English summary of an article on the hotel and serviced apartments buiness in Austria.

https://www.tourismuspresse.at/presseaussendung/TPT_20220913_TPT0001/investoren-setzen-weiter-auf-berghotels

 Vienna (OTS) – The demand for holiday hotels in the Alps is unbroken (Die Nachfrage nach Ferienhotels in den Alpen ist ungebrochen)

Many conversion and new construction projects are in the pipeline. At the same time, the industry is confronted with new challenges.

Despite difficult conditions (energy crisis, corona) and other adversities (high construction costs, rising interest rates), domestic hoteliers and hotel developers remain optimistic for 2023.

New concepts and developments are being planned and implemented.   Project developers expect only modest growth for urban areas, which is why they are increasingly looking for favourable opportunities in the Alps.

Experts from the Prodinger company, who look after around 500 hotel businesses in the areas of tax advice, tourism advice and business advice, can confirm that the holiday hotel industry is doing relatively well despite the difficult starting position before the 2022/23 winter season.

However, businesses in top locations that are suitable for new developments are few and far between in the leading holiday regions.  Building permits and ongoing changes make new construction projects difficult.  The space efficiency suffers from high construction costs and a lack of employees.  Another challenge is the fact that financing and subsidies will be based on real estate efficiency in the future.  There will be a change in restaurants and food concepts in the holiday hotel industry. The good old 4-course half-board has an expiry date.  This makes new restaurants necessary.

In many classic holiday hotels, people are considering reducing the service and switching to serviced apartments. 

Investment and capital intensive

 A twenty-year comparison shows that hotels made large investments by the end of 2020.   Operating performance (GOP) lagged over the same period.  The new buildings and conversions, which continued during the Corona period, can be explained on the one hand by the investment bonus and on the other hand by the long project lead time.

Hotel revitalization

 A trend that is likely to intensify next year is the revitalization and reorientation of existing properties in the holiday hotel industry.

A good example of one of these concepts is the TRIFORÊT alpin.resort in Hinterstoder, which will open on December 1, 2023 and will be managed by the hotel operator arcona Hotels & Resorts. It is based on a 365-day concept.

The old stock comes from the Berghotel Hinterstoder from the 1960s.

Due to an investment backlog, this had reached the end of its product life cycle, so that a complete revitalization became unavoidable.

“Use instead of possession”

 There will be further exciting project developments in 2023 under the motto ” use instead of ownership “.   The well-known problem of leisure and second home ownership is leading to a boom in the temporary use of alpine real estate. ” The hospitality sector will play a bigger role here, “ says Thomas Reisenzahn, MD of the Prodinger consulting group.

New forms such as “Best Ager Hotels” for the young at heart in the third phase of life are also taking hold in holiday regions.  New forms associated with investment opportunities.

Alternative forms of accommodation such as tiny houses, glamping, tree houses or chalets will continue to gain in importance in 2023 and expand the tourist offer in holiday regions.