Sascha Wolff will continue to lead Design Hotels' Finance & Administration Department as Vice President Finance, a role which includes controlling, finance, administration and IT. Furthermore, within the management team, he is responsible for financial reporting and investor relations.
Bernd Neff continues as Vice President Brand, Marketing & Communications. Neff will lead Design Hotels’ brand building and digital marketing efforts, which are crucial for the company’s vision of creating an unrivalled community for design, architecture and culture. Neff also continues to manage communications and the company’s creative services department.
Arno Schwalie has been promoted to Vice President Business Development & Corporate Strategy. The business unit comprises Portfolio Development with the acquisition of new hotels as well as Portfolio Management including account management and performance consulting for the member hotels.
Toby March joins Design Hotels as Vice President Sales, Revenue Management and Distribution. In addition to revenue management, distribution and systems development, he takes over responsibility for the company’s global sales activities. March joins Design Hotels with over 20 years of travel, supplier, marketing, distribution and e-commerce experience through roles in North America, Europe and Asia. He gained industry experience with Galileo International, SABRE and Carlson Wagonlit Travel before founding his own consulting firm.
After the opening of the angelo Designhotel in 2008, the hotel group Vienna International has signed a further management contract for a second hotel project in Munich. The 207-room hotel, which will likewise operate under the angelo name, will be built in direct proximity to Munich’s Theresienwiese, the venue for the world-famous Oktoberfest. Construction on the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, will be managed by UBM Realitätenentwicklung AG, Vienna, via its Munich-based subsidiary Münchner Grund Immobilien Bauträger AG.
Design, art and above all music are the determining features of nhow Berlin, which opened its doors to its first guests in November 2010. The architect of the building is Sergei Tschoban, the interior design bears the signature of star designer Karim Rashid; the lobby and outside area have been designed as a dynamic space solution, offering local and international artists an exhibition venue in alternation. No other hotel in Europe has anything to compare with the nhow Music Sound Floor.
Alan Parker CBE, Chief Executive of Whitbread plc, has been chosen as the 2011 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th annual International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF), scheduled for 7-9 March 2011, at the InterContinental Berlin, Germany. The IHIF Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual who, over his or her lifetime, has made a significant difference in the hospitality industry by their actions, deeds, and great accomplishments.
Hotel technology and data security experts will share their expertise on the vexing problem of bank card data theft from hotels at a meeting of leading hotel technology experts in Berlin later this month. Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) just added a compelling new session on this topic to an already powerful agenda for its upcoming European members' meeting.
Robert Herr, General Manager of InterContinental Prague, Czech Republic, is leaving the Hotel by the end of August 2010. Robert Herr was holding the position since October 2006. As of 1 September 2010, Robert Herr will be taking over as the General Manager of the InterContinental Berlin. He will simultaneously act as Area General Manager with responsibility for the InterContinental Hotels in Düsseldorf and Cologne and will be reporting directly to Rolf Hübner, Vice President Operations Central Europe, who took over responsibility for the IHG Hotels managed in Germany as of 1 July 2010. Both changes have come about as a result of the retirement of Willy Weiland at the end of the year after 37 years with the InterContinental Hotels Group.
The Courtyard by Marriott Bremen has opened under a franchise agreement with Baum Hotelbetrieb Bremen GmbH. The 155-room hotel is centrally located steps from the Bremen Main Station the beautiful Bürgerpark, making it an ideal location to explore the sights of the Hanseatic city.
Axel Ludwig will take over the reigns of the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich. The 39-year old German previously held the position as General Manager at the Kempinski Nile Hotel Cairo. He brings with him over 20 years of experience in the European luxury hotel segment. He joined Kempinski in 2003 at the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski Hamburg before moving to the famous Hotel Baltschug Kempinski Moscow. In 2007 he was appointed General Manager of the Kempinski Hotel Barbaros Bay Bodrum in Turkey.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announces that it will introduce its wellness brand, Westin Hotels & Resorts, to Hamburg. The new Westin Hamburg Hotel will open in 2012 under an agreement between Starwood and its joint venture partner, Arabella Hospitality Group. The hotel is designed by world-renowned Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as part of the highly anticipated Elbe Philharmonic complex, Europe's most ambitious development projects. Expected to become a cultural and architectural landmark, this urban development will also include luxury residences and a multitude of culinary, cultural and nightlife options all set in the heart of upscale HafenCity.
