"Roland and his team are leading one of the biggest and most forward-thinking tech revamps I have seen." 🚀 Huge insights from our CEO Luka Berger’s HOW Festival interview with Roland Elter. Expand below for more on Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH's total tech overhaul.
I recently hosted an interview with a person and a hotel company executing one of the most advanced hotel tech strategies I have seen so far. The person is Roland Elter and the company is Maritim Hotelgesellschaft mbH—one of the best-known, family-owned German hotel brands. In fact, 8 out of 10 people in Germany know their brand. That's a whopping 80% brand recognition. Imagine that. The company is many times (wrongly) perceived as an old-school hotel company. Probably because multiple generations have stayed at their hotels, which have been around for six decades. But it’s a classic case of ‘don’t judge the book by its cover’. Because inside, Roland and his team are leading one of the biggest and most forward-thinking tech revamps I have seen. It’s designed to be executed in multiple phases, each with clear objectives and strong results. On a high level, here are the learnings I took away from our interview: • Maritim started with its distribution strategy, knowing exactly which channels they wanted to invest in and what results they wanted to push for. • They clearly understand who their guests are and how they want to interact with them. • Their objectives are translated into clear, measurable business goals and KPIs. • They invest into modern, cloud-based, case-specific, open-API tech ecosystems that are very well interconnected. • They are very flexible and open to testing and iterating on the tech side. Just now they are rolling out 6 systems simultaneously! • They are not only focused on revenue generation and guests (as is most often the case), but are very aware that the heart of hospitality and success lies in hotel operations and people. They therefore invest heavily into efficiency, quality, and staff satisfaction. As a result, they have one of the highest staff satisfaction rates 💡. All in all, I think Roland and his team have created a very firm blueprint of hotel tech investments and comprehensive strategies. I wish that all of hospitality would take such a forward-thinking route in 2025 and beyond. Huge kudos and respect to you Roland and your team for leading the charge here. Upwards and onwards.