FEURING E-MAGAZINE

Lübeck: Breakthrough for Deutsche Immobilien AG’s hotel project

Seen in "Thomas Daily News", Nov 28, 2007

In the drawn-out negotiations concerning the hotel that Deutsche Immobilien AG intends to build on the area of the former Aqua Top water park in Travemünde, a breakthrough has occurred. The newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten reports that an agreement was reached by the city of Lübeck, the seaside Hotel Maritim bordering the area of Aqua Top, and Deutsche Immobilien AG. The agreement paves the way for the construction of a three to four-star hotel including some 200 rooms that will replace the water park. Deutsche Immobilien AG intends to invest €40mn to €50mn in the hotel project. Construction could commence at the beginning of 2009, Bernd Ruschmeyer, Deutsche Immobilien AG’s general manager, told LN, adding that it has not yet been decided under which flag the hotel will be operated after its completion in 2011. Currently, negotiations are underway with two to three interested parties.

Dynamique Hotels auf Shoppingtour in Frankreich

Gelesen in "Property Magazine", 28. November 2007

Ein Portfolio von 19 Budget-Hotels mit insgesamt 1.000 Zimmern der französischen Bonsaï Hotelgruppe mit den Marken Bonsaï Escale, Bonsaï Etape und Bonsaï Relais wurde kürzlich von CB Richard Ellis Investors übernommen. Christie + Co war auf Käuferseite tätig.

Alle Immobilien liegen an strategisch günstigen Standorten, unweit wichtiger Wirtschaftszentren wie Avignon, Calais, Dijon, Marseille, Metz, Nancy, Orléans oder Toulouse.

The accurancy of hotel budgets - Hoteliers underestimate 2006 Unit-Level Costs

Seen on ehotelier.com, Nov 27, 2007

After two consecutive years of double-digit profit gains in 2004 and 2005, U.S. hotel managers expected they would be able to achieve yet another year of extraordinary growth on the bottom-line. When preparing their budgets for 2006, the 400 hotel managers in our sample estimated that a 9.2 percent gain in total revenue would translate into a 21.3 percent surge in profitability.

The good news is that management was able to beat the budget and increase sales by 10.2 percent. Unfortunately, despite this top-line achievement, these same hotels missed their bottom-line expectations. In 2006, our sample of hotels enjoyed a strong 16.2 percent growth in profits. In any other year, this would be celebrated as a triumph. However, falling short of profit expectations after exceeding your revenue goals is somewhat disappointing.

The culprit was a 7.9 percent surge in operating expenses. This compares to a budgeted expectation of only a 3.7 percent increase in costs. In 2006, we began to observe once again a recent trend in the rise of expenses that are beyond the direct control of management. Examples include employee benefits, insurance, utilities, and property taxes. This rise in uncontrollable costs contributed to the unexpected jump in operating expenses.

The preceding results were based on an examination of 400 U.S. hotel financial statements taken from our Trends in the Hotel Industry database. For the purposes of this analysis, profits are defined as income before deductions for capital reserve, rent, interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Less Price, More Accurate
Our analysis of budget accuracy was conducted across six chain-scale segments; Economy, Midscale Without F&B, Midscale With F&B, Upscale, Upper-Upscale, and Luxury. Across the board, managers within all chain-scale categories exceeded their budgeted revenue goals for 2006. However, there was a clear demarcation of properties along price point when evaluating the ability of hotels to achieve their bottom-line objectives.

Properties operating within the Economy and the two Mid-Market chain-scale segments were all able to surpass their budgeted profit targets for 2006. This was especially true in the Economy segment. The managers at these limited-service facilities actually anticipated a decline in profitability for the year, but ended up achieving a 6.6 percent increase.

At the other end of the spectrum, Luxury, Upper-Upscale, and Upscale hotels all missed their budgeted profit goals in 2006. The majority of properties in these categories are larger, full-service facilities. Amenity creep and rising labors costs contributed to the boost in operating costs at these complex operations.

Accuracy In Recovery
As industry performance passed through the various phases of the recent business cycle, we have seen dramatic differences in the accuracy of hotel budgets. During the industry recession from 2001 through 2003, hotel managers were missing their top-line revenues by close to ten percent. Meanwhile, bottom-line profits were more 20 to 30 percent off the mark.