Starwood today announces that it will introduce its wellness brand, Westin Hotels & Resorts, to Hamburg. The new Westin Hamburg Hotel will open in 2012 under an agreement between Starwood and its joint venture partner, Arabella Hospitality Group. The hotel is designed by world-renowned Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as part of the highly anticipated Elbe Philharmonic complex, Europe's most ambitious development projects. Expected to become a cultural and architectural landmark, this urban development will also include luxury residences and a multitude of culinary, cultural and nightlife options all set in the heart of upscale HafenCity.
With altogether 17 hotels projects successfully accomplished, Berlin-based GBI AG is one of the leading German hotel developers and investors. Shortly before its 10th anniversary in early 2011, the company can boast of a multi-faceted portfolio, ranging from the 2-star budget design and the 4-star business city hotel to the Superior holiday resort. GBI (“Gesellschaft für Beteiligungen und Immobilienentwicklungen“/company for equity participation and property developments) is specialised mainly in the construction of hotels and also boarding houses plus apartment properties, acting either on its own or jointly with partners.
Dolce Hotels and Resorts, operator of 26 upscale hotels, resorts and conference hotels in North America and Europe, recently opened the Dolce Munich Unterschleissheim, a 255-room conference hotel near Munich, Germany, the company’s sixth hotel in Europe and second in Germany.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces the Radisson Blu Fürst Leopold Hotel, Dessau in Germany. The former Steigenberger property with 204 rooms is already operating as a Radisson Blu hotel.
Five key issues have been identified as the basis of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ (ACTE) Global Education Conference agenda, slated to convene in Berlin, Germany, 3-5 October 2010. According to an announcement made today by the association’s President Elect, Chris Crowley, the Berlin Conference Planning Committee focused on the following points as “issues of primary interest” for both European and international business travel professionals — representing a new emphasis on “reality” travel management.
“ACTE conferences have always promised and delivered opportunities for frank discussion and pertinent dialogue,” stated Crowley. “This year the committee is taking an “unconferenced” approach, creating a setting in which delegates will participate in small, intimate group sessions and work to openly tackle the most challenging issues facing the industry -- locally, regional and globally.”
After an initial face-to-face meeting in Berlin last month, ACTE’s Berlin Conference Planning Committee selected several areas of discussion to be used in developing the key educational themes for the association’s conference.
•Managing Travel Programs in an Environment of Indefinable and Unbundled Vendor Fees •Tracking the Best KPIs for Your Program – A Benchmarking Session •Managing Multi-Country Travel Programs in a Legally Complex Landscape Integrating Travel Intelligence at the Point of Sale •Empowerment of the Business Traveller through Mobile Technologies and Social Networking "The ACTE Global Education Conference in Berlin is the key event for me in Europe,” stated Andrea Hendrix, Corporate Supply Chain Management, Siemens AG. “It is where I go to learn about important industry issues, trends and technologies, and to network and benchmark our practices with high level decision makers from the corporate and supplier side."
Support of ACTE’s educational events worldwide, including the Berlin conference, remain very high with numerous ACTE events in Europe selling out or having record attendance despite the limitations of a fragile global economic recovery, ACTE’s Global Education Conference in Berlin will convene 3-5 October 2010, at the InterContinental Berlin.
Attendees at world's largest trade show for the travel industry flocked to see world's first crypto acoustic solution for check-in/out and room access via any guest's mobile phone; OpenWays was one of 11,127 companies from 187 countries that exhibited at the record-breaking event.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces the signing and opening of the Park Inn Dresden, Germany. The 132 rooms-property, a former Tulip Inn, will be bookable in Rezidor's reservation system by end of March.
With a robust showing of more than 1,600 senior business decision-makers and CEOs from major hotel chains, the 13th annual International Hotel Investment Forum included energetic discussions regarding the state of the industry, recovery and investment opportunities. The three-day forum also reported an increase of attendance over 2009 and an influx of 500 new attendees who had not attended IHIF the previous year.