they are infected with the coronavirus," reports Hotel Director Karina Ansos. "This significantly increases safety for all participants, and is in line with the German federal government's testing strategy."
Deutsche Hospitality is the first major hotel company in Germany to instigate free rapid testing for all its front-line staff. The project will be launched over the next two weeks. A weekly nasal swab or saliva specimen test will be made available to around 3,500 staff who work for the group's brands that are represented in Germany - Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, MAXX by Steigenberger, Jaz in the City and IntercityHotel. Hotel guests will be able to acquire the tests at the reception if they wish. All tests used will meet the standards of and will have been certified by the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute.
Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC said: "The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and its Members praise the Greek government for its tremendous efforts and strategic steps taken to restart international travel from 14 May."
During the widespread power outages that swept through Texas in February, Dallas resident Ezell Holley was displaced from his home and stayed at a local hotel, which the family jokingly nicknamed the "Waldorf Astoria." Holley would end up receiving an incredible surprise when Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, one of Waldorf Astoria's 32 global luxury properties, gifted him with a future multi-night stay at the hotel.
I had the pleasure of asking UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson a pertinent question at a Downing Street press conference.
Where would you find a life-size R2-D2 robot, a money tree bearing £50 notes to the value of £10,000, a William Shakespeare outfit & skull, a 6ft cuddly polar bear, a case of union jack face masks, a 60 year old marriage certificate, a stethoscope and an adorable Siberian Husky called Saskia - where else but Travelodge's lost and found office.
Business travel between the European Union and its former member state the United Kingdom is set to become significantly more complicated from Jan. 1. The UK left the EU on Dec. 31, 2019 but little changed in the transition period that runs to Dec. 31, 2020. However, annexes included in the 1259-page trade agreement between the EU and UK published on Christmas Eve confirm that once the transition ends many activities carried out by short-term business visitors will require work permits and in some cases the passing of an economic needs test.
The impact of Brexit on European travel after 31 December 2020 is going to be a complicated one. A recent survey by Discover Ferries, which represents ferry operators in the UK and Ireland, reports that only one in three people felt confident about travel changes after the end of the transition period. Only 6% of respondents were aware of all the changes affecting EU travel in 2021.
2020 is slowly coming to an end. At the same time the winter season in the Swiss Alps is right about to kick-off. Known as one of the most sought-after ski-holiday spots in the world, The Alpina Gstaad is looking forward to opening its doors and welcoming guests (back) to this elegant resort.