Hotel expert on Salzburg: “Houses are taken over by hotel chains”
“The Asian guests were then charged 40 or 50 euros per night,” chatted Augustin from the school. During the festival, the same room suddenly cost 600 euros. “With the profits from the festival season, these hoteliers lived well all year and bought a Porsche. Unfortunately, they haven’t invested anything in their house,” he says. Now that would be on the minds of many.
Less staff, more profit
And playing chains into their hands, people have recently become interested not only in large hotel complexes, but also in smaller houses. “Previously, taking over a house with 50 beds would not have been worthwhile, but that is changing with new concepts,” Augustin knows. With little use of staff – automatic check-in and automation where possible – you can “get the most out of the rooms. In other words, a profit of ten to 15 percent”.
Side effect: Such concepts can easily be copied to other houses. Houses with outdated concepts are finding it increasingly difficult to survive on the market. Augustin: “There are always new concepts being added, even during the pandemic, the number of beds in Salzburg has continued to increase.”
Michaela Reitterer, ex-president of the Austrian Hotel Association, pleaded in her farewell speech for more green concepts in the hotel industry: “If we don’t become more sustainable, our own European population will turn off tourism.” from Norbert Ketner. His task is not only to bring added value and year-round jobs to the city, but also “not to get on the nerves of the population too much”.