During the industry recovery from 2004 through 2006, we witnessed a dramatic change in the accuracy of hotel budgets. During this period, hotel managers have consistently been within two percent of their revenue estimates, and four percent of budgeted profitability.

It is against the nature of hotel owners and operators to aggressively forecast losses. During the industry downturn of the early 1990s, hotels were accurately budgeting the downward direction of their revenues and profits. However, they consistently under estimated the magnitude of the actual fall off in performance. Compounding the problem was the relative unpredictability of such external events the Iraq War, terrorism, economic recession, and SARS.

Conversely, when times are good, those same owners and operators get a little conservative with their forecasts. This helped to contribute to the high degree of accuracy observed in the past three years.

What To Budget For 2008
The U.S. lodging industry is entering an extended period at the top of the current industry business cycle. Therefore, PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR) is forecasting stable industry performance for the next five years, with average annual changes in unit-level occupancy, average daily room rates (ADR), revenues, and profits commensurate with long-term averages.

In 2008, PKF-HR believes the lodging industry will start to feel the impact of the escalating levels of construction activity that is taking place. After five consecutive years (2003 - 2007) of gains in occupancy, PKF-HR is forecasting occupancy to remain flat in 2008. However, a 4.2 percent increase in ADR is projected to result in an equal 4.2 percent jump in total hotel revenue.

Without an increase in occupied rooms and the associated variable costs, PKF-HR is forecasting hotel operating expenses to be 3.9 percent. This will be the lowest annual change in expenses since 2003.

With revenue growing faster than expenses, expect unit-level profits to post a relatively modest gain of 5.1 percent. While this pace of profit growth falls short of recent double-digit gains, it is still projected to be greater than the pace of inflation. Therefore, real profit growth will be achieved in 2008.

Once the recession had begun in the early 2000s, it was unfortunately easy to know which direction hotel revenues and profits were heading. Then, after bottoming out in 2003, it was inevitable that the only way hotel performance could go was up. U.S. hotel managers will be challenged to prepare the direction of their individual budgets in the upcoming period of relatively stable performance.

About Robert Manderbaum:
Robert Mandelbaum is the Director of Research Information Services for PKF Hospitality Research. For more information on tools and services that will help you prepare your hotel's budget, please visit www.pkfc.com/. This article was published in the September 2007 edition of Lodging.

About PKF Hospitality Research:
PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR), headquartered in Atlanta, is the research affiliate of PKF Consulting, a consulting and real estate firm specializing in the hospitality industry. PKF Consulting has offices in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Bozeman, Sacramento, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
For more information please visit PKF Consulting: http://www.pkfc.com

UAE to construct 97 hotels

Seen on ehotelier.com, Nov 27, 2007

In the UAE 97 new hotels are likely to be added by 2010 to add combined capacity of more than 30,600 rooms, said a research study.

"In the same period, Qatar is expected to add 39 new hotels and 9,835 rooms; Kuwait, 19 hotels and 4,115 new rooms; Bahrain, 15 hotels and 3,615 rooms and  Oman, 4 hotels and 766 rooms., said Frederic Theux, President of Reed Exhibitions, organisers of Equip Hotel Middle East, an exhibition which will showcase products and services relating to the hotel, restaurant, café and catering industries to be held in Abu Dhabi from December 14-16, 2008.

Currently the total hotel room capacity in the above countries stands at 33,925 Theux said Abu Dhabi was planning to increase hotel room capacity to 25,000 by 2015 and develop over 100 hotels in the next ten years.

"The emirate is investing over Dh367 billion in the next 5 years in a combination of projects that include upgrading the UAE capital's airport, building a new port, establishing new townships and tourism development, he said. Reed Exhibitions president said: "The ADTA is implementing an aggressive tourism development strategy including the establishment of world class tourist attractions such as the Louvre and Guggenheim  museums on Saadiyat Island and the hosting of a Formula 1 Grand Prix on Yas Island in 2009.

According to the Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the number of hotels and hotel apartments in Dubai is set to rise to 554 by 2016 from 439 currently, with the existing room capacity of hotels and hotel apartments expected to nearly triple with the new additions.

