Wealth & Finance International - March 2017

19 March 2017 Without being nationalist in any way, we try to employ as many Austrian staff as possible. Most Austrians working in tourism still have very positive attitude towards this profession (other than in Switzerland for example, where it is very hard to find locals). Working in tourism still has a high reputation and many are happy to deliver service with a heart winning charm, elegance and understated professionalism. The staff here have been guided through personal daily engagement of the family, not forgetting my mother who has dedicated her life to this business and still is around every day of the season for 57 years! Feedback from clients The significant investments of the past two years have revealed, even to our long-term clients, that the hotel they have known for many years has been developed according to a well-conceived master plan that Katia and I have been working on for more than ten years. Customers feel that the hotel is moving in a clear direction and that we are taking it to the next generation. Having said that - there is always a fine line of keeping the identity of the place - and moving it forward. Both ingredients are important keeping a feeling of tradition, history and personal identification for those who have been coming for a long time but at the same time making it attractive, innovative and fresh for a younger clientele and new customers. The major investments we have made signal enormous trust into the future - by that I mean that the intention to keep up the highest possible standard - and the conviction that reinvesting everything back into the business is the best way of keeping clients happy and loyal. I believe that family owned and family run hotels in the 5 Star Superior category are about to die out. This luxury category usually is part of a chain or collection or a simple real estate investment. In the end, it is this rare mixture that makes us attractive and successful. Many guests tell us that they have travelled extensively but they can reassure us that we are ‘amongst the best hotels in the world.’ Future prospects There is no particular challenge for 2017. We have invested a great sum into the development of Hotel Almhof Schneider, both back stage and front stage and we now need to achieve good results in the forthcoming years. We are already working on the last phase of the master plan (extension by roughly 1.000m2 of rooms, including some very luxurious suites, in total 25 beds to regain the number of rooms/beds we had before starting the renovations. The last few years have shown enormous investments in the luxury hotel sector by companies and individuals that are not part of the regular com- petition, but rather investments in real estate. Those companies/individ- uals do not need to earn their investments. In many Alpine ski resorts, including Lech, these investments also are an attempt to avoid certain buildings regulations (like there are no second residencies allowed). In general, I