Top News

📈 HCommunity, launched this morning, is considered a revolution in hotel data. Founders Christopher Meignier and Alessandro Inversini started the project during the Covid crisis as part of a Think Tank to assist the industry. They created a prototype with hoteliers to provide real-time, reliable statistics, addressing the lack of current and affordable data.

🔔 ITB Berlin annually affects the hotel industry, with occupancy rates spiking to 90-98% (up from the usual 60-80%) and average room rates (ADR) increasing by 20-60%, sometimes quadrupling the standard rate. The majority of the over 100,000 visitors, around 70-75%, are travel industry professionals. The Global Review Index (GRI) for ITB Berlin 2025 showed the lowest annual point on March 8. In 2025, location was the top complaint, followed by issues with sleep quality and room size. Noise complaints consistently impacted customer satisfaction. Positive mentions were up (71.9%, a 1.1 point increase from the previous year), indicating opportunities for hotels to stand out by providing exceptional service.

🎾 Four Seasons and Giorgio Armani collaborate on an exclusive tennis event series featuring training sessions with legendary coaches like Venus Williams. The Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic finals will take place from June 26-28, 2025, at London's Hurlingham Club, a private club with a 25-year waiting list. The prestigious event has hosted tennis icons such as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

🏡 Jérémie de Fombelle, CEO of Esprit de France since October 2023, is leading the brand towards a unique vision of hospitality and heritage preservation by 2025. With an emphasis on upscale services, network development, and responsible hospitality, the brand aims for a unique experience combining historical heritage with modernity. In 2024, 260 employees were trained in their new service signature. Esprit de France achieved an 84% occupancy rate in Paris that year.

🏨 Alboran took over the management of two Hilton hotels: Hilton Garden Inn Massy (152 rooms) on December 9, 2024, and DoubleTree by Hilton Bougival (180 rooms) on January 1, 2025. Partnering with LRO Hospitality, Alboran aims to optimize operational margins and expand its portfolio, which includes 20 hotels (approx. 2,100 rooms). Alboran's new lifestyle brand, FirstName, launched in Bordeaux in early 2023 and will open in Toulouse in May 2025 with 100 studios and apartments plus 120 rooms.

🏨 Korner, an innovative hotel group with a tech-forward approach, is expanding to Lyon following its success in Paris where it operates nine hotels. Launched in October 2024, Korner offers a unique 3-star hotel experience with fully digitalized customer journeys and a human-centric approach, starting at 90 euros per night. The expansion into Lyon, known for its economic dynamism, cultural wealth, and tourist appeal, aligns with Korner’s ambition to provide an optimized urban experience for business and leisure travelers. Cécile Rosset-Pietri, cofounder, is actively seeking new locations in Lyon, with plans to open multiple establishments and create new jobs, thus strengthening their presence in the French hotel market.

🏨 The hotel distribution industry is undergoing a transformation to attribute-based selling (ABS), which allows customers to search for specific features rather than a particular hotel. This new model will require integration at multiple levels, affecting Property Management Systems (PMS), Online Travel Agencies (OTA), and booking engines. The ABS decomposes hotel services into smaller units, allowing guests to personalize their travel experience. The airline industry adopted a similar approach over a decade ago, leading to significant revenue increases, exemplified by a 312% increase in ancillary revenue over eight years. The hotel industry's shift to ABS is poised to enhance customer experience and boost profits, though standardization and technology adaptation challenges await.

📱 In today’s digital landscape, client interactions have become a competitive edge for customer loyalty and experience enhancement. Effective management of these interactions can convert prospects into clients, build trust, and prevent brand damage from dissatisfaction. Client interactions, proactive or reactive, occur at various stages of the customer journey and are crucial for understanding client needs and fostering strong relationships. Key to success is response quality, promptness, and the proper channel of communication. Benefits of effective interaction management include strengthened loyalty, greater understanding of client needs, transformed complaints into opportunities, encouragement of positive reviews, and continuous improvement of offerings. Guest Suite offers a French solution to centralize, personalize, facilitate, and automate client interactions, featuring AI-driven automated responses to reviews, satisfaction surveys, and semantic analysis tools for actionable insights.

🏠 Vacasa accepted a revised offer by Casago, a property management firm specializing in vacation rentals, to acquire all public shareholder-held shares at $5.30 per share. Casago has dropped initial merger price adjustment clauses, ensuring a fixed purchase price for shareholders. A competing offer from Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP at $5.75 per share was considered but not preferred by Vacasa’s Special Committee due to lack of a "superior proposal" and uncertainties, including unresolved tax agreement approvals and essential negotiations that Davidson Kempner failed to finalize, which could delay or jeopardize the deal. The transaction with Casago is poised for rapid completion, recommended by Vacasa's board.

🏠 B&B HOTELS launched B&B Home targeting the extended stay market, expected to triple in the next eight years. Sophie Donabedian, the Director of Sustainable Development, developed the new brand focusing on local immersion and sustainability. The first B&B Home hotels opened in Saint-Ouen, Brides-les-Bains, and Fort-de-France, each uniquely integrated into its local ecosystem with a commitment to local partnerships and suppliers.