Steigenberger spills on strategy

German brand Steigenberger Hotels might not be a household name in the Middle East just yet, but CEO Arco Buijs has big plans to ensure it won’t be long before it is

Steigenberger Hotels is quite new to the Middle East traveller. Can you tell us about the brand? Today the Steigenberger Hotel group is formed of 80 hotels, in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Holland and Egypt.

The hotel group has two brands — the luxury Steigenberger brand which are four-star plus hotels — some of our Steigenberger brand Hotels are Grandhotels which are five-star plus. And the mid-range, Inner-City hotels which is the three-star brand.

Steigenberger is an 80-year old company. It was owned by the Steigenberger family but was sold a year-and-a-half ago to Hamed El Chiaty, who is the owner of Travco International in Egypt. His vision is to internationalise the company.

Today we are very much Germany, Austria and Switzerland-based but we want to expand outside of Germany into other European and also international destinations.

What is your strategy for the Middle East market?
The idea is that between now and next year we want to open up some properties in this region. Part of the success of that will depend on working very hard in these areas where we are not yet present to make a bit of a noise to be able to see the first step to growth.

What is nice from your market and the reason we are so eager to be more active in this market is that it is seasonal business. The Middle East traveller comes to our hotels, when our market is travelling out.

The July and August months are typically when people travel out from here and go to Europe to escape the heat, but there is no business from Europe so it’s good compensation for that and we are really trying to sell actively on that.

In the summer time we have quite a good share of business coming from these markets.

Which of your properties are most popular with the Middle East market?
We are focusing on promoting our hotels in cities popular with the Arab market — for instance in Frankfurt where we have a five-star hotel, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich where we have an InterCity Hotel; and of course Vienna and Zurich.

We also believe our Alps and winter sport resorts will be popular with the Arab market, for instance Kaprun in Austria, which is very near to Zell am See, and is a very popular destination in this part of he world.

There are resorts in the secondary cities in Germany, or on the Baltic Sea which are not sold at all here, and I don’t think they will work because these are very local destinations, they are harder to reach. This market is looking for the bigger destinations and that’s what we are targeting.

Why do you think your properties appeal to the Arab market?
Our properties have the advantage of all being in dominant central locations, in very popular European cities. They are located next to all the activities popular with this market, such as shopping etc, so we have a great offer.

We also have our resort hotels which means you can do good combinations. The access is easy with Emirates flying now to four cities in Germany — and to Vienna, Zurich and Geneva so it’s easy to reach in a six-hour flight.

What are your plans for expansion of the brand in the Middle East region?
We are looking at all the possibilities in the region. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar — these are the major countries right now where we see possibilities but there are also other opportunistic areas. But we want to be very careful and take sure steps.

I would rather take a bit longer and have the right project here. Sometimes there are projects here that I am not sure would be the right thing for our image and Steigenberger is really a top brand that focuses only on top locations and we want to keep that image.

We are well-known by people in the hotel business here, there is a big market behind us — we have a 100 million strong German-speaking market that knows us, and we can see a strong possibility to create a big potential here.

So when can we expect news of a regional launch?
My wish would be to announce the first success within a year. That’s not too ambitious but we are preparing some ideas and within a year that should be realistic and there may be more than one hotel.

Steigenberger Hotels
Steigenberger Hotels, established in 1930 is one of the leading hotel companies in Europe. The company, based in Frankfurt/Main, operates 78 hotels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Egypt with 14,000 rooms.

Steigenberger Hotel Group covers the following portfolio: Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts, including 46 business and leisure hotels; Grandhotels, including the legendary Steigenberger Belvédère in Davos (the hotel of the World Economic Forum), the Steigenberger Grandhotel Petersberg in Bonn-Königswinter or the five-star Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof,); and InterCityHotel: 32 mid-range Business Hotels located near key transport hubs such as mainline railway stations and airports.

InterCityHotels offer central locations, excellent transport links and a modern business environment, at moderate prices.

The company is owned by the Egyptian tourism entrepreneur Hamed El Chiaty — owner of Travco Group International, the largest tourism company in Egypt and a leading player in the Middle East hospitality sector.

The company is currently investing 100 million Euros in its hotel portfolio. Around 30 million Euros are being used for a renovation and rebuilding programmes in the Steigenberger Graf Zeppelin in Stuttgart and the Steigenberger Parkhotel in Düsseldorf.
Another 23 million Euros will be invested in the renovation of the flagship Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof in Frankfurt (see above).