KONCEPT HOTELS is an rising hotel group known for its distinctive style and distinguished by its use of fair, eco-friendly and digital methods. At the same time, each of the six KONCEPT HOTELS hotels has a special design that tells its own story.
A central focus of the hotel chain is innovation. KONCEPT HOTELS relies on state-of-the-art technology and a high degree of automation in many areas. So it was only a matter of time to bring revenue management to the next level.
An Interview with Sabine Schrempp, Revenue & Capacity Manager at KONCEPT HOTELS
Please introduce yourself briefly and tell us what makes your hotel or hosting role special.
My name is Sabine Schrempp and I am Revenue & Capacity Manager at KONCEPT HOTELS with currently 5 hotels in Germany and one hotel in Switzerland. We are rethinking the hotel industry and have placed our focus on digitalization and sustainability. With us, both leisure and corporate guests will find a comfortable room in the short or long-stay area.
Did you or how did you do revenue management before you switched to happyhotel?
Yes, we already had revenue management before happyhotel. Of course, this was much more time-consuming without a system. Due to the fact that we are located in Cologne with 3 hotels and the city has a lot of trade fairs and events, we often lagged behind the pick-up with the price control.
What were the decision criteria for happyhotel?
The decision in choosing happyhotel was not an easy one for us last year. Of course, we also checked out the competition in the RMS sector and put all the systems in question through their paces. We were finally convinced by happyhotel, because with happyhotel we found a system but also a partner who is very innovative and thinks things in a new way. The speed in the operational readiness, the simple onboarding as well as the simple operability were decisive factors. It was also important to us that segments & room categories could be yielded independently. Another big factor was Rafael’s pitch last year at the SO!APART event and happyhotel’s vision for the future.
How does happyhotel make your everyday life easier?
First thing in the morning, I look at the automated reports from Happyhotel during my first coffee and get an overview of where and how we currently stand. Then I go into more detail and check the system’s price decision. A manual intervention is less and less necessary, because with the great support team of happyhotel we could adapt the system exactly to our needs and trust the system.
Which features of happyhotel do you not want to miss anymore?
Definitely, the pick up report. Since we are currently running on MEWS, I had always looked at all the bookings of the presentation without happyhotel. Now I don’t have to do this anymore, because happyhotel shows these numbers at a glance. The analyses are also a good help to understand the market and the hotels better and to make decisions and measures proactively and without having to search for numbers.
What does the dynamic pricing process look like NOW for you guys?
Since we have been using happyhotel in all our locations, the daily rate is automatically adjusted. So we can pay more attention to the strategy around it and enjoy an increasing ADR and RevPar without having to manually adjust the prices every day. Even small price changes of € 1 – € 5 per room make a big difference in the overall result.
How has your average workday changed since integrating happyhotel?
Through the integration, I save time in yielding and can devote my attention to other topics of the day. Thus, we can invest the additional time gained in processes, analyses, etc., which would otherwise be put on the back seat.
What is the best thing about happyhotel? Which feature do you feel saves you the most time?
The analysis area to quickly and easily get an evaluation also in comparison to the previous year or a special date. Without happyhotel and depending on the data basis of the PMS, this would be associated with a very high effort and sometimes not possible.
Have you already made recognizable additional sales and if so, by what percentage have you been able to increase your sales through happyhotel? (Estimate)
This question is currently difficult to answer, as the ongoing pandemic in recent years has resulted in a different booking pattern and some of our properties have opened during this period. However, we feel that we can achieve very good ADR on days with high demand and will maintain this focus in the future.
What are your personal tips for future happyhotel users?
I can only recommend to everyone to test the product in the free trial version, and make up their own opinion.
Digitization in the hotel industry – what should a hotelier start with?
Digital guest journey to make everyday life easier for reservation & receptionists
What do you wish for the future of happyhotel?
That we continue to have a great and close collaboration and you don’t stop developing. I’m looking forward to when the test version for group evaluations is launched and we can test it.
Name three things you would give to other hoteliers.
Not getting stuck with old structures. Have the courage to go new ways to become attractive for employees in the industry again. There are so many ways to simplify everyday work and to focus on the core competence of “being a host” and perfect it every day.
Sabine Schrempp
Revenue & Capacity Manager bei KONCEPT HOTELS
You also want to increase your sales through dynamic prices? Test our hotel software now 14 days free of charge and convince yourself of our advantages!
✓ Up to 25% increase in sales
✓ Clear data analysis
✓ Fully automated room rate optimization
Try happyhotel now for free