Hotels in Europe Gearing up for a Reopen!
Across Europe, many countries are gradually reopening hotels. Hotels in Germany reopened on 29 May and has reopened its borders to the tourists of neighbouring Luxembourg. Germany is scheduled to reopen its border with Switzerland, France, and Austria as likely of June 15.
Similarly, hotels also opened in Austria at the end of May, with borders to Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein due to reopen on 15 June.
On 15 June Switzerland will reopen its borders with Germany, Austria and France and on 6 July it will open up to the remaining Schengen countries. As of now hotels, restaurants, and shops are opened in Austria. Most EU countries have announced that, in the next two months, Covid-19 restrictions will ease.
As countries in Europe begin to open up, consumer confidence is growing. The current figures from the Duetto Pulse analysis state that from 11–17 May to 25–31 May, web traffic for stays in EMEA in June to August increased by 165 per cent over the previous week. New bookings for stays during the same period increased by 195 per cent over the previous week. Strong signals that demand is returning, that being said, these numbers remain approximately 85 per cent behind the STLY figures.
In the DACH region (Germany, Austria & Switzerland), there has been an increase in searches for stay dates in the immediate short term, with a 173 per cent increase in June. New June bookings saw a whopping 343 per cent increase in the above-mentioned timeline.
Online activity in Iberia (Spain, Portugal, Andorra & Gibraltar) rose by 288 per cent during the summer season from June to August. Likewise, new bookings for June, July and August jumped 292 per cent in the time between 11 May to 31 May.
In this blog, let’s delve into the operation of some hotels in the DACH region of Europe and how they are using the downtime and what changes they have made to their revenue strategies, and their plans for the ‘new normal.
A change in “modus operandi”
The operator of serviced apartments, The Flag remained open throughout the pandemic, though with some alterations to its operations. Its gym and breakfast areas are all closed, but its self-contained apartments are still being used.
According to Florian Kuch, Revenue Manager at the Flag, several of its assets have seen a decline in occupancy of 30–40 per cent, but have never gone beyond that. And remaining open has had a positive impact on the brand’s online ratings.
“We are now in the top four for Zurich, for the whole Zurich market, which is great to see,” Kuch said.
While the Flag did not shut, it made improvements to its procedures, including plexiglass at its front desk, mobile disinfection facilities around the premises, and one staff leader now responsible for the daily cleaning of all touchpoints on the building, such as door handles and elevator buttons.
Into the reopen phase
The team at the Sacher Wien Hotel was busy with painting, waxing floors, polishing chandeliers, and setting up tables. The hotel was opened on 29 May.
“In the past few weeks, we’ve been coming together more than ever before. Just like it was meant to be in a family business! “Paul Sorantin, Head of Marketing, said to Sacher Hotels.
“All that’s left to do is slip on the masks! The health and safety of our guests and staff is our top priority. We have taken all precautions so that guests can enjoy their visit as before, “Sorantin added.
As Germany is re-opening its borders and developing tourism, GSH intends to re-open its properties in phases.
The GSH team have spent hours contacting clients and corporate companies to figure out when they were trying to restart their trip. It helped them assess future demand and influenced their decisions to re-open hotels first.
One of the biggest challenges is that restrictions vary from state to state in Germany. Sauter explained how hotels in Hamburg are limited to a maximum of 60 per cent occupancy, while hotel rooms in other states must remain decommissioned for seven nights after being occupied.
The creation of the new segment
The Flag began targeting a new segment in Munich which is the young professionals. The new segment offered a significant discount targeting young professionals, providing a minimum term of one month but flexible cancellation terms. The Flag advertised this offer on the housing platforms.
Besides, Kuch has created a similar offer for students, with a discount applicable to anyone with a student ID. Both segments performed well and generated a steady stream of business throughout this low-demand era. GSH also re-segmented to take advantage of the long-stay market.
The biggest challenge for the company, however, is to adapt to a huge drop in Chinese travellers. Sauter demonstrated how the group focused on both the FIT and domestic markets. The company works closely with local tourism agencies for domestic tourism promotion.
An investment in technology
For implementation a closed hotel is perfect. No-one is interrupted. So over the crisis that was the good thing. At the Flag, Kuch used the downtime to improve the content of the brand on extranets, GDSs and other channels of distribution. The primary emphasis was on the content information, modifying photos, and looking at speed settings and explanations of the rate plan.
“Generally, I was restructuring the whole rate set-up that we have because nowadays. Nobody’s booking a non-refundable rate anymore,” Kuch explained.
Conclusion:
The DACH countries are among the first to see reopening of hotels in Europe. Hoteliers should offer good tips to those who are only starting to plan for a resumption of operations, like getting anything that is needed early including the employee mask, which is of enormous importance at this stage. It is important to concentrate on the core market, especially with the long-stay company
As Europe’s hotels continue to opening up, the goal now is to raise visibility, partner with local tourism boards and make the best of what little advertisement investment is possible. Those markets that can access your property by car or train should be the priority, as air travel remains limited.
