Hotel industry in Hamburg

Name*: Catalin CalinStudy/cpr.nr.: 1706913927

Name*: Study/cpr.nr.:

Name*: Study/cpr.nr.:

Name*:Study/cpr.nr.:

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* please provide names + study/cpr.nr of all group members in case of group project.

Supervisor/examiner/tutor: Anton Christensen

Title of assignment/project/thesis: Hotel industry in Hamburg

Exam Form

Name: Learning activity 5_______________________________________________________________________________________

Internal test Learning Activity (LA)

Final Thesis (written report) and oral exam Other

Max number of characters/normal pages (see programme): 24000

Total number of characters of this assignment: 17 696

(1 normal page is max. 2400 characters incl. Spaces and notes. Front page, index, appendixes and literature list are not included in the total number of pages)

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Date and signature 25.02.2015

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Table of content1.Introduction31.1Problem statement31.2 Definitions41.3 Methodology51.4 Delimitation51.5 Source criticism61.6 Structure of assignment62. City of Hamburg72.1 Hotel industry in Hamburg82.2 Grand Elysee Hotel103. Conclusion114. List of resorces12

1. Introduction

This paper work has been written in order to present the Hotel industry in the city of Hamburg. A short presentation was made for Hamburg with focus on the hotel sector, its evolution over the years, how the demand evolved over the years and what is its actual state.The topic of the assignment is Hotel industry in Hamburg presenting the hotel industry in Germanys second biggest city over the past years, its evolution and statistic data. In the following chapters an overview of the touristic industry with focus on hotels will be presented treating the problem statement regarding Grand Elysee Hotel from Hamburg. The paper work is addressed to fellows students, my colleagues, and I hope to give them a better understanding of the evolution of hotel industry in the city of Hamburg.

1.1Problem statement

Hamburg is one Germanys biggest cities and is known as a musical location full of culture, with festivals as regular events and its activity from the touristic point of view is blooming as the touristic demand keeps growing. How could Grand Elysee Hotel improve its activity in order to bring more value to the city by getting even a higher rank in the eyes of tourists.

1.2 Definitions

Tourism = nature recreation or sport activity consisting of walking or going through various means of transport to picturesque regions or interesting from a certain point of view. The practice of travelling for pleasure.Tourist = person practicing the activity of tourism.Tourist accommodation = any facility that regularly or occasionally provides overnight accommodation for tourists.

The tourist accommodation types are as follows:

1) Collective tourist accommodation establishments

Hotels and similar establishments- Hotels -Similar establishmentsOther collective accommodation establishments- Holiday dwellings- Tourist camp-sites- Marinas- Other collective establishments

Specialized establishments- Health establishments- Work and holiday camps- Public means of transport- Conference centers

2) Private tourist accommodation

Rented accommodation- Rented rooms in family houses- Dwellings rented from private individuals or professional agenciesOther types of private accommodation- Secondary residence- Accommodation provided without charge by relatives or friends- Other private accommodation

Hotels = accommodation type which include hotels, apartment hotels, motels, roadside inns, beach hotels, residential clubs and similar establishments providing hotel services including more than daily bed-making and cleaning of the room and sanitary facilities.

1.3 Methodology

My paper work covers the tourism sector in Germany, focusing on the hotel industry. The problem statement is referring to evolution of the hotel industry in Germanys second largest city, Hamburg, presenting the industrys situation by providing information about the evolution of demand of accommodation, tourists overnights or touristic arrivals.Doing this kind of written paper involved a lot of desk research, focusing on tourism websites, official websites of different organizations who activate on the German territory, analysing their activity, their posts, their credibility. The research had to continue with academic publications, research through speciality books, forums, publications, geography, history or statistics. The situation and the evolution of the Hotel Industry were analysed and after making some differentiations some solutions were selected in order to help the tourism industry.

1.4 Delimitation

This topic was chosen due to its relevance, a written assignment was requested with specific requirements about one of the visitation points in Hamburg related to the Learning Activity so the Grand Elysee Hotel was chosen for the paper work.The time for doing the assignment was limited and the access to information was also limited, and part of the desired information was not found, but a lot of research was made and after a focused research we can propose some action to be taken in order to solve issues, or possible issues so that everyone visiting the area can a have a great time there and a great experience receiving the best service.

1.5 Source criticism

The sources are reliable, being the official websites of the organizations that are activating in the touristic industry. The statistic data came from the Northern Statistical Office. The sources can be trusted regarding that the publications are official and the data is real with objective opinions and no interest in publicity, obtaining no material compensation, everyone being able to access it and the purpose of uploading information on the websites is to keep people informed about the situation in the touristic sector.It is known that the private tourism organizations and hotels are trying to promote themselves on their websites so enough information was extracted just to describe their activity and nothing more. The facts used are objective, same are the opinions and information no older than two years was exposed.

