Leading topics sustainability and digitalization
“Very satisfied and optimistic” is how Erik van Kessel, Managing Director Operations at Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH seems to be as far as the business development in the past financial year 2023 is concerned. “We have finally overcome the crisis situation after Covid, and we are looking back at an extremely successful year with numerous trade fairs and congresses, conferences and large events at the current 24 German Maritim sites. In total, occupation rose by a solid eleven per cent, and the room rates were around seven per cent higher than in the previous year.”
“With preliminary sales of 377 million euros in 2023, the hotel business was clearly higher than the result of the previous year by a solid 77 million euros, which of course was still impacted by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic,” explains Martin Friedrich, Finance Manager (CFO) at Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH. “Of course, we still had international crises in 2023 and the global economic situation put a lot of pressure on our business, due to exploding energy prices and inflation, for example. In spite of all that, we have managed to significantly exceed our expectations, which we are very happy about,” Friedrich says in conclusion. “What pays off here is that we plan conservatively and have a strong equity ratio; that way, we can act in an agile manner and, for example, service liabilities from the Covid crisis much faster than initially planned,” the finance expert adds. In addition, both the hotel portfolio and internal structures and processes have been significantly improved and designed to be more effective.
Yet the current 2024 financial year is still a challenge: The uncertain global political situation and rising prices in almost all business areas such as purchasing, logistics, services and personnel add up to an enormous burden. In this regard, Managing Director Operations Erik van Kessel says that “Naturally, we can only pass on the increased cost structure to our customers to a limited extent, because despite the general price increase, we need to act in line with the market. That will not be easy this year for all companies and sectors, but especially for the hotel industry;” he further foresees that “For this reason in 2023 we will focus more on the huge topics of sustainability and digitalization in order to make ourselves even more efficient and future-oriented.”
Maritim in Germany: Courageous and forward-looking with sustainable goals
The area of sustainability is being expanded even further with a variety of packages of measures. To offer our guests accommodations that are as climate-friendly and environmentally friendly as possible, all Maritim Hotels in Germany have undergone an elaborate sustainability check. For this project, Maritim Group has teamed up with a partner experienced in matters of climate protection: ClimatePartner based in Munich. Issues like energy consumption, waste volumes and emissions were inspected, and a so-called Corporate Carbon Footprint was determined. An individual measures catalogue will be derived from the results. A big advantage here: All empirical values and initiatives will be transferred and implemented throughout the chain. To control this process, a sustainability council has already been established for all Maritim Hotels. In addition, Henning Jünke has been appointed to take on the new position of “Sustainability Director” at Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH.
In this regard, Managing Director Erik van Kessel says that “In the future, we will invest up to two percent of our chain-wide sales in our ambitious sustainable corporate goals. We are therefore taking a courageous and forward-looking stance as far as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is concerned: As a German owner-managed company, we have the advantage of short coordination channels and quick chain-wide decisions. We will use this to position ourselves as a sustainable player in the market,” explains Kessel.
E-charging stations at all Maritim Hotels throughout Germany
Another milestone on the way to even more sustainable offerings is the nationwide expansion of e-charging stations at Maritim Hotels. By the end of the year, Maritim guests should be able to fill up on electric power at all German locations and thus contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
The Maritim “Pro Tomorrow” initiative supports sustainable hotel stays as well. This means that guests have the option of resigning from room cleaning and thus promoting regional and social projects. In 2023 alone, donations totalled 237,875 euros.
New digital solutions for even better contact with guests
A small “digital revolution” has started at Maritim along with the new year 2024: To provide for quicker, better and more customer-oriented contact with guests, we have just introduced several new digital systems. The entire MICE area will also benefit from these new digital solutions. Currently, the Maritim Hotel Düsseldorf is the pilot hotel and little by little, all the other Maritim locations will be changed over. “For decades, Maritim hotels have been the top addresses in the German conference market. We want to stay that way and offer our customers a unique experience from the inquiry to the realisation of the event,” explains Roland Elter, Managing Director for Sales and Marketing at Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH. How do we get there: Data-driven decision making. Roland Elter’s take on this: “The world around us, especially the customer perspective, changes very quickly. New technologies should be used to further improve the guest experience – yet we must make sure that the personal human elements which quite simply are the building blocks for warm hospitality, do not get pushed into the background. Thanks to data evaluation, employees can for example gain insight into seasonal trends, plan venues more effectively and generally make sound decisions, which in turn leads to improved operational efficiency and increased guest satisfaction,” Elter explains as he presents the advantages of the new systems.
Read the full story about Maritim’s developments here.
