Over 80 hotel company CEOs will attend IHIF 2018 taking place at the InterContinental Hotel in Berlin next week. This represents the highest number of hotel company CEOs to attend the event in its 21-year history.
The show is almost fully booked – Large increase in exhibitors from South America, the Arab countries and Asia – Travel Technology is booming – Focus on Luxury Travel
Key topics: Overtourism, integrating refugees and the financial viability of social tourism projects – Opening event will leave a zero carbon footprint for the first time
Tina Yu, Senior Vice President at KSL Capital Partners has been announced the winner of The International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) and The International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) Young Leader Award 2018.
Marriott International is proud to announce a multi-year partnership with leading European football club FC Bayern, with Courtyard by Marriott becoming the official hotel partner for Germany's most popular and successful football club. The partnership will also give the 100M+ members of Marriott's loyalty programs – Marriott Rewards, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) – access to once-in-a-lifetime, football experiences through Marriott Rewards Moments, as well as SPG Moments. The experiences will include exclusive access to Bayern's domestic and European matches, and VIP match-day hospitality in the Courtyard by Marriott Suite at the Allianz Arena.
Nordic music and exotic dance performances await visitors to the Grand Finale of the World's Largest Travel Trade Show® – admission is free for holders of a visitor's ticket on the Sunday of ITBA spectacular conclusion to the World's Largest Travel Trade Show®: the ITB Grand Finale on Sunday, 11 March 2018 will be the official final event of ITB Berlin, featuring dance performances from Zambia, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic. From 3.30 to 5 p.m., together with a host of different cultures, exhibitors, guests and visitors will be celebrating a spectacular ending to the 52nd ITB Berlin. Mary Amiri, the award-winning event and television presenter, will moderate the colourful programme of events which is traditionally organised by exhibitors. Admission is free for holders of a visitor's ticket on the Sunday of the show.
Technology permeates every aspect of the hospitality industry. To reflect this wide spread prevalence and demonstrating their commitment to delivering a relevant and topical event, the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) are launching the IHIF Hotel Tech Hub, new for 2018.
Yoram Biton has worked for Leonardo Hotels in various management positions since 2006. He first headed up the management team at Leonardo Hotel Munich City Center and the Leonardo Boutique Hotel Munich and was responsible for 2 openings in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. There were further takeovers during his leadership, including 2 hotels in Munich. After 2013 he was given responsibility for all Group Hotels in Munich and Nuremberg, Germany, and Zürich, Switzerland. Last year he was responsible for the takeover and integration of 5 Hotels in Portland, UK. Yoram Biton holds a degree in hotel management and business administration from the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) in Tel Aviv. He lives in Munich, Germany, is married and has 3 children.
Daniel Roger joined the Fattal Group in 2006 and has been head of Leonardo Hotels in Europe ever since. The European Division, of the group, grew from one hotel in Munich, Germany, in 2006, to more than 130 hotels in over 75 cities and all under his leadership. As Managing Director, of Fattal Hotels Europe & UK, he will particularly focus on integrating the Jurys Inn Hotels into the Leonardo Group. Roger can now look back on more than 40 years of professional experience within international hotel chains. He holds degrees in hotel management from the former hotel management school of D.Speiser, at the Tegernsee in Germany, and from the hotel management school in Leysin, Switzerland. Daniel Roger lives in Berlin, Germany, and London, UK, is married and has 2 children.
Once again, Hall 4.1 is the place to head for Youth Travel & Economy Accommodation – Focus on digitalisation and youth travel certification – Rockin' All over the World Festival on the open days for the publicThe big wide world beckons: from 7 to 11 March 2018 at ITB Berlin trade visitors and the general public can get comprehensive information on youth travel again. As in previous years, Hall 4.1 will be the place to head for Youth Travel & Economy Accommodation, where tourism associations, organisations and tour operators will be presenting their services and latest products. The displays are next door to the Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism segment where hotels for backpackers, budget hotels and designer hotels as well as youth hostels, internet websites and associations will be presenting their services for young people.