The show, he said it would take place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and  will support the rapidly expanding hospitality sector in the GCC region.  Equip Hotel Paris is well-established and is considered the leading international hospitality show primarily targeting the European market. Exhibitors at the event will include companies displaying Building Layout & Fitting products, Tableware, Laundry, Cafeteria & Bar equipment, Hotel & Restaurant concepts, Vending, Kitchen Equipment, Linen & Professional wear, Furniture & Design, Guest Amenities, Spas, Bathroom & Wellness and Sound & Lighting Technologies.

Source: Khaleej Times Online

Welcoming a new guest to the trendy hotel club

Seen on ehotelier.com, Nov 23, 2007

By Michael S. Rosenwald

Seven years ago, Marriott International tried to buy Kimpton Hotels, a chain of ultra-hip boutique properties. The deal fell through. Now that the Bethesda hotel company has finally jumped into the business with boutique impresario Ian Schrager, certainly Kimpton executives must want to offer their thoughts, right?

"I think it's pretty interesting, actually," said Mike Depatie, Kimpton's chief executive. "When Mother Marriott gets behind it they make a lot of people know that there is an alternative to staying at full-service Marriotts. That helps us because we're the biggest players in the space."   

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Depatie spoke last week not long after cutting the ribbon at Kimpton's newest D.C. area property, the Hotel Palomar Arlington at Waterview. The hotel, with a sleek glass facade, was designed by the architectural firm founded by I.M. Pei. The beds have Frette linens. Some of the rooms have telescopes for spying on activity across the Potomac River in Georgetown.

When Kimpton, which is based in San Francisco, opened its first hotel in Washington seven years ago, the company was nervous about investing in such a buttoned-down town. Times have changed. Cool people live in the region and travel to it from other places, and Kimpton has grown up alongside the culture and now has 10 D.C. area hotels. Now there are reports that Starwood Hotels and Resorts, a key Marriott competitor, is working to bring one of its chic and successful W boutique hotels to the District, perhaps to the storied Hotel Washington.

"Marriott looks at Starwood and sees they are looked at as the really innovative guys," Depatie said. "They say, 'Hey, we've been in this business longer than anyone. Why aren't we the innovative guys?' "

Bill Marriott indicated a creativity cavity in his company a few months ago when he announced the partnership with Schrager, saying that Marriott didn't have the know-how to get into the boutique business on its own. Becoming partners with Schrager, the volatile creator of the nightclub Studio 54 who later served time in prison for evading taxes, marked a significant comfort-zone departure for Bill Marriott, a devout Mormon.

"It's a big clash of cultures," Depatie said. "How's it gonna end? At the end of the day, it's anybody's guess."

Source: Washingtonpost.com

Why stay in a five-star hotel?

Seen on ehotelier.com, Nov 27, 2007

Apart from being known for its nightlife, Soi Langsuan, in central Bangkok, is also recognised as a supreme residential location, because of its serviced apartments.

At this time of the year, those serviced apartments are preparing their four- and five-star services for the festive New Year's season and an influx of foreign visitors.

Located in the central business district, surrounded by shopping centres and fine restaurants, near a Skytrain station and the green open spaces of Lumpini Park, Soi Langsuan has no fewer than five blocks of serviced apartments. They include Cape House Serviced Apartments; Natural Ville, managed by Accor; Fraser Place Urbana Langsuan; Centre Point Langsuan; and Mayfair Marriott Bangkok Executive Apartments. All of them are favoured by foreign executives and diplomats.

Competition between established and recently opened serviced apartments at the same quality level is these days honed down to uniqueness of building design and the decor of common areas. Increasingly, it also depends on the interior design of residential units and the quality of the service.

The most obvious competition is seen in the services provided to each apartment.

Many of them take the services that may be expected at a modern serviced apartment and add the personal indulgences more commonly found in upmarket hotels. These include limousine services, daily cleaning, wake-up calls, in-room safety-deposit boxes, postal services, catering services, convenience stores, travel information, meeting facilities, saunas, massages, tennis courts and children's playrooms.

Focusing on the Mayfair Marriott Bangkok Executive Apartments, the 26-storey building contains 162 apartments. Managed by hotel experts from the Mariott Group, the services range from those required of a serviced apartment to those expected of a hotel. With a perfect location, the apartments receive very good feedback from foreign business people and diplomats. The occupancy rate has consistently increased from 75.6 per cent in 2004 to 81 per cent in 2005 and 82.2 per cent last year.

Rental fees range from Bt115,000 to Bt180,000 per month, with room rates per day starting from Bt5,200.

