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m.carisetti

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  • 4 min

Accor, Etihad, and MSC Lead Mobile Hospitality Innovation with Luxury Yacht, Aircraft, and Cruise Offerings

🛡️ Accor’s Orient Express Corinthian, a 220-meter yacht, launched April 29, 2026, sails the Mediterranean with 54 suites for 110 passengers. Air France's La Première suite, launched April 8, 2025, offers 3.5 sqm suites on 19 aircraft by year-end 2026. Belmond's Britannic Explorer train, from July 21, 2025, charges £11,000 for three nights. Etihad’s A380 suite, ‘The Residence,’ resumed in 2023. MSC Group launched Explora III in July 2026, heading toward hydrogen-powered ships. Rotel Tours, founded 1945, celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2025.
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  • 2 min

European Commission Highlights Booking.com's Voluntary Measures Under Digital Markets Act, Removing Price Parity Clauses by 2024

💸 On September 28, the European Commission released a fact sheet on Booking.com's compliance with the Digital Markets Act. By November 14, 2024, Booking.com, a gatekeeper from May 2024, will allow hotels to offer different prices on other channels, including direct sites. Parity clauses vanished in 2024. Greece, Italy, and Spain continue related investigations, with Spain's €413.24 million fine on hold. Changes affect programs like Genius and Booking Sponsored Benefit, enhancing transparency and performance data access.
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  • 3 min

Nox Mobility Launches Hamburg-Munich Night Train with First Departure in March 2027, Tickets from €65

🚄 Nox Mobility unveiled its first carriage on September 23, 2023, at InnoTrans in Berlin, launching ticket sales for its Hamburg-Munich route starting March 23, 2027. Tickets start at €65, covering business travelers who opt for flights. Founded in 2025 by Thibault Constant and others, Nox raised €2 million in April from IBB Ventures. It leases 1980s carriages and plans a Zurich-Berlin route by December 2027. In 2024, 1.2 million flew this route.
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  • 2 min

Danish Chancellery in Berlin, Built in 1940, Survived WWII and Downgraded to Consulate by 1949

🏠 Denmark vacated its chancellery on Alsenstraße in the late 1930s for Albert Speer's "Welthauptstadt Germania" project. Demolitions in 1938-1939 rehoused tenants in Jewish-owned apartments. The Danish embassy, designed by Johann Emil Schaudt, was completed in 1940, featuring a 60-meter-long limestone facade on Drakestraße. Post-1940 invasion, Denmark maintained its diplomatic presence in Berlin. Damaged in WWII, it functioned as a military mission post-1946, downgraded to a consulate in December 1949.
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IHG to Open First Two Noted Collection Hotels in Tokyo's Ginza and Shinjuku by 2029

📍 In Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, a 207-key hotel owned by SC Capital Partners will be renovated by 2027, while an 81-key building will open in Ginza 8-chome by 2029, marking IHG's first signings in Asia-Pacific. Japan saw 3.1 million foreign visitors in August 2026, a 9.6% decrease from 2025 due to a 59% drop in Chinese tourists. IHG's Noted Collection, launched in 2026, aims for 150 hotels in ten years, falling short with five projects in seven months.
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Fabrizio Gaggio Appointed Head of Arsenale Group's New Hospitality Unit; €300M Bond Issued for Expansion

🏨 In September 2023, Fabrizio Gaggio became head of Arsenale Group's Hospitality Business Unit in Rome, leaving Starhotels where he was co-CEO since March 2024. Arsenale issued a €300 million bond in June 2023 and plans €140 million revenue by 2026. It operates Orient Express hotels in Rome and Venice, with new projects in Tuscany and Taormina by 2028. Arsenale International, led by Raffaele Breschi from May 2023, runs projects from Riyadh.
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Accor Launches ALL Concierge Globally with Higher Booking Conversion, Competing with Hilton, Marriott, and IHG AI Tools

📱 Unveiled on September 23, ALL Concierge by Accor is available in 11 languages and will be integrated into the ALL Accor app by year-end. Launched in July 2025, its pilot showed a 30%-40% booking involvement with higher conversion rates. Accor's direct-distribution strategy targets its 120 million members. Competitors like Hilton, Marriott, and IHG launched similar AI tools in 2023. Google also tested an AI-agent hotel booking system in the US with major partners but excluded Accor.
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Royal Caribbean Acquires 50% of Sandals Resorts for $3 Billion, Expanding Land-Based Hospitality Ventures

🛳 Royal Caribbean Group, on September 23, acquired 50% of Sandals Resorts International for about $3 billion, funded through Morgan Stanley-arranged debt. The deal values Sandals at $6 billion. The group plans to link loyalty programs and expand its land-based offerings. In 2025, Royal Caribbean carried 9.4 million passengers. Hurricane Melissa impacted Jamaican resorts, which will reopen in late 2025. Royal Caribbean's stock fell 6.1% due to concerns over debt and asset security.
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