Germany
Motel One: no clouds over its growth
The German group Motel One, which has built its reputation on contemporary hotels at affordable prices, is slowly but surely approaching the 100-establishment mark. Operating mainly in Germany, as well as in Paris, near Porte Dorée in the 12th arrondissement, the hotelier had 88 hotels at the end of last year. But it can also...
Total transport strike in Germany on 27 March
On Monday 27 March, Germany is preparing for a total strike across all transport services. The strike will affect trains, airports and even motorway companies. It's a situation reminiscent of what's happening in France, and one that the German Airports Association (ADV) is quick to point out, with talk of an escalation in the...
Lufthansa confirms a new regional airline based in Munich
There was already Lufthansa, and there was also Eurowings. And now a third German airline, a subsidiary of the group, is taking shape at Munich airport: City Airlines. The project, launched in May 2022, includes 40 Airbus A319 aircraft for this airline, which will operate point-to-point services from the capital...
Lufthansa to tighten its summer schedule for 2023
At the end of last year, Lufthansa promised that the terrible conditions of the summer of 2022, with its stream of delays, airport congestion, queues at security checks and lost luggage, would not be repeated in 2023. Not a chance. The German group has decided to anticipate possible problems...
An agreement between Volotea and Eurowings will strengthen regional routes between France and...
The partnership signed with the German low-cost carrier Eurowings gives Volotea its first presence in Germany. Until now, the airline has only operated scheduled charters on behalf of Airbus between Toulouse and Hamburg. Volotea will be offering eight new routes from Germany to France and Italy, where it operates bases. The...
France on the way to a single public transport ticket...
Will a single ticket (and possibly a single fare) for public transport be the big idea for European transport in 2023? Following the introduction of the €9 ticket last year in Germany - a promotion allowing travel for a month on all regional public transport - the success of the operation has led...
Deutsche Bahn is now displaying the occupancy rate of its trains...
More comfort and flexibility for passengers. This is what Deutsche Bahn (DB) wants to achieve with the launch of electronic panels displaying the occupancy rates of its carriages in real time. Information on how full the carriages are is now transmitted directly to passengers on the platforms, in the carriages and also via...
Saarbrücken, a business city at the heart of the Franco-German relationship
Setting up in Germany for a French company? Many decision-makers would immediately think of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich or Stuttgart. And yet, far from the prestige of setting up in one of these major German metropolises, there is one city that particularly attracts the French: Saarbrücken. A city that, with its 185,000...
Deutsche Bahn steps up its digital rail investments
Planning for the Digital Schiene Deutschland (Digital Rail Network in Germany) is gathering pace. The Federal Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, and the Director of Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn (DB), Berthold Huber, signed agreements to this effect in Berlin on 8 December. As a result, the contract to finance this infrastructure has been increased from approximately...
FREENOW extends its app to public transport and centralises payments...
Business travellers whose companies are both FREENOW for Business and American Express customers for the centralised payment of their travel expenses will no longer have to download their receipts after their errands, or create expense reports. In fact, these key players in the business travel sector, each in their own field, have decided to...
Zleep Hotels continues to expand from Northern to Central Europe
The budget brand Zleep Hotels, which first appeared near Copenhagen airport in 2003, is continuing to expand in its home country. Partly acquired in 2019 by the Deustche Hospitality group - parent company of the Steigenberger and InterCity Hotels brands, among others - the brand now has 15 establishments in Denmark, with the opening of...
Business travellers may have to pay for their stay...
Until now, business travellers have been exempt from paying tourist tax in Berlin hotels. The regional parliament has decided otherwise, and it is highly likely that from 2023 they will have to pay their share. Accommodation tax has existed in Germany for around ten years and, as in France, it varies...
IHG is thinking bigger in Germany and Turkey
October saw the IHG offer in Germany and Turkey grow in strength. Two successive announcements were published by the hotel group, which will be extending its accommodation options for business travellers to these two business destinations. In Germany, a contract has been signed with Solutions4Hotels GmbH for...
A rail and road tunnel to bring Denmark and Germany closer together
It is one of the European Union's major infrastructure projects. The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel began in 2020. It is one of a number of new constructions designed to improve mobility in Europe. The 18 km-long tunnel will be built on the Fehmarn Strait between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland....
MICE: Europa Park can thank the SNCF
Europa Park will be able to boost its MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events) business thanks to the new Inoui TGV stop at Ringsheim/Europa Park station from 11 December onwards on the Paris-Fribourg-en-Brisgau service, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. This means that the theme park will be 2 hours 37 minutes from Paris-Est, 2 hours 19 minutes from...
Deutsche Bahn unveils its winter programme
Deutsche Bahn (DB) is continuing to improve its ICE offer with its 2023 timetable. Of course, this applies to domestic German lines, but it can also be an advantage for French travellers who prefer the train. For example, the densification of the Cologne-Munich line, with two ICEs per hour. As for trains...
Hyatt: "y a de la joie" with Lindner Hotels
The Hyatt group is going to give a real boost to its JdV brand in Europe. Expected to open in Bordeaux at the end of the year, this lifestyle brand, which promotes "Joie de Vivre" - hence JdV - has only recently made its appearance on the continent. To date, it has opened one hotel in Rome and three others in Sweden, in Stockholm and...
Lufthansa demands more rail lines for its Munich hub
Lufthansa is once again pounding its fists on the issue of services to Munich airport. The German hub, the country's second busiest with 12.5 million passengers in 2021 (47.9 million in 2019), has a mediocre rail network. A handful of bus routes and two S-Bahn (suburban railway) lines link...
Strike announced, then cancelled at Lufthansa on 7 and 8 September
Updated on 6/09 at 5pm. After a strike which saw Lufthansa cancel more than 800 flights from Frankfurt and Munich last weekend, the German pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit called a new strike, this time for Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 September. The...
Lufthansa paralysed by strike action at its Frankfurt and Paris...
No fewer than 800 flights were cancelled on Friday by Lufthansa, whose operations are paralysed by a strike initiated by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union. In other words, almost all of the airline's operations to and from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs have ground to a halt. A total of 130,000...








































