News & Stories
Munich. Two hotels in Munich guarantee far higher standards than required of their category. Every guest is invited to download them from the homepage. If the criteria are not met, the guest may demand "compensation".
Abu Dhabi. In the luxurious Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, a little more peace will obviously set in soon: a new general manager seems to have been found after Willy Optekamp's surprising Goodbye in April, and Kempinski's CEO Reto Wittwer is happy that the differences with the owners have been settled. Kempinski will remain the operator of the palace.
Westlake Village. Despite rising room rates and increased hotel occupancy, customer satisfaction in the hotel industry is up, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study released yesterday.
Duesseldorf/Essen. For realising the data protection requirements, Lindner Hotels have engaged an external data protection officer. The first steps have already been taken, but the basic implementation of the legal requirements alone will take about nine months. This are the timeframes, all hoteliers should allow for, if they want to build up a qualified and sustainable data protection level in their house.
Munich. Data protection and customer relationship management are closely interlinked. The following article provides an overview of the different areas of data protection and the possible consequences of neglect for companies, especially in connection with marketing.
Munich. Students of the Munich University of Applied Sciences have tested the ten biggest German hotel groups in terms of data protection. Only two—Kempinski and Steigenberger – came out with satisfactory results. Accor, Best Western, InterContinental, Maritim, Hilton, HospitalityAlliance, Marriott and Starwood either did not answer queries at all or evaded questions. The example shows: The hotel industry still deals insufficiently with this sensitive issue. However, it has become law in the meantime.
Frankfurt/M. Another certificate for the German hotel industry is in the offing: As of August, the two pilot hotels, Steigenberger and InterCity Hotel at Frankfurt airport will flaunt the first "Certified Conference Hotel" label on their entrance doors. 250 hotels are to be certified within the next two years. With its criteria, the initiator, Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V., wants to place planning reliability and trust in German conference qualities in the hands of professional organisers of congresses. Meanwhile, the first VDR certification project, the "Certified Hotel", is hovering.
Berlin. The old name is gone and even the differences to a hotel have become completely blurred. The market segment of apartments is going through a radical change. The old term "boarding house" always radiated a slight red-light atmosphere, while the new term "serviced apartments" allows for fewer implications. That sounds serious. And now, it is to become even more serious: 72 hotels in Germany are to undergo a quality check and be categorised this autumn.
Berlin. Just like the classic hotel industry, Germany's serviced apartment market is struggling with overcapacities, mixed concepts and price dumping. In contrast to "pure" hotels, this market segment is definitely more unstable says Anett Gregorius, Managing Director Boardinghouse Consulting in Berlin, Germany's leading consulting and reservation company in this business segment, in its latest market assessment.