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

The commercial team provides strategic support nationally and internationally for the hotels, franchisors and franchisees. 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. WHG, IHG, Rezidor, Best Western and ACCOR) guarantees efficient implementation processes and excellent communication. The future of commercial services lies in the acquisition and nurturing of strategic partnerships, in revenue streams and in the development of internal and external quality management.

The revenue and distribution department manages the occupancy and RevPar (Revenue per available room) of the hotel through the application of yield and revenue management strategies. The department is responsible for the optimisation of distribution pathways, to find the ideal business mix for the hotels, as well as for strategic direction of the hotels in collaboration with hotel managers, Area Vice Presidents and the commercial team. Furthermore, it supports the training of future yield and revenue managers in the Junior Revenue Academy and offers training to on property staff who have revenue responsibility. The revenue department of the GCH Hotel Group works under the motto "efficient revenue management in conjunction with flexibility, dynamics and creativity."

The 50 members of the corporate sales and MICE departments support the 6 areas: North, Berlin, East, West, Central and South. The department is responsible for key account management and desk meetings, for supporting existing clients and contractual clients, for supporting individual hotels, as well as for the acquisition of new clients. The biggest challenges faced by the GCH Hotel Group corporate and MICE sales teams are: promotion of the cross selling concept between sales assistants in the areas and the hotels; and coordination and optimisation of sales campaigns between the GCH sales team and the franchise partners IHG, Best Western, ACCOR, Rezidor and Wyndham. How the staff of the Sales Department view their work? As sustainable, customer-oriented, reliable and professional.

The GCH Hotel Group Leisure Department is subdivided into Leisure Key Accounts, Leisure Area Sales and Leisure Coordination. Christina Dabelstein and her team are responsible for all leisure activities and sales strategies. Their central tasks are: to build on and nourish business relationships with national and international B2B leisure segments, to share knowledge and advise on leisure and trends, and to support new GCH hotels. The sales team consider themselves reliable, strong and fast team players with expertise.

The GCH Hotel Group Digital Department develops and programmes websites and landing pages for the hotels. It is also responsible for the programming and development of corporate websites for the company. The department's range of digital services include programming, layouting, SEO, SEM, social media, content management and online marketing with its own editorial staff and guarantees the timeliness, functionality and usability of the websites. Through the use of storytelling, promotional activities and a good online presence, the hotels generate bookings and profit directly.

The marketing department is also responsible for the brand management of the GCH Hotel Group and the franchisors. This encompasses the preparation, takeover and integration of new or rebranded hotels into the portfolio. The marketing department participates in trade fairs, organises events, coordinates agencies, printing houses and co-operative partners and creates presentation material, give-aways and promotional material in line with the CI. Optimised, innovative, efficient processes and service-oriented activities make the Marketing & Digital Department a high-performing reliable partner.

The Central Reservation Office (CRO), with headquarters in Berlin and Dresden, is currently made up of 40 employees and is set to grow in the coming years. Over 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, English and French can be dealt with around the clock. The CRO provides a healthy balance in the communication between the hotels, regional departments, the brand and hotel standards, and the guests' wishes. The committed, naturally friendly call centre sees itself as a service provider link between guests and the front office.

The GCH Group Accounting Department is responsible for operative hotel accounting, controlling and auditing. Accounting is a growing branch of the company - with a staff of 7 in the head office, 35 regional staff and 25 dedicated hotel staff. The main challenges faced by the accounting department are: integration of new hotels into the existing structures while maintaining 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.

The GCH Hotel Group Corporate Purchasing Department includes the areas: purchasing; cost controlling; and supplier, contract and quality management. The procurement team is in constant close contact with German and international subcontractors, hotel managers and the strategic management team. What makes the workings of the Purchasing Department stand out? A high degree of professionalism, reliability, determination, loyalty and great communication skills. The department's goal for the near future is to become one of the most profitable central purchasing departments of the European hotel industry.

The GCH Hotel Group Human Resources Department is split up into Administration and Training & Development. Above all else, the HR team views itself as a cooperative and solution-oriented service provider. Youth development, talent promotion and executive development are all among the team's core activities, as is consultation in all questions concerning labour law, social law and works constitution law. Furthermore, the HR Department develops customised HR codes of best practice to support business strategies, such as the introduction and development of personnel processes, programmes, systems and guidelines, and the introduction of administrative standards and HR framework agreements.

The Food & Beverage Department of the GCH Hotel Group is made up of approximately 100 F&B Managers. These managers are operative in the areas of breakfast, banqueting, à la carte, kitchen and bar. In the back office of the GCH Hotel Group F&B Department, all chefs are briefed by Culinary Director and Head Chef.The department is responsible for the daily business in the hotels, leads the F&B purchasing team and develops new culinary concepts: For example the Twenty4Seven Food Concept, a gourmet snack concept in bed and breakfast hotels; and the new banqueting concept, which aims at establishing central patisserie kitchens, supplying all hotels in one region with high quality desserts, pastries and snacks. the team's strength is to create professional and customised culinary concepts for the wide range of hotel brands. Convinced that the food and drinks served give character and soul to the hotel, the F&B department creates quality concepts full of soul and vitality.

Telecommunications, helpdesk, networks, server systems, Opera PMS, data security - the competent and experienced IT team supports the consortium in all issues concerning IT. This includes supporting staff in all EDM concerns, fixing system faults, the planning and surveillance of back-ups and the development and maintenance of the systems. The IT Department is also responsible for connecting new hotels to the existing IT infrastructure, for coordinating external service providers and for the conception and introduction of new systems. The GCH Hotel Group IT Department views itself as a service oriented provider of a professional EDM environment and supports staff and facilitates business processes. The biggest challenge faced by the in-house IT team is to ensure a high level of 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.