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They don’t have to close, but they don’t have many guests either. How do larger and smaller houses deal with extended “lockout light”? Two hoteliers describe their situation.
By Iris Marx, tagesschau.de
Two years ago, the 25h hotel group settled behind the golden facade of a former insurance company in Cologne’s Friesenviertel. Right in the lobby, one immediately notices the remnants of iconic office furniture from the 50s and the very modern armchairs that are reminiscent of small spaceships. A cheerful place with many bright colors, which after the extension of the partial closure will not be seen by many guests in December either.
However, operations cannot be completely stopped, says director Grit Pauling. tagesschau.de. “We have 207 rooms in the house, which, despite the low occupancy, always have to be looked after. From the plants to the dust that only re-forms after a day,” says Pauling.. Almost all hotel employees have a part-time job. “We do our best to keep all the employees busy. Now that our bar is closed, the bartender sometimes works a night shift as a concierge. The room service employees take care of room maintenance. It works quite well.”
Creativity and flexibility required
“Now we have to go down paths that we did not think of before.” This includes not only offering rooms for classic overnight stays. “With us, guests can also reserve the rooms as a home office. Now we also use portals like eBay or Airbnb for our offers,” said the director. In this way, and due to the business overnight stays that are still allowed, the house still has an occupancy rate of 25 percent today.
Actually, a lot had already been prepared for the holidays, “but that doesn’t seem to work at first. So now we want to offer our menu from our restaurant as takeout,” says Pauling. “Maybe something will happen until December 20.” So far, apart from short-term work, the hotel has not received any help from the federal government. “We have a lot of staying power, but we cannot fully cope with losses. We will ask for help now, let’s see if and how much it will be.”
The Christmas business is not worth it
Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and several other federal states want to allow hotel stays for relatives visiting at Christmas. But that wouldn’t help many companies, especially in the restaurant sector, says Ingrid Hartges, CEO of the German Association of Hotels and Restaurants Dehoga. “In a quick survey of our association’s businesses, nearly 90 percent said that opening them for just five days between Christmas and New Years doesn’t work.” The use of staff is too expensive for that. This especially applies to houses in sparsely populated areas. “The perspective of more help gives companies perspective,” says Hartges.
Uncertainty about federal government aid
When the November aid is paid, which has now been extended to December. And it is clear to all companies exactly when and how much they receive. “It’s hard to calculate at the moment,” says Berlin hotelier André Falckenberg. tagesschau.de. The Myer’s Hotel Berlin, with its 51 rooms, is one of the smallest hotels. For him, prolonged blockage is painful. “All of our 17 employees have part-time jobs. Right now, there are hardly any overnight guests,” says Falckenberg.
However, you don’t want to shut down completely, if only for external effect. “There are many relatives of our neighbors in the area who stay with us during their visits. We also want to point out: we are still there for you.” If the federal state of Berlin does not change its mind. The ability to plan remains a challenge for most.
