Vienna House acquires 17 city hotels from arcona

730 565 Hamish Kilburn
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Vienna House acquires 17 city hotels from arcona

Vienna House, Austria’s largest hotel chain, has expanded its portfolio of city hotels by acquiring 17 properties from German hotel group arcana…

The Austrian hotel group Vienna House has bought 17 city hotels and two projects from Rostock-based arcona Group. In addition to eight successful arcona Living and four arcona Hotels, the purchase also concerns the five Steigenberger operations of franchisor Deutsche Hospitality as well as two projects in Greifswald and Mannheim.

The parties have agreed not todisclose any details as to the purchase price. “The arcona city hotels fit perfectly into the portfolio of Vienna House,” said Rupert Simoner, CEO of Vienna House. “Here two partners have found each other who are focusing on their brand positioning, who want to grow meaningfully from it and who also get along splendidly.”

“The group currently operates and is developing more than 40 hotels in Europe with a focus on city hotels.”

All employees of the affected arcona city hotels will be taken over by Vienna House. The hotels will be managed as lease operations under the umbrella brand Vienna House. The group currently operates and is developing more than 40 hotels in Europe with a focus on city hotels under the brands Vienna House, Vienna House Easy and Vienna House R.evo.

“A total of 20 Barefoot hotels are to be opened over the next 10 years.”

In contrast, arcona Managing Director Alexander Winter sees his hotel market of the future in the holiday hotel sector. Remaining in the arcona portfolio are six hotels in successful destinations such as Sylt, Kitzbühel and Rügen as well as the Hotel Elephant in Weimar and the Romantik Hotel at Wartburg Castle in Eisenach.

An important growth driver in the future will be the Barefoot Hotels, as arcona recently signed a long-term agreement with Barefoot founder Til Schweiger for theworldwide implementation of the concept as a licensee. “With the remaining houses and theBarefoot concept, we will now be concentrating fully on the growing holiday hotel market andsuccessfully embarking on the future together with our employees,” said arcana shareholders Alexander Winter and Stephan Gerhard. A total of 20 Barefoot hotels are to be opened over the next 10 years. “We see tremendous potential here, both nationally and internationally,” Winter confirms.The arcona headquarters will remain in Rostock, where the group will move into its new corporate headquarters, Villa Zeeck, in the second half of 2019.

Main image credit: Vienna House Easy Wuppertal

Hamish Kilburn / 10.05.2019

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