What is your assessment of the last 12 months?

When the numerous Corona requirements for hotels were removed in spring last year, the hotel market has breathed a sigh of relief. People travelled again, trade fairs and business trips took place again. As a result, hotel prices were able to rise again - on average, they were even more than ten percent higher than the record prices of the pre-Corona year 2019. However, the fact that hotel companies were able to celebrate record revenues as a result is only half the truth. Energy prices have exploded, the wage settlements have resulted in massive salary increases for the employees. All in all, this continues to be a challenging market environment for the operators. However, due to our lean structure and centralized processes, we at Ruby Hotels can handle a volatile market environment comparatively well, so we continue to focus on expansion. For example, four more Ruby Hotels opened across Europe in the last 12 months, and one more is due to open in 2023.      

Specifically, the first half of 2023?

The first half of 2023 developed quite well operationally. Nevertheless, the situation was different on the hotel investment side, which was characterized by the wait-and-see attitude of many buyers and sellers in the first half of the year, who continued to observe the geopolitical and macroeconomic situation. Of course, this is also reflected in the growth rate of a hotel group. However, we are more active than ever, and our strong development team is continuously working hard to expand our hotel portfolio and to bring our Lean Luxury philosophy into all European markets.
 

Since the creation of company and brand in 2013, has the concept evolved and how? 

Ruby’s “Lean Luxury” concept was developed as a ‘best-of’ of the hotel...