Meanwhile, Fraser Place Urbana Langsuan has 129 apartments in a 36-storey building housing 265 residential units. Services include a sauna, tennis and basketball courts, a swimming pool, high-speed Internet and limousines - all equal in quality to those at a five-star hotel but at cheaper rates.

Fraser has 40-48-square-metre studio apartments, 61-68-square-metre one-bedroom executive apartments and 85-90-square-metre two-bedroom executive units. Room rates per night range from Bt3,525 to Bt5,232, until the end of next month.

Natural Ville managed by Accor features a 28-storey building containing 150 units on 1 rai of land. There are 16 studio units of 31 square metres, 12 one-bedroom units of 52 square metres, 48 one-bedroom units of 59 square metres, 64 one-bedroom units of 75 square metres, four one-bedroom units of 76 square metres, four two-bedroom units of 100 square metres and two penthouse units of 146-square metres. Monthly rates range from Bt120,000 to Bt250,000.

"We must adjust ourselves to maintain our competitiveness amid competition from so many others in the Langsuan, Rajdamri and Ploenchit areas," a source at Cape House Serviced Apartments said. "Offering daily room service is one solution."

Strong brand names certainly have an advantage in the current situation, in which apartments are eager to serve both corporate customers who want to rent rooms for high-ranking officers and individual foreigners wanting to stay for anywhere between one night and two months, the source said.

Research by real-estate-services firm CB Richard Ellis also shows that serviced apartments in Bangkok are competing in the same way as hotels, by depending heavily on attracting guests with daily room services.

By the end of next month, Bangkok will have 10,000 serviced apartments, and that number will increase to 12,000 units next year. Fierce competition between serviced apartments is bringing them increasingly into direct competition with the city's leading hotels, because like the hotels, they are now offering daily room services.

Source:The Nation Business

Five-star hotels in Mumbai witness boom time

Seen on ehotelier.com, Nov 27, 2007

Corporate travellers and tourists coming to Mumbai this season must make arrangement for their stay in the city as they may otherwise face problems in finding place as most five-star hotels have been booked till March.

Most of the hospitality majors have reported occupancy of over 90 per cent this year, against 70-80 per cent last year.

"We have 390 rooms and more than 90 per cent occupancy... till March 2008 and the remaining rooms are also likely to get booked in the next few days," Leela Venture's Director (Sales and Marketing) Indrajeet Banerjee, said in Mumbai.

The hotel's occupancy was around 80 per cent at the same time last year, he said.

Banerjee said the present rush on bookings was expected to continue till end-March, considered the end of the high season. "However, there is no longer a low season post-April as the average occupancy is at least 70-80 per cent," Banerjee added.

With the country's Economy booming, international corporates and businessmen are coming to India, "high-level delegates attending different seminars are driving the growth of the industry even in non-peak seasons," he said.

Sahara Star, located near Mumbai's domestic airport, also has over 90 per cent occupancy.

"Presently, around 233 rooms are functional and we hope by 2009, 415 rooms will be functional," Sahara India Pariwar's Assistant Senior Manager (Corporate Communications) Ghulam Zeeshan, said, adding, "sometimes there are bookings up to 150 per cent."

"We can say that the rush is almost equally spread all over the year for corporates. Adding to this, the months from October to December give a special boost to the hotel industry as vacation travelling increases," Zeeshan said.

Another factor contributing to the robustness in the hospitality industry is the increasing household income.

With special holiday packages now facilitating easier and convenient travel, an increasing number of people are opting for these packages, which, consequently benefits the hospitality industry.

Reflecting a similar view, General Manager of ITC Grand Central, another high-end hotel, Anil Malik said the hotel, which has 242 rooms, has around 95 per cent occupancy and with bookings for March 2008 having started long back.

Other five-star hotels like J W Marriot near Juhu also has 98 per cent occupancy, its spokesperson said.

Source: The Financial Express

No rooms in Delhi & Mumbai hotels

Seen on ehotelier.com, Nov 28, 2007

By Raja Awasthi

Planning a business trip to Delhi and Mumbai? Think twice as hotel rooms in both the metros are fully booked. In fact, corporate travellers and tourists coming to these cities this season must make alternative arrangements for their stay to avoid inconvenience.

Reads like a cautious travel advisory but its true. Such is the rush that most five-star hotels have been booked till March 2008 and many hospitality majors have reported occupancy of over than 90% this year, against 70 to 80% last year.

