Effective On-Site Support For Hotels And Back-Up In Berlin

The commercial team provides strategic support for the hotels and franchise partners on both national and international level. It also carries out regular quality inspections. The main challenge faced by the commercial services team is to communicate with individual stakeholders, owners and General Managers. Direct and immediate contact with the franchisors (e.g. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, IHG, Radisson Hotel Group, Best Western and Accor Hotels) ensures efficient implementation processes and excellent communication. The future of commercial services lies in the expansion of strategic partnerships and revenue streams as well as in the development of internal and external quality management.

The revenue and distribution department manages and optimises the occupancy and RevPar (Revenue per available room) of the hotels through the application of yield and revenue management strategies.
The department adapts to the rapid changes in the distribution landscape and collaborates efficiently with hotel directors, Area Vice Presidents and the commercial team for optimal strategic hotel orientation. Furthermore, it supports the training of yield and revenue managers in the department and offers 4 levels of revenue management training to hotel employees who have revenue responsibility.
The 40 employees successfully meet the challenge of finding the ideal business mix for the hotels under the motto: efficient revenue management in combination with flexibility, dynamics and creativity.

Our Sales Corporate and MICE Department counts with about 40 employees who take care of GCH’s customers in the six regions North, Berlin, East, West, Central and South. The department is responsible for Field Sales, Key Account Management and the Meeting Desk, furthermore for existing and contractual customer care, customer acquisition, optimisation of the conference facilities’ occupancy rate and herewith for the further expansion of the whole corporate business of all hotels in the GCH portfolio. The main focus for the GCH Corporate and MICE Sales Team lies on supporting and promoting the German feeder markets as well as the cross-selling approach between sellers in the different areas and the hotels. This includes the coordination and optimisation of sales campaigns between the GCH Sales Team and our franchise partners IHG, Best Western, Accor Hotels, Radisson Hotel Group and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The Sales Department defines its work as close to the market, sustainable, customer-oriented, competent and professional.

Our 11-person Sales Leisure Department is responsible for the touristic distribution of all hotels that are part of the GCH Hotel Group. Our team members take competent care of the national and international B2B Leisure customers in the FIT and group travel segment. Together with the hotels, they develop fitting leisure distribution strategies and align their sales activities and the customer mix to the needs of each hotel in the GCH portfolio. The department’s focus lies on the support of existing and key customers as well as on the establishment and strengthening of new potential business partnerships. The department’s goal is the optimal occupancy of all GCH hotels’ leisure facilities. Accomplishing this goal requires the ideal utilisation of the dynamic travel market’s diverse distribution channels and agile reactions to market fluctuations. Our GCH Leisure Sales team’s strengths are professionalism, strong communication, customer-oriented work and keeping an ear close to the market.

The GCH Hotel Group Digital Department develops, builds and maintains landing pages and websites for the hotels as well as the GCH corporate website. Services include programming, search engine marketing (SEO and SEM), display and remarketing, social media, e-mail marketing, content creation and layout. The focus is on timeliness, functionality and usability of the websites. All processes are based on analysis and data to assure addressing the right target groups. Through a strong online presence and the use of promotional storytelling the hotels generate bookings and revenue directly.

The Marketing Department is responsible for the brand management of the GCH Hotel Group and for the hotels. This encompasses the preparation, takeover and integration of new or rebranded hotels into the portfolio as well as PR measures. The Marketing Department organizes trade fairs and events, maintains cooperations and sponsorships, coordinates agencies and printing houses, and creates presentation material, giveaways and promotional material following the corporate identity guidelines. Furthermore, the Marketing Department creates and edits pictures, videos, graphics and documents. Optimized and innovative processes and service-orientated activities make the Marketing & Digital Department a high-performing and reliable partner.

The Central Reservation Office (CRO), headquartered in Berlin and Dresden, currently consists of around 35 employees and is set to grow in the coming years. More than 50 hotels are directly connected to the CRO via fax, email and telephone, and other hotels of the GCH Hotel Group can contact the office using the central, free-of-charge 0800 reservation hotline. Reservation requests in German and English can be dealt with weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekends and public holidays. The CRO provides a healthy balance in the communication between the hotels, regional departments, brand and hotel standards and the guests' wishes. The committed, naturally friendly call center sees itself as a service providing link between the guests and front office.

The GCH Hotel Group Accounting Department is responsible for operative hotel accounting, controlling and auditing. With seven employees in the head office, 35 regional and 25 hotel employees, accounting is a growing branch of the company. The main challenges faced by the department are the integration of new hotels into the existing structures while maintaining the quality standards and the implementation of uniform practices for all accounting departments. Precision, pragmatism and flexibility define the service-oriented accounting and controlling of the GCH Hotel Group.

Human capital as a whole is the intangible asset of a company. For this reason, the HR department sets itself the goal of strengthening and expanding this capital through both recruitment and further development of its own employees. The Human Resources Department of the GCH Hotel Group is divided into Administration and Management & People Development. It consists of professionally competent employees covering the areas of personnel administration, personnel management/development, training and recruiting. The department provides advice on all labor law, social law and works constitution law issues. Furthermore, the HR department develops customized HR solutions to support the business strategy.

The Food & Beverage Department collaborates on a corporate level with the Directors of Operation in each region, the General Managers of the different hotels and in particular with the individual F&B Managers of each hotel. It supports them in their daily operations in the areas of breakfast, banqueting, à la carte, kitchen and bar, ensures the high-quality standard of the products, trains the staff and controls the profit and loss reportings. Another task and passion is the creation of food & beverage concepts and standards (including non-food related F&B) with adaption for the different brands and locations.

Guests are looking for more than just a great product – they are looking for an experience as part of their lifestyle. Creating a bubble of comfort around the individual guest through design, interesting content and a feel-good ambience enhances their stay and gives them the best value for their money. If the rooms are the heart of hospitality, the Food & Beverage Department is giving it its character and soul.

Telecommunications, helpdesk, networks, server systems, Opera PMS, data security - the competent and experienced IT team supports the consortium in all IT issues. This includes supporting staff in all EDM concerns, fixing system malfunctions, planning and monitoring backups as well as developing and maintaining the systems. The IT department brings together innovation, experience and specialist knowledge and the coordination of external service providers. With its high level of expertise, in-house IT succeeds in ensuring high quality of support and continuous adaptation of infrastructure and processes to a rapidly developing IT landscape.

The GCH Maintenance Department, with a staff of 8 full-time employees, is the operative technical department for all GCH hotels. Alongside on-site technicians in the hotels, the team is responsible for all operative engineering projects, i.e. they carry out renovations and conversions, take care of all security-relevant systems, deal with technical problems, deal with negotiation proceedings for maintenance contracts and energy contracts, and implement measures for potential savings (water, electricity, gas). The maintenance department is very well organised, and sees itself in five years as the leading technical management team in Germany.