High growth rates in the luxury travel market: according to the ITB World Travel Trends Report 2017/2018 (www.itb-kongress.de/en/ELIBRARY/Publications/Studies/) high-end travel accounts for seven per cent of the market and annual growth is in double-digit figures. Luxury travel is booming, while general attitudes towards this market are changing. Affluence is no longer defined by glitter and exhibiting wealth. Non-material forms of luxury are replacing status, and values such as self-discovery, personal experiences, authenticity and time are becoming more important. These challenges, as well as the opportunities, concern the industry and from 7 to 11 March 2018 will be key topics at ITB Berlin.
The latest trends and developments in business travel – Focus on the impact of digitalisation and globalisation
ITB Career Center features wide-ranging information on university courses, starting a career and advanced training – The German Federal Employment Agency is the exclusive partner again – The ITB Berlin Convention features the Young Professionals Day and a new event: the Company SlamBerlin, 25 January 2018 – In search of tomorrow's talents: this year, the ITB Career Center is again offering students, graduates and those in search of a new career all kinds of opportunities to find out about their job chances in the tourism industry. The place to head is hall 11.1, where more than 50 national and international exhibitors will be represented, including universities, colleges and professional academies presenting tourism and advanced training courses, as well as employers in search of industry newcomers. This year, international participation in the hall will be even higher than in past years. Universities from Hong Kong and Latvia will be represented for the first time. On Thursday, 8 March 2018 and on Saturday, 10 March 2018 at an elevator pitch presenting bachelor's and master's degree courses, visitors can get a first impression of the universities and their academic studies.
Annually, around 250 thousand people from 177 countries receive medical treatment in Germany. Around 100 thousand foreign patients are admitted into German hospitals. It is estimated that between 40 to 45% of foreign patients arrive ton Germany specifically for medical treatment. The European country receives more than 1.2 million euros annually as an income from medical tourism.
With these funds, hospitals employ more personnel, buy equipment and much more which is then available to all patients, local and international.
Most patients come from neighboring countries such as Poland, the Netherlands or France. There are also many patients from Russia, the Community of Independent States or from Arab countries in the Gulf. Above all patients from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait come to Germany.
The leading industry association VDVO is the official partner of the MICE event – a wide-range programme of lectures – MICE Hub and MICE Night networking eventsBerlin, 22 January 2018 – Creating a festive atmosphere at events, evaluating events and how to manage diverse audiences – these are just some of the topics which the ITB MICE Forum will be examining at this year's ITB Berlin Convention. The forum targets visitors representing the Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Event industry and will take place on 8 March 2018 in the Convention Hall 7.1a (Room New York 2) from 10.45 a.m. to 2.45 p.m. The Association of Event Organisers (VDVO) is the official partner of the MICE event.
From 7 to 10 March 2018 at the ITB Berlin Convention leading international speakers from industry and science will present valuable ideas and suggestions and provide first-hand expertise and information. Fascinating lectures and panel discussions and topical, exclusive surveys as well as reports on best practices will await visitors to the leading think tank of the international travel industry. Admission is free for trade visitors at ITB Berlin.
At the eTravel World at ITB Berlin visitors to the eTravel Stage and eTravel Lab can again find out about the innovations of the future and their potential impact on the travel industry. With its wealth of knowledge about tomorrow's technology this marketplace is the most important in this segment, and can be found in Halls 6.1 and 7.1c. The focus will be on future-oriented topics such as the blockchain, social media and voice recognition. New events this year include the Hospitality Tech Forum, featuring hospitality industry topics, and the Start-up Day in cooperation with Verband Internet Reisevertrieb (VIR), Germany's leading association for the online travel industry. On 7 March 2018 at 10.30 a.m. on the stage in Hall 6.1 David Ruetz, head of ITB Berlin, and the humanoid robot Pepper will jointly open the eTravel World.