1.6 Structure of assignment

First part of the paper has a brief introduction of what is about to be presented, the problem statement along with the definition and methodology chapters. Chapter two will present the Hotel industry in Hamburg, with a short description of the city, the touristic demand, accommodation evolution during the years with statistical data and information, continuing with focus on Grand Elysee Hotel and treating the problem statement.The following chapters, three and four will present the conclusion and list of literature.

2. City of Hamburg

Hamburg is the second biggest city of Germany situated on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, having the North Sea to the west and with the Baltic Sea to the north-east. It is seated on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster and Bille. Picture 1

Being one of the most affluent cities in Europe Hamburg is a major transport hub and a notable tourist destination for both domestic and overseas visitors; it was ranked 17th in the world for quality of life in 2012. Hamburg has also been an important financial centre for centuries, being seat of the world's second oldest bank, Berenberg Bank. With a population of 1,75 million people and a lot of attraction points, the city attracts millions of visitors every year. Its architectural heritage is represented by the historical warehouse complex in the Speicherstadt and the Elbe Philharmonic Concert Hall in the Hafen City district. Hamburgs fish market, St. Michaelis Church and the Reeperbahn in the St. Pauli district represent some of the touristic and traditional highlights attracting visitor on a daily basis. Also being the third largest city for musicals in the world, after New York and London attracts millions of leisure tourists, Hamburg having four musical theatres in present.

Ceremonial ship launches are also included in Hamburgs highlights, and the annual birthday celebration in honour of the Hamburg harbour is a successful event. In 2014 for its 825th anniversary, the largest port festival in the world welcomed around 1.5 million visitors.Thanks to continually increasing passenger numbers, there has also been growth in cruise tourism: a new record of approximately 550,000 cruise passengers helped Hamburg to rank third behind Southampton and Copenhagen, and by 2021 its goal is to welcome more than one million sea passengers. This is a positive development that will also benefit Hamburgs economy as a whole.

The city is also popular with trade fair and conference visitors as well as exhibitors and organizers. A total of 44 events took place, in 2013 on the trade fair site, which has 11 halls with an exhibition space of 87,000 m as well as additional open space amounting to 10,000 m. Its most prominent trade fairs include Internorga (every 3 years, last held in 2012), the SMM(every two years, last held in 2014) and the Hanseboot Hamburg international boat show (held annually), all of which ensure that the citys capacity is used well.

2.1 Hotel industry in Hamburg

Hospitality companies in Hamburg continue to recover from the decline in revenues due to the financial and economic crisis in 2008 and 2009. In 2012, as compared to 2011, the hospitality industry saw an increase of 1.7% in the monthly average revenues. According to the Northern Statistical Office hospitality revenues increased by 16.8 percentage points compared with the base year of 2005 meaning that the hospitality industry is on a positive track.The number of hotel rooms in Hamburg sums up to 21,338 in all star categories. From this total, branded hotels account for 78%, while private hotels represent the rest of 22%. Almost half the rooms on offer are in the 4-star segment. The proportion of 2-star establishments is also relatively high due to the new additions in the last few years.

Hamburg recorded high demand in both the business and the leisure travel segments. Since the turn of the century, tourism in Hamburg has developed spectacularly and the number of overnight stays has steadily grown in the last ten years. In 2012, the city had already reached its stated goal of becoming one of the top ten most popular city destinations goal set for 2015.The table below shows the evolution of tourism demand during the years:

Source: Northern Statistical OfficeYearArrivals (x 1000)Overnights (x 1000)Length of stay (days)

2005345164351.9

2006384471772

2007398574021.9

2008411677281.9

2009436881901.9

2010473289471.9

2011508395301.9

20125604106341.9

20135580116032

Nearly 5.9 million arrivals and 11.6 million overnight stays were registered in 2013, setting new records and putting Hamburg on the course to success. An annual growth rate of 6.8% for arrivals and 7.8% for overnight stays recorded in this period. Also the average length of stay has increased slightly from 1.9 to 2.0 days.According to the Northern statistical Office, the city received 5.2 million guests from January to October 2014. In the same time, the number of overnight stays in Hamburgs 348 registered accommodation establishments with a total of over 52,500 beds grew by 2.6 %.

The table below will show the evolution of accommodation supply in order to meet the demand:

Source: Northern Statistical OfficeYearEstablishmentsBedsBeds occupancy

20052813384851.7%

20062863536455.8%

20072853670155.9%

20082923952853.7%

20093034284554.1%

20103124580754.2%

20113154763055.2%

20123265259056.2%

20133345277159.6%

To meet the touristic demand the supply has continually grown in the last few years. In the period between 2005 and 2013, the supply of accommodation in Hamburg has risen from 281 to 334 establishments, which is an average growth rate of 2.0%. The number of beds also increased in this period with 5.2 %. The growth was significantly seen in 2012.

