Month: February 2017

According to Wealth-X’s research, in 2015 there were 2,473 billionaires in the world – a 6.4 percent increase from the year before.

Billionaires are now wealthy beyond belief – and they are getting much wealthier than the broader ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) population, which is defined as anyone with more than $30 million.

In 2015, there were 212,615 Billionaires and UHNWIs:

• At the bottom end, 155,050 people worth between $30 million and $99 million had a combined wealth of $8.4 trillion.
• At the top end, the world’s 2,473 billionaires were worth a combined total of $7.68 trillion.
• The Top 10 — nine from the United States, one from Spain — have a combined net worth of $582 billion.

Overall, the pace of growth in billionaires worldwide is predicted to slow in line with economic growth around the world. Wealth-X reports that by 2020 the number will actually decline by 16 percent to 3,250, from an earlier prediction of 3,873.

Number of Billionaires on Wealth-X’s list by Sector

1. Finance has 377 (15 percent of the world’s billionaires).
2. Industrial conglomerates, with 317 (13 percent).
3. Global real estate is third with 141.
4. Non-profits (i.e. they made their money some other way or inherited it) has 122.
5. Manufacturing has 120.
6. Technology has 114 (NB six of the top 10 billionaires made their money in technology).

Where Are They?

Although billionaires in the United States are often better known, there are actually more billionaires in Europe (though they have less total wealth than their American counterparts).

According to research from UBS, a new billionaire is created every three days in Asia. Two-thirds of the region’s billionaires are in China, where the number continues to rise quickly.

Excerpts taken from the New York Times article, “The Most Exclusive Club.”

 

 

Brand value is all powerful and vital to the growth of hospitality brands, yet according to recent indices from Interbrand, WPP (BrandZ^TM) and Forbes Most Valuable Brand Index, there are no hotel brands in the top 100 global brands, reports international law firm Taylor Wessing. The 2017 Brand Finance Top 500 Global Brands Report ranks hospitality companies as Hilton (171), Booking.com (274), Marriott (332), Expedia (367) and then Sheraton (443).

Perhaps even more striking, the hospitality “service companies” are becoming as recognisable and valuable as the hotels they feature. With increasing market presence and massive marketing budgets, the signs are that these will put the hotel brands under even more pressure to deliver on their brand value and recognition.

If hotel brands are to compete with the plethora of alternative accommodation now offered by web-based companies such as Airbnb (ranked at 474, but predicted to climb), they must find better methods of targeting young consumers. Millennials tend to trust reviews from their peers, value convenience, and will not accept brand prestige as a reason for checking in. These considerations offer unique international real estate marketing opportunities, some of which hotel brands are already trying to take advantage of.

For example, in 2015 Marriott launched a new chain, Moxy Hotels, specifically targeted at young travellers who place their emphasis on experiences over materialism.

“We did tons of research to find out what millennials wanted, and the ideas of authenticity and communal spaces were very important. The idea is to create a living room where you can hang out with people and also always be plugged in,” said Vicki Poulos, global brand director of Moxy Hotels. “It’s like a boutique hotel that has the social heart of a hostel. That’s why people stay at an Airbnb, so we built a brand that had that same communal spirit.”

Clearly, hotel brands know what they need to do, it’s just a case of making a consistent effort that will raise their value over the coming years.