What is the common denominator between the different Steigenberger brand hotels?
Véronique Holveck - These are always hotels in exceptional city-centre locations, from four stars upwards. Business districts are favoured, as corporate clients play a major role at Steigenberger, and our hotels are always equipped with meeting rooms: there is a high level of MICE activity.
Can you put a figure on the proportion of the Group's hotels frequented by business customers?
V. H. - It's not easy to measure, but overall 40% of our customers are business travellers, with the remaining 60% coming from the MICE market. We host a lot of seminars, and we are working hard on this segment. Resorts proper are limited to Egypt.
What are the main openings expected in the coming months?
V. H. - Next September, we will be opening a Steigenberger hotel in Amsterdam city centre, which will also be the first representative of our new lifestyle brand, Jaz in the City, which was unveiled very recently. We will also be taking over the Intercontinental in Cologne, but the hotel is not due to reopen until 2016, following an eight-month renovation.
Are there any plans for a Paris inauguration in the near future?
V. H. - In any case, the group is keen to establish itself in European capitals, as demonstrated by the takeover of the former Conrad in Brussels, and soon the inauguration of the hotel in Amsterdam. Given its image as a business chain, Steigenberger is of course looking to set up in Paris, focusing on the west of the city, once again targeting a strategic business district. But for the moment, there are no concrete plans to open in the next two years. It takes time, not so much because of the financing as because of the offer and the competition: we are not the only ones on the market...
Can this conquest of Western Europe also be achieved via London, or even further south, in Spain for example?
V. H. - Spain has not been ruled out, but the major European accounts we work with are most often based in France, Germany's leading economic partner, or in the UK. So Madrid hasn't been ruled out, but it's not a priority, unlike Paris and London.
The Steigenberger Maximilian Hotel, Beijing (DR)
So the Group's new ambitions in China have not overshadowed the European market?
V. H. - Not at all. Of course, the signing of twelve hotels in China is a milestone. But we're not forgetting Europe at all. In fact, the last hotel we opened was in Berlin, 500 metres from the German Chancellery.
Steigenberger will soon be taking its first steps in Dubai and Doha, via its other brand: IntercityHotel. Will the Gulf countries be the next stage in the group's development after China?
V. H. - No, not necessarily. We already have to open the eleven other hotels planned for the Chinese market, following the inauguration of the Hotel Maximilian in Beijing. But the main focus will be on Europe. Our strong point remains Germany, with 75 hotels under the two brands. We now have six hotels in Berlin, we are number 1 in Frankfurt in terms of number of rooms, and we have taken over a hotel in Cologne, a very important destination in terms of trade fairs. There will be further developments in this market.
Of all these establishments, historic or more recent, which is your favourite Steigenberger?
V. H. - I really like the Steigenberger Herrenhof in Vienna, both for its location, its neoclassical façade and its more contemporary interior. And the service is excellent. The hotel in Brussels is also a flagship of the group, with the largest standard rooms in the city. It is a very well-known establishment on the Belgian market. And, of course, the Frankfurter Hof, which was the second establishment opened by the Steigenberger family after the one in Baden Baden, and who is now the flagship of the chain.
The Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, the group's flagship hotel (Photo FG)