Performance in 2013 was particularly impressive. In comparison with five major German cities (Berlin, Dsseldorf, Frankfurt, Cologne und Munich), Hamburg recorded the highest occupancy rate and is ranked second on the RevPAR ranking according to the Northern Statistical Office.The growing numbers are affecting in a positive way the employment rate of the city too, recovering after the downfall during the recession. In 2012, the average monthly number of employees increased by 0.9% compared to the previous year, and by 6.5 percentage points compared to the base year of 2005. On national level too, a recovery of the employee numbers in the hospitality industry has been recorded since 2011. In 2011 as well as in 2012, they increased by 1.9% each compared to the previous year.As we can see the Hotel industry in the city of Hamburg is on a positive ascending trend, blooming every year. Being the most attractive German hotel market it is bringing in investors and big names from the international hospitality industry such as Accor, Foremost Hospitality, Hilton and Intercontinental Hotel Group, which are expected to set new standards in the luxury segment.

2.2 Grand Elysee Hotel

The Hotel Grand Elysee Hamburg is centrally located on one side of Moorweidenpark in the elegant residential district of Harvestehude. At short walking distance we find the Dammtor train station, the Hamburgexhibition center, the Congress Center and the rambling urban park Planten un Blomen.Picture 2

Theluxury Grand Elysee Hamburg has 511 rooms, all furnished with king-size beds, flat screen television, freehigh-speed w-lan and triple soundproof glazing, windows that open or air conditioning, telephone, minibar and safe. Children up to 12 years of age are free of charge if staying in a room with their parents.The hotel boulevard inside the Grand Elysee Hamburg features a choice of three restaurants, two bars and a caf. The spacious, 1,000 square meter Elyseum Wellness & Spa features an indoor pool, sauna complex, combined sauna-steam bath complex, shower grotto, whirlpool, Kneipp basin, and gym free of charge for hotel guests. There are additional charges for massages,beauty treatments and solarium. The hoteloffers30 varied spaces for meetings, banquets and events, accommodating from two to 1,200 guests. The hotel underground garage has 450 parking spaces.Being a 5 star hotel, Grand Elysee is ranked as Number 1 Hotel of the city receiving numerous awards, from which we mention: Hotelier of the Year Gourmet Award Hamburger of the Year VDR Best Business Hotel Training Company of the YearLuxury and fine taste at their best is how we could describe Grand Elysee, the manner in which every customer is served pleases most of them and they happily return to the hotel, or recommend it as the best accommodation. We all know that not all people can be satisfied by certain services and a lot of them even have special requests, so a great place to stay how many customers referred to Grand Elysee, must meet all the customers needs, so the staff needs to be prepared to serve every visitor according to its requests. Even though most of the people are pleased with the service they get there will always be moody visitors, or grumpy people who wont be happy with what they get and they wont feel very comfortable at this hotel or they will feel that when they get an upgrade is not really an upgrade when they get one. These things can get to bad reviews, or lowering the rank so the company needs to take action to keep its image which is a hard to win but an easy to lose thing.

In these cases, the staff, being the front line who gets in touch with the customers must be prepared in every situation; investment in people needs to be done, so in my opinion, here are a few solutions for improvement:- training programs in order to have a better prepared staff, ready to meet the customers requests.- a change in the companys philosophy employee based philosophy the company should look for emotional intelligence in the people recruited, or try to develop it on its staff- advertise more (both on commercial and working market) a great place to stay but also a great place to work, could be the key to attract passionate employees.

All these changes could lead to financial consumption so an investment would be highly recommended. Attracting some investors would be a good start and a doable thing, regarding that Hamburg is continuously developing city with great potential.

3. Conclusion

After analysing the evolution of Hamburgs Hotel industry the drawn conclusion is that things are going great, the industry is blooming, the demand is growing with positive effects for the entire hospitality sector. Hotel industry in Hamburg is evolving at a fast pace and continuing to contribute in growing the statistics for the entire countrys Hotel industry. As the second largest city of Germany it has great contribution in receiving tourists, the number of arrivals blooming in the past years. At this pace the city of Hamburg will become an even more important contributor to the countrys GDP with great workforce and continuously expansion.

4. List of resorces

1. Northern Statistical Office2. http://www2.deloitte.com3. https://www.grand-elysee.com4. http://www.hamburg-travel.com5. http://www.hospitalitynet.org6. http://www.hotelnewsresource.com7. http://www.hotels.com8. http://www.tripadvisor.com13