Local and International Trends in Hospitality and Gastronomy

International hotel chains

According to the recent trends, it can be stated, that hotel mergers and acquisitions in the hospitality industry are still expected to accelerate. Similarly to other economic sectors, two main growth strategies can be differentiated within the hotel brand sector: growth by brand acquisition and growth by organic development efforts (Pohlman 2017). In the international hotel industry, where company sizes ranges from small family businesses to hotels with 600 000 room capacity, it is a great challenge to harmonise the ways of operation within an international hotel chain. Analysing different statistical hotel industry reports it can be concluded that the number of chain and branded hotels are growing (Table 1).
Furthermore, reports related to hotel management trends in the 21^st century indicate that several brands have developed locally, providing market space for international competition. McKenney (2016) stated that the increasing popularity of third-party managers indicate how investors in the hotel industry are beginning to demand transparency in the operations management. Related to operation management within the hotel industry five main business model can be differentiated:

1. 
   property fully owned and operated by the hotel brand
   
2. 
   property leased by a hotel brand
   
3. 
   property owned by a third party and managed by a hotel chain
   
4. 
   property owned by a third party and managed by a “non-branded” specialist management company
   
5. 
   property owned by a third party, with a franchise agreement with a hotel chain.
   

Similarly like the asset and operation management, also the food and beverage services can be categorized based on the ownership and type of operation: in- house operated services, managed services, franchised services and outsourced managed services.

Table 1. International hotel chains in numbers