Gin, Gin!

Munich. How do you keep budget fresh and alive? Especially when you expand quickly, like Motel One, to become a large international chain. The Munich-based "Low Budget Design" group leads the way: in interior design, in its lighting concept, at the breakfast table, at the bar and in its recent image video. It even dares to use the word "luxury". After all, it furnishes its "One Lounges" exclusively with expensive design originals. Daniel Mueller, Chief Operating Officer of the group, explains how the group manages this and the innovations which will soon await the guest. His statement: For a budget hotel group, Motel One has "value surplus"!

Munich. 400 employees of Motel One and the company management were desperately trying to out-smile each other: at the start of the annual meeting, the young general managers and department heads from the low-budget design group's 48 hotels were the first to take a look at the new rooms of the "One Campus". These are located in the heart of a 500-room Motel One unit at Tegernseer Landstrasse in Munich, right below the Motel One headquarters. A portion of these 400 young people will add some liveliness to Motel One Muenchen City Sued: during their studies, they will also be living there – together with regular guests. In the elevator, they thus might meet CEO Dieter Mueller and his team. With its new "One University", Motel One has created a role model of employee motivation. And it introduces a new benchmark to the industry.

Munich. Dieter Mueller is deeply relaxed. In Munich, in front of him on the conference table there are Scottish whiskey candies in a bowl; they are a sweet symbol of the successful Motel One launch in Edinburgh in January. There, the egg chairs by Arne Jacobsen, which are typical for Motel One, have a tartan pattern; however, apart from that, the German low budget design chain wants to remain faithful to its chosen path, also abroad. The success proves the chain right, as shown in the annual report 2012 last week: the net profit is nearly 21 million Euro, which is six million more than in the previous year. Where does the founder and CEO of the Motel One Group see the saturation limit of a city, which micro locations is he aiming for, will he be able to maintain the fixed-rate model abroad, and when will he sell? Dieter Mueller and his wife Uschi Schelle-Mueller, responsible for marketing and design in the business, openly talked with hospitalityInside.com about the status quo and the tricks of the trade. "Before we feel the pain, the world has to be suffering really badly," says Mueller relaxed.