This year, for the first time, exclusive hosts for the day will present the programme, among them the entrepreneur and consultant Axel Jockwer and Prof. Dr. Claudia Brözel of Fachhochschule Eberswalde. After a brief welcome by the Hospitality Industry Club the Wednesday will kick off with a lecture entitled 'Can curiosity beat robots?' by Julia Jung and Stefan Niemeyer of neusta eTourism. The two experts will examine the elements needed for artificial intelligence to awaken users' curiosity. Using concrete examples of best practices they will demonstrate how so-called curiosity marketing can be successful. In his lecture Alex Bainbridge, editor and CTO of DestinationCTO, will talk about driverless cars and their marketing potential for tour operators. Afterwards, Tanja Weinekötter of Marketing + Event Support will examine the possibilities for using social media as a booking tool.
Thursday, 8 March 2018 will witness the launch of a new event. From 2 to 5.30 p.m. at the eTravel World the ITB Hospitality Tech Forum at the eTravel Lab will take place for the first time. The afternoon's events will be hosted by Nick Vivion, the editorial director of tnooz. Events will include a lecture by Conichi founder and CEO Maximilian Waldmann who will illustrate why a certain 'sexy' image is still needed for business travel. Following this, Andriew Lim of the Hotel School Den Haag will examine the challenges and opportunities of the blockchain. Using concrete examples he will demonstrate successful uses of this new technology. In other lectures speakers will look at artificial intelligence in the context of the hospitality industry, personalised pricing policies and individual communications between hotels and their customers.
On Friday, in cooperation with Verband Internet Reisevertrieb (VIR), the focus will be entirely on industry newcomers. At the newly launched eTravel Start-up Day company founders from Europe, America and Asia will meet on the eTravel Stage in Hall 6.1. At a start-up competition and several sessions the new digital community will present its travel technology innovations. On Wednesday the VIR will also act as partner of the Investors Panel.
This year the eTravel World was able to secure tnooz as its exclusive media partner. During the course of ITB Berlin 2018 its journalists will be conducting numerous interviews with fascinating industry personalities and streaming them live. Sponsors and partners of the eTravel World include amongst others Aeroguest, AirDNA, Berner+Becker, Emarsys, Flightroutes, GDX Travel, Hospitality Industry Club, Juvigo, Myhotel, Outdooractive, Safecharge, SDL, travelport, uCloudlink, MTA Masai, Vsourz, 365 Secom Italia, Sojern, Teleticketing and Phocuswright.
You can find out more about the eTravel World at www.itb-berlin.com/etravel.
About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention
ITB Berlin 2018 will be taking place from Wednesday, 7 to Sunday, 11 March, and from Wednesday to Friday will be open to trade visitors only. ITB Berlin is the World's Leading Travel Trade Show. In 2017 a total of 10,000 companies and organizations from 184 countries exhibited their products and services to around 169,000 visitors, who included 109,000 trade visitors. Parallel with the show the ITB Berlin Convention, the largest event of its kind, will be held from Wednesday, 7 to Saturday, 10 March. Zambia is the Convention & Culture Partner of ITB Berlin 2018. The World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) is Co-Host of the ITB Berlin Convention. Ctrip.com International, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey are Platinum Sponsors. Admission to the ITB Berlin Convention is free for trade visitors and exhibitors. For more information please visit www.itb-berlin.com, www.itb-convention.com and the ITB Social Media Newsroom.
NOVUM Hospitality and MERKUR Development Holding GmbH have begun work on a third niu hotel in the Fasanenhof district of Stuttgart. 144 hotel rooms and 110 serviced apartments covering a total gross floor area of some 10,500 sqm are currently being created. Completion is scheduled for the autumn of 2019. The project volume amounts to some 30 million Euros.
Moxy Hotels is continuously expanding in Europe and the rest of the world. The comfortable affordable hotels with modern design and excellent functionality are a hit amongst travellers. Not only the millennials like to come to one of Moxy"s destinations, people of all ages do. In February 2018 they can put a new place on their itinerary: Moxy Munich Messe.
The ITB Speed Networking event brings leading buyers and exhibitors together – the ITB Blogger Speed Dating event focuses on travel bloggers at ITB Berlin – New: the Blogger Base @ ITB Berlin