Hannes Dreher's passion for hospitality first began when he was a tennis instructor at a hotel in the Dominican Republic in the '90s.
While working there, he said the biggest pain point was not having lights on the courts.
"During the day, it was too hot. In the morning, nobody wants to play tennis. In the evening, there was no light. So I had nothing to do," he said.
Dreher spent much of his time in the hotel's front office, where he became friends with the front-office manager and learned about operations.
"This inspired me. I decided I would go into the hospitality industry. I applied for my internship in Cologne [Germany]. From the first moment, I was very clear I wanted to become a general manager. That was the beginning of my career," he said.
In 2011, he assumed his first role as general manager at a hotel in Hamburg, Germany, where he spent 11 years.
Then, the opportunity to become general manager at his current hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton Berlin Ku’damm, became available. The 420-room hotel opened on July 5 in the heart of Berlin's luxury shopping district.
This is the brand's first opening in Berlin and its third in Germany. The hotel includes more than 8,600 square feet of meeting space and 11 meeting facilities.
"Each of the property's meetings spaces are well-appointed with high-tech equipment to serve all needs, including large corporate meetings, small intimate social events and more. Just steps away from the bustling heart of Berlin's restaurants, shops and showrooms, and a convenient 30-minute drive from Berlin's airport, the property acts as a meeting hub for business travelers visiting from around the world," a news release announcing the opening said.
Prior to being repositioned as a DoubleTree, the building was home to the Steigenberger Hotel since 1981.
Dreher said the hotel's transformation was significant, which included reimagining the lobby.
"Before, the lobby was a huge front desk and a huge staircase going up to the first floor," he said. "Now, you're coming in, it's very open, it's very bright, and you're directly heading [to] the lobby bar. On the right-hand side, there's the front desk. And now, we have, I always say, the most sexy DoubleTree in Europe."
Dreher said the lobby now allows guests to be directly part of the community. Employees are trained to focus on offering guests who are in line at check-in a beverage.
When his team started hiring for the property, it had 40 people already from the Steigenberger. They then hired an additional 50 people. Dreher said he's involved in most of the interviews with the human resources department.
"I always thought I was just a general manager, but people are looking to me ... what I do, how I behave, how I act," he said. "I learned over the last couple of years how to use this. I try to inspire, I try to transport my passion. We have a very good team. Of course we have to find our ways, but I can say we have hired fantastic people."
Catering to All Travelers
The DoubleTree by Hilton Berlin Ku’damm is designed to cater to leisure guests vacationing in Berlin as well as business travelers and groups from across the globe.
Right now, leisure travelers make up about 80% of its guest mix, as August is a slower business travel month. However, Dreher's market typically hosts many business and meetings travelers during the week.
"The three important business mixes we have are business during the week, leisure during the weekend and meetings over the week," he said.
Dreher said the rebranded hotel plays an important role in attracting market share.
"We have many hotels in the vicinity, and much competition around, but now we are in a fantastic position with our property. We are brand-new and we have a great team," he said.
Nearby hotels include brands such as Waldorf Astoria and InterContinental Hotels and Resorts.
In terms of overall demand mix, Dreher said German travelers make up the highest share, at roughly 54%. The second-highest share is from the U.S., at 10%.
Rebranding the hotel as a Hilton was partly due to the desire to cater to the U.S. market.
He said the rest of the demand mix is made up of travelers from France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
"In general, the demand is lower than last year. But we believe this is because the last three years, people were not able to travel a lot outside [of the country]. In the country itself, the coast side, it was very busy the last [few] years. Now, we feel everything is back to normal. People can fly away to Turkey, Greece, Spain. This is why the demand in Berlin is 20% lower than last year," he added.
Berlin has yet to see a return from Chinese travelers, and demand from Russians is also low. Normally Russia is a large feeder market for Berlin.
Layering in Group Business
Due to the hotel being smaller than a typical 1,000-room conference hotel, Dreher said the key to layering group business into the broader demand mix is having smaller groups, between 80 and 120 people.
"You need this business as a base business for the entire yielding for the individual travelers," he said. "If you have meetings business as a base business, let's say 150 to 200 rooms, then you can yield your rates up for the individual travelers. This makes your average rate up and running."
When the hotel was a Steigenberger, the average rate in 2019 was about $120, he said. The DoubleTree is now sitting at about $140.
"But this is not our target. Our target rate for this year is $154. We have challenges to achieve it right now ... but in general, I truly believe we're going to get it done. For next year, we are looking forward to achieve very close to $200," he said.
The strategy for achieving that goal is paying less attention to occupancy and more to rate and guest experience, Dreher said.
The hotel is running at about 20% occupancy right now, he said, but added it is leisure season and the hotel just opened a month ago.
"As of September, when the first business months come up, we have to be ready to be in line with operations, to be No. 1 in guest service. Then, we can have our first meetings, increase the rate and keep the rate. This will drive us to achieve the higher rates," he said.