Corporate information

Welcome Hotels continues to focus on sustainability

Warstein, October 2007
The Welcome Hotel group based in the Sauerland city of Warstein was founded in 1998. Today, amongst the top 50 hotel companies in Germany ranked according to turnover, the group has edged up a further two places compared to last year to be placed 29^th by the magazine “Der Hotelier”. Treugast AG’s investment ranking gives the group an AA rating. Welcome hotels all of which fall into the 3⁺ to 4⁺-star category specialise in the business, MICE and tourism sectors. The Welcome group currently comprises fourteen hotels of which eight are owned by the group, four are leased, one is a management hotel and one is run on a cooperation basis. This provides a total of 1,614 rooms and 3,335 beds.

In fiscal 2007 group-owned hotels recorded a turnover of some 37.3 million Euro and a turnover of 45.7 million Euro is forecast for the coming fiscal year. Headed up by Mario Pick and Carsten Kritz the group currently employs 530 people.

Locations and product lines
Welcome hotels are to be found not only in cities such as Essen and Bamberg, but also in smaller towns such as Bamberg, Lippstadt, Bad Arolsen, Paderborn and Wesel. The hotels in Warstein and Meschede are both set in pleasant green surroundings. The Welcome group exercises extreme care in the selection of hotel locations as only in this manner can it be ensured that the “Welcome” brand name increases in value. Economic sustainability is imperative when selecting a setting. Thus, locations in inner-German medium to large sized towns and cities where there is plenty of business and cultural demand are chosen.

One project that can certainly be considered to be both successful and exemplary is the ECCB – das Event-Congress-Center Bamberg. Welcome has two hotels in Bamberg: the Welcome Residenzschloss (4-star superior) and the Welcome Hotel Bamberg (3-star superior, opened in June 2004). The two hotels together offer 355 rooms and – in conjunction with the Konzert- und Kongresshalle Bamberg – over 6000 m2 of event space and 29 function rooms. Bamberg is an ideal location with superb infrastructure and excellent surroundings. Welcome Hotels can be booked online or via GDS systems from anywhere in the world.

Product policy
Welcome Hotels are attractive to business travellers, conference organisers, individual tourists and bus and group travel operators alike. The hotels’ locations prove particularly popular with conference and seminar organisers as many Welcome Hotels are located in tranquil settings yet within easy reach of all transport facilities.
The corporate slogan "you are welcome" is taken very seriously by all employees and has become very much the culture of the company. The aim is that each and every guest is made to feel welcome and at home and everything humanly possible is done to achieve this aim.
Welcome hotels are also noted for their excellent price performance ratio.


New hotels
The Welcome Hotel group continues to display a commitment to sustainable, selective expansion. The hotels newly opened in 2007 are in Paderborn (153 rooms, opened September 2007) and Darmstadt (208 rooms, opening December 2007). In August 2007 the group took over the Mercure Grand Hotel Meißen rebranding it as the Welcome Parkhotel Meissen.

The Welcome Hotel Paderborn has 153 rooms some of which with facilities for disabled guests, a restaurant, a "Plückers" tavern and a small wellness area with a sauna, steam bath, aroma shower, fitness equipment and a massage area. The in-house conference facilities covering a total of 562 m² comprise eight rooms which can be varied in size and a large (300 m²) ballroom which can be subdivided into three equally sized rooms or into three conference rooms each of 75 m² and two meeting rooms each of 25 m². The hotel is not only ideal for business people, conference guests, airline crews and individual holidaymakers it is also popular for Christmas and New Year breaks as well as for incentives, group travel and with tour operators. This “hotel with everything for everyone” opened on 15^th September.

The Welcome hotel in Darmstadt is ideally situated in the centre of the city on Karolinenplatz and is both spatially and organisationally linked to the Science and Congress Centre in the Technical University. The hotel is in the 3 to 4-star category that, in addition to the in-house restaurant, will also have a bistro aiming to appeal to students. In-house conference facilities comprise some 400 m² whilst a further 1,000 m² of conference and seminar facilities are available in the adjacent Science and Congress Centrewhich is all set to open on 6^th December 2007.

The 4-star Welcome Parkhotel Meißen that was incorporated into the group in August 2007 has 97 rooms and is ideally located right next to the historic city centre on the banks of the river Elbe just 25 km from Dresden. In-house conference facilities comprising four rooms for up to 125 people are fully equipped with state-of-the-art conference technology. The hotel also has a restaurant a bar and a wellness and fitness centre with a sauna and a range of Ayurveda treatments on offer. The style and the location of this Welcome Hotels’ new addition means that the hotel tailors well with the existing group portfolio.

Looking ahead to 2008

The main objective for the coming year is to position and strengthen the new hotels on the market. Sustainability continues to be a priority for the Welcome Group.

The group will also be looking at some interesting projects in medium to large sized cities that would fit in well with the Welcome portfolio. Such projects will be carefully examined before any further steps are taken. “Far from being set on expansion at any price, Welcome Hotels will only expand where it is considered that the Welcome criteria are met and in projects that will increase group revenue” says Carsten Kritz.

2008 will see not only an increased focus on Sales and Marketing but also the development of Welcome standards with the intention of strengthening the brand's market position.