At Black F, “temporary living” is reinterpreted. Black F stands for “Black Forest House” and combines the best of original and urban. Here guests feel the coziness of the Black Forest and enjoy the service of a modern hotel.
With 138 studios and suites, the Black F House in Freiburg offers a cozy home with a feel-good atmosphere. The fully equipped serviced apartments in a central and convenient location impress with their stylish and modern design. Free Wi-Fi, Smart TV as well as a fully equipped shower room, make it an ideal temporary accommodation for many.
Interview with Head of Operations Patrick Thoma
Please introduce yourself briefly and tell us what makes your hotel or hosting role special.
My name is Patrick Thoma and I am Head of Operations at Black F. We opened our first property in Freiburg in November 2020 with 138 serviced apartments. In October, the second house in Freiburg, our Black F Tower, will follow with 54 apartments. Our goal is to offer both long-term and short-term guests a comfortable temporary home away from home. The guest journey is completely digital, from booking to check-out. On site, we still rely on a friendly team that takes care of the wishes of our guests.
Did you or how did you do revenue management before you switched to happyhotel?
We worked with static rates at the beginning. However, especially in the shortstay segment, there is a lot of potential to increase ADR and RevPar.
What were the decision criteria for happyhotel?
We were looking for a revenue management tool that would give us the opportunity to yielden in the short-stay segment, but show transparent and continuous prices in the mid- and long-stay segment. Since we work with a very small staff, it was important to me that it runs largely automatically and that we only have to make adjustments now and then. We first came to happyhotel through the free integration with Apaleo, which provides good analyses of pick-up and occupancy.
How does happyhotel make your everyday life easier?
My day starts in the morning with the automatic reports from happyhotel. This gives me a good overview of where we currently stand. I can see from the ADR that we were able to achieve a nice increase in the shortstay compared to the previous year and that the prices vary depending on occupancy and demand, without me having to invest a lot of time every day.
Which features of happyhotel do you not want to miss anymore?
I definitely like the analysis section the best. It allows me to see in which segments we make the most sales and it provides us with important key figures that help us with our positioning.
What does the dynamic pricing process look like NOW for you guys?
Since we have been using happyhotel, our shortstay rates are automatically yielded, so we have been able to achieve significant increases in ADR and RevPar. In the beginning, I checked daily if the offered prices correspond to the demand, but now I trust the algorithm and am happy about the increased turnover.
How has your average workday changed since integrating happyhotel?
Since we started using happyhotel, I always look at the daily email report first thing in the morning. Fortunately, I don’t have to invest much time, but enjoy the automatic algorithm.
What is the best thing about happyhotel? Which feature do you feel saves you the most time?
The automatic price adjustments save me a lot of time on a day-to-day basis, as events, trade fairs and vacations are already stored and the price changes depending on demand.
Have you already made a recognizable additional turnover and if so, by what percentage have you been able to increase your turnover through happyhotel?
We were able to increase both ADR and RevPar by more than 10% while maintaining capacity utilization.
What are your personal tips for future happyhotel users?
It is best to start with the free integration and then try it out.
What do you wish for the future of happyhotel?
Even more increase in sales 🙂
Digitization in the hotel industry – what should a hotelier start with?
Digital guest journey and digital guest folder
What is your most important tool?
Our PMS from Apaleo
Patrick Thoma
Head of Operations bei Black F
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