Spotlight interview
Interview with Ulrike Hahn, Sales Manager Leisure, Arcona Hotels & Resorts
1. You are an established ETOA member. Can you tell us more about your hotels and how you are promoting them internationally?
Founded in 2008, Arcona Hotels & Resorts, based in Rostock, Germany, is a company specialising in the operation and development of hotels. In 2019, we reoriented towards leisure and holiday hotels, individual boutique hotels and 5-star hotels to cater for the upscale segment and for modern travellers. The group’s seven hotels are located in established holiday destinations such as the islands Rügen, Sylt, Usedom and Kitzbühel in Tyrol. The well-known Hotel Elephant Weimar, the traditional Romantik Hotel auf der Wartburg and the Golfclub Schloss Teschow are also part of the Arcona portfolio. Barefoot Hotels, designed by the actor Til Schweiger, will bring a new business segment and the first project in Tegernsee has just been announced.
Each hotel’s location generates different interest from the international markets and the sales strategies therefore had to be individually adapted to each hotel. The targeted markets are Germany, Austria, Switzerland and for some hotels Scandinavia, United Kingdom, but also USA, Canada and Russia.
2. How have you adapted to the new reality and how are you planning for the re-start of international clients arriving?
Our hotels are located in excellent places to meet the new trends of nature trips and active travel. For example, we offer our guests a wide range of programmes for hiking enthusiasts and cyclists, with tour suggestions, the possibility to rent bicycles or to get a packed lunch. Our special focus is on golf, as we have our own 18-hole course in Teschow/ Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. However, there is also a choice of high-quality professional golf courses in Kitzbühel, Sylt and Heringsdorf our guests can explore.
Before booking and during the check-in, we inform guests about the current pandemic guidelines in the individual regions and support them in implementing them, for instance by providing FFP2 masks and quick tests at the hotel. The procedures within the hotels are also subject to the highest hygiene protection measures and for our international guests, we are constantly expanding our information kit in English.
3. You regularly attend ETOA workshops including the Global European Marketplace. It would be great to know how the events work for you?
Participating in the ETOA events is very important to us. There are some elements of the in-presence events that I appreciate more; for instance, the exchange with members is possible outside the agreed appointments and more spontaneous conversations can be held.
The appointment scheduling via the portal is easy and straightforward, the descriptions of the member companies are very clear making it effortless to find suitable partners for potential future cooperation in the desired target markets. The excellent organisation has made every event a success for me so far. The follow-up after the events gives us the opportunity to share the appropriate material information with the partners we met and build a solid relationship with them.
Outside of the events, the extensive members’ search area offers us a wide range of important partners and very good contacts to share experiences with. Also, I would like to particularly emphasise the many helpful discussions with the ETOA staff which are always very useful.