The situation in Delhi, which is already facing a shortage of rooms, is more acute because of the sudden rush of travellers owing to the International Trade Fair, ongoing India-Pakistan Test match and many business conferences.

With the demand supply gap increasing for hotel rooms many hotel have already revised the room tariff. Keeping the shortage in mind, an average room in Delhi, which was available for Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000, has now gone up to Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000, while the suites and president suite have gone up to Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.

Says Greesh Bindra, vice-president, Crowne Plaza: "Many in the industry have increased room tariff this year, effective from last month, by 30 to 35%. We are nearly 100% sold for the next two months. This month also saw the start of the wedding season and there is a mad rush now.

The hospitality sector boom - being seen because of a rise in both Indian and foreign business travellers - is also playing an important role. It is estimated that there has been an increase of 25-30% in foreign business travellers in 2007. This year we have witnessed 100% occupancy across the board which has resulted in this tariff increase." Tarun Thakral COO, The Le Meridien, too, feels that the hotel industry is riding high on the booming economy. "Almost every chain is planning a room tariff increase by 25-40% as tourist arrivals has shown a positive growth in the last three years," he adds.

Interestingly, the trend is not just confined to Delhi and Mumbai. The all-India occupancy has touched the 79.8% mark for the first time this year. According to an HVS annual report, many cities are completely sold out on a number of weekday nights, resulting in hotels jacking up their rates. The largest increase is being seen in the luxury segment followed by the mid-market and budget segments. The report further says that the demand-supply imbalance in cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Jaipur helped the hotels charge higher tariffs across all market segments.

Elaborates Manav Thadani, MD, HVS International: "For the fourth year in a row, the hospitality market has witnessed exceptionally strong increases - both in terms of occupancy and average rates." Another factor contributing to the robustness in the hospitality industry is the increasing household income. With special holiday packages now facilitating easier and convenient travel, an increasing number of people are opting for these packages, which, consequently benefits the hospitality industry.


Source: The Economic Times 

Hotel- und Produktionsgebäude treiben Baugenehmigungszahlen in die Höhe

Gelesen in "IZ Immobilien Zeitung", 27. November 2007

In fast allen Segmenten des Wirtschaftsbaus wurden in den ersten neun Monaten dieses Jahres zweistellige Wachstumsraten verzeichnet. Das berichtet der Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie mit Verweis auf Daten des Statistischen Bundesamts. Besonders stark fiel das Plus im Bereich der "Sonstigen gewerblichen Betriebsgebäude" - dazu zählen insbesondere Hotels - aus. Hier wurde ein Volumen von 1,6 Mrd. Euro genehmigt und damit 40% mehr als im Vorjahreszeitraum. Stark zugelegt haben auch die Investitionen in Fabrik- und Werkstattgebäude. Die erteilten Genehmigungen legten um 12,8% auf 2,9 Mrd. Euro zu. Weitere 2,3 Mrd. Euro betreffen Büro- und Verwaltungsobjekte (+10,6%). Wichtigstes Marktsegment bleibt der Bau von Handels- und Lagergebäuden mit 4,3 Mrd. Euro. Hier stabilisierte sich das Genehmigungsvolumen auf hohem Niveau (-1%). Im Durchschnitt aller Segmente beläuft sich damit das Genehmigungs-Plus auf 11,5%. Auch im kommenden Jahr wird der Wirtschaftsbau nach Erwartung des Hauptverbands der Motor der deutschen Baukonjunktur bleiben.

Investa baut Drei-Sterne-Hotel nahe Berliner Alexanderplatz

Gelesen in "IZ Immobilien Zeitung", 27. November 2007

Die Investa Immobiliengruppe, München, hat das Objekt Otto-Braun-Straße 90 in Berlin erworben. Das denkmalgeschützte Gebäude nahe des Alexanderplatzes wurde bislang von der Bundespolizei genutzt. Investa will es gemeinsam mit dem Büro REM+Tec Architekten zu einem 3-Sterne-Hotel mit rund 350 Zimmern umbauen. Künftiger Betreiber wird die israelische Gruppe Fattal Hotels. Die Fertigstellung ist für Mitte 2009 vorgesehen. Das Investitionsvolumen beläuft sich auf rund 42 Mio. Euro.