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Bianca Spalteholz, President of Frankfurt Hotel Alliance speaks on TravelDailyNews for this new initiative in the Hotel segment in Germany and the targets of the alliance.
TravelDailyNews: Why did you take the decision to establish the Frankfurt Hotel Alliance?
Bianca Spalteholz: The motto of the Frankfurt Hotel Alliance (FHA) is: Working together as a team is the only way to compete on the international marketplace! The active group of hoteliers of 24 luxury and first class hotels regularly met once every month since many years. The recently formed official platform FHA is a local initiative to present their hotels not only one by one to the international market but in a group with own ideas on how to approach the visitor of Frankfurt. The image of Frankfurt of being a metropolis where only fairs, congresses, banks and insurances and the Rhein-Main Airport reigns the scene is not positive enough when it comes to leisure tourism. The city is a shopper’s delight and also offers a great range of cultural and outdoor activities. Very few people in the world know this. You can experience friendly local hospitality and enjoy a wide variety of professional gastronomy and cosmopolitan hotels. Where else can you discover so much diversity in such a small area? After the model “Greater London” FHA wants to promote the idea of “Greater Frankfurt” the fascinating city of Frankfurt am Main and the picturesque Rhine-Main region. Presenting a mixture of events, cultural activities, places of interest, congresses, fairs & exhibitions and concerts is also a main feature in the portal of the Frankfurt Hotel Alliance. It further initiates and plans strategies for its member hotels in the region, as well as actively participating, on behalf of the hoteliers, in top level forums and discussions related to topics in the travel industry and the region.
TDN: What are your targets for 2006-2007?
B. S.: Targets for next year are to visit more tourist exhibitions and fairs, getting more international traffic to the for the hotels cost free booking engine and to the internet portal. FHA will initiate an exchange of apprenticeships between the hotels. Through the Website FHA will try to attract both event organizers looking for a one-stop-shop and leisure travellers who look for a young and fresh cultural city.
TDN: How will this alliance benefit business and leisure travelers arriving to Frankfurt?
B. S.: First initiatives with big local and national events like Cirque du Soleil, Bollywood Show, Tigerpalast etc. have been started as a pilot. Visitors, who buy a ticket for those shows, may stay in the FHA Hotels for 10 % less.
This website also gives organizers the possibility to inform themselves thoroughly and in a structured pattern about the member hotels. For companies and congress organizers that are searching for rooms in this category, they can view a summary of information regarding meeting rooms and congress possibilities and download the information as PDF fact sheet. They can also check the room prices and availability of the individual hotels in the alliance and then make a booking online.
TDN: What will the benefits for the hotel-members of alliance be?
B. S.: The benefits for the members are cost free bookings and an adequate presentation of their products on a platform with similar hotels imbedded in a surrounding of nearly 6000 hotel rooms and conference capacities and meeting facilities with a total capacity of 239 rooms hosting up to 12,000 persons.
TDN: Major hotel chains from Germany and abroad are part of the alliance. How does this help the operations and targets of FHA? Does it give more prestige to FHA?
B. S.: Most of the hotels are branded, but there are also individual hotels. It helps every party to complement each other. Having many branded hotels in the group certainly assists and sustains the image.
TDN: How will FHA be able to boost the meetings and conference industry in the region? What is the market share of MICE industry in Frankfurt?
B. S.: FHA does not want to be understood as an incoming Agent or a MICE Organizer. They just offer a central platform and a central point of communication: One mail: 24 Hotels in one shop. The MICE market share in Frankfurt is certainly one of the largest.
TDN: What are your plans regarding the luxury travel market? Are you going to feature Frankfurt as a luxury destination and which markets do you consider as high importance to the alliance?
B. S.: FHA clearly positions itself as First Class and Luxury Hotels. Even though sometimes in the year discounted offers are in the market, the quality of the hotels remains high. Frankfurt being a fair and congress city, we target this market on the one hand and the leisure market which has its own publicity (concerts with mega stars….) on the other hand. Are we a luxury destination??? I personally don’t think so. I personally would position Frankfurt as a commercial city with a strong personal and cultural touch. Handsome, charming… and at the end, international!
TDN: How would you characterize the hotel industry in Frankfurt? What kind of challenges does the industry face in your region?
B. S.: The biggest challenge for the City and the hospitality industry in this city is to gain more leisure tourism in order to have a more healthy mixture in the guest structure. Having said that, we need a stronger City Marketing Organization and solid financial support of politicians who appreciate and recognise the tourism industry as part of the industrial potential of this city. A stronger promotion of cultural mega events on a regular basis would attract more people from abroad and from other German cities.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
