News & Stories
Munich. The low budget design Motel One hotel chain and the International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef Bonn have signed an unusual cooperative agreement. Beginning next summer, each staff member can educate their self through to university study in modules on the new "One Campus".
Lausanne/Passugg. This Thursday past, the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne signed an agreement taking over 75% of the share capital of the Swiss School for Touristik und Hotellerie AG in Passugg.
Heilbronn. A sticking point in the coalition negotiations for the new government formation in Germany is the nationwide minimum wage of 8.50 Euro an hour demanded by the SPD. While large parts of the hospitality industry do not wish to support this, well-known executives are expressing themselves toward it. A reason: The image of the industry as an employer must be clearly improved. The discussion on the subject of "Minimum Wages" found in the middle of October within the scope of the 4th "Hospitality Symposium" held by the Heilbronn University was initiated by Prof. Dr. Christian Buer. The subject of the event to which more than 300 participants found their way was "Staff Members Sought – The Hospitality Industry as an Attractive Employer."
Duesseldorf. The gross monthly income of qualified hotel personnel on the basis of 38 hour weeks amounts to an average of 1,801 Euro without bonus payments. Half of the qualified hotel personnel earn less than 1,636 Euro. Employees in collective agreement operations are clearly better positioned with their monthly income and bonus payments.
Osnabrueck. Imagine that you must fill a management position and have two suitable applicants. One disposes of many years of management experience, the other has never led staff. On whom do you decide? You would most likely prefer the experienced executive. Such executives are generally considered as more competent than a staff member without management experience. A fateful mistake, as Psychology Professor Uwe Peter Kanning of the University of Osnabrueck has discovered. This has consequences in the personnel choices.
Paris. In its annual employment needs survey "Besoin de Main d’œuvre", the French government employment agency Pôle Emploi confirmed an urgent need for more staff in the hotel and hospitality industry. Hoteliers feel helpless.
The hot seat
Augsburg. Does a financial or real estate expert sit on the CEO seat of your company? And is the CEO fired every two years? Then your hotel group is hip. Or does your CEO still have their own financial board of directors and the time to consult with them? Then your hotel group belongs to the old guard! The fact that Accor's shareholders sent someone from their own ranks to the CEO seat last week is the culmination of an extreme development all around the globe. Will it lead the hospitality industry to the edge of the abyss? Over recent years, almost every new CEO who has been appointed to the top of the "Global Players" has not been a hotelier. The new hospitality leaders are coming from the financial and real estate or brands world. They have only rolled figures, grilled the other burger, sold the Nike shoes.... They are engaged because they are to be considered as creative, unconventional thinkers and bring fresh input. Stockholders have them called them in – and thrown them out again. What are these external leaders able to supposedly do better than hoteliers, what worse? How long will this change persist and what will the hotel CEO of the future look like? hospitalityInside.com has asked former CEOs, executives and headhunters.
Geneva. Kempinski President Reto Wittwer is now particularly calling hotel general managers to duty in the search and support of talent. Moreover, they themselves must go back to school. All senior managers within the hotel group should have an MBA by 2015. Only 62 percent of the hotel general managers have currently completed the management degree. Reto Wittwer does not think much of a central personnel department. "Corporate HR brings no value", the President and CEO of Kempinski Hotels & Resorts states. "They often behave in such a way as if they were a frustrated general manager and want to play king-maker."
Berlin. This information is not new: The situation within the education market has tightened, theyounger generation is scarce. Now, politics is interferingduring the election year in Germany. The SPD groupis requiringimprovements in the education situation within the hotel and catering industries and is even demandinga draught law. In turn, the German Hotel and Restaurants Association(Dehoga) maintains that this is excessive; indeed, everything has already long been regulated.
Bad Honnef. The German Hotel Director Association working in collaboration with the testing institute Dekra has created a new quality seal for "Excellent Training". Audits will now be used to ensure that young apprentices receive a proper and suitable training within the sector. The approach is positive, though as one personnel expert points out, it leaves questions unanswered. One must also ask why one of the smallest industry associations has decided to introduce such a scheme and why there has been no concerted action in Germany up to now. After all, the problem effects us all.