Furnished apartments for modern and individual requirements. This is the successful concept of SMARTments with which they primarily address the young target group.
The SMARTments Business Group is an innovative provider of furnished apartments in Germany and Austria. With eight locations in the best city locations, the group offers optimal conditions for business travelers. The apartments are modern and comfortably furnished and have all the amenities needed for a pleasant stay. Flexible booking and quick availability make SMARTments the ideal temporary home.
Interview with revenue manager Sophie von Finck
Please introduce yourself briefly and tell us what makes your hotel or hosting role special.
My name is Sophie and I am the Revenue Manager for the entire SMARTments business group in Germany and Austria. Our serviced apartments offer fully equipped studios for short and long stays, including kitchenette with ceramic hob, dishwasher, kettle, coffee maker, toaster and microwave with grill function, cleaning service, free Wi-Fi and thus everything you need. Say for a move to a new city, you only need the clothes and not the matching furniture.
Did you or how did you do revenue management before you switched to happyhotel?
We already practiced revenue management before happyhotel, but price control was carried out manually in a very time-consuming manner.
What were the decision criteria for happyhotel?
Of course, I compared happyhotel with other providers, but happyhotel completely convinced us/myself in the end, especially because of the speed and flexibility in the setup and the very intuitive operation.
How does happyhotel make your everyday life easier?
Since our employees in the hotels, who are also responsible for price control and monitoring, have weekends off (me too, by the way ;-)), the autopilot in price control is of course the biggest relief for us at happyhotel.
Which features of happyhotel do you not want to miss anymore?
The price control is designed very intuitively, so you are in the topic without complicated and lengthy training and can just get started. On vacation, I don’t have to worry about missing anything, because EVERYONE in our company can quickly operate the system on the side 😉
The ability to spontaneously and self-segment the rate schedules that are transmitted from Apaleo for my analysis purposes to price or market segments.
What does the dynamic pricing process look like NOW for you guys?
In a nutshell: relaxed and fast.
How has your average workday changed since integrating happyhotel?
A significant time savings in yielding, so I can go more into analytics and you have time to react for the future.
What is the best thing about happyhotel? Which feature do you feel saves you the most time?
I especially like the demand setting for events. It allowed me to “teach” the algorithm the price reactions very easily, especially after the last two years of Pandemic.
What are your personal tips for future happyhotel users?
Be open to new ways. The market moves at such short notice, so you should actively use the flexibility of happyhotel in the setup.
Digitization in the hotel industry – what should a hotelier start with?
A simple, customized PMS and a good revenue tool. That is already a good basis in terms of digitization. Then come the finer points, such as guest service tools, etc.
What do you wish for the future of happyhotel?
That you remain as you are! Flexible, fast and individual in the possibilities for the individual customers, because despite various possible standards, the individual possibilities and spontaneous adjustments for short-term market reactions are very helpful and necessary.
I would also like to see even more reporting options and more options for additional “sub-segments”.
Name three things you would give to other hoteliers.
Get away from the old structures, be open to new dynamic systems, motivate and above all involve our own employees in all ranks for new things in the hope that they will in turn attract new employees to our cool industry!
Sophie von Finck
Revenue Manager at SMARTments Business Group
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