The majority of German Best Western hotels suffered a drop in sales of over 50 percent in 2020 due to the Corona travel bans. Corona aid only received partial amounts, if at all, complains managing director Marcus Smola. The situation is threatening the very existence of many places.
“The state aid in 2020 was nowhere near sufficient. And most of them have still not arrived. In addition, we are still a long way from the crisis. Our hotels, which have been suffering from the restrictions caused by Corona for a year, therefore need reliable planning, concrete opening prospects and further financial aid and compensation that will be paid out promptly in the coming months. The many obstacles, delays and errors that we have experienced so far must not be repeated under any circumstances, ”demands Marcus Smola, Managing Director of BWH Hotel Group Central Europe. The hotel group includes around 270 individually managed hotels in ten countries; in Germany there are around 200 hotels of the brands Best Western Hotels & Resorts and the WorldHotels Collection with an average size of 100 rooms.
Aid has so far only arrived in small parts
Around two thirds of the hotels in the group had to accept a drop in sales of more than 50 percent in 2020 without the promised state aid measures having reached the hotels in full. Almost two-thirds of the hotels had to take out loans to make ends meet, while the majority applied for bridging aid I and II, but only around half of the hotels had received funds by the mid-February cut-off date. “With the November and December aid it looked even worse: While the public has the impression that the lost sales in the hotel industry had been adequately compensated, the aid requested by almost all hotels was only paid out to ten percent in full, two thirds received up to In mid-February only discounts and ten percent nothing at all, ”criticized Smola.
Currently, more than a third of the hotels in the BWH Hotel Group Central Europe assess the situation as threatening their very existence. “The accounts of the hotels that have been confronted with full running costs for a year have so far only shown small amounts of aid. With bridging aid III, structural improvements have been taken into account, but we will definitely need further, long-term financial support, ”said Smola.
Biggest challenges: Missing sales and assistance, employees, conference and business travel market
Around half of the group’s hotels expect to see even greater losses in sales in 2021 compared to the previous year. The reason is obvious: “When and in what form tourist travel will be allowed again is still unclear. We expect at least a quick recovery for this segment. It looks much more gloomy for business trips, international guests and above all in the event and conference market, which has almost completely collapsed, ”says Smola. It would not be possible to estimate at all to what extent the demand in this business segment will increase again. “For our hotels, it is a matter of surviving economically at least for at least the entire year! Bridging aid beyond June 30th is therefore urgently needed. ”One of the other major challenges this year is the entire topic of employees. “It’s frustrating and demotivating: Many employees have been on short-time work for almost a year. Not only the financial but also the emotional hardship is immense if there is no prospect of when and in what form business will start again. This leaves both entrepreneurs and employees with existential fears and psychological damage. We therefore fear a massive exodus from the industry, ”said Smola. The shortage of skilled workers, which had already affected the industry before Corona, will be exacerbated again. For the coming months and the whole of 2021, Marcus Smola urges: “We are a strong industry and we want to and will overcome the crisis. But now we need reliability, planning security and a concrete perspective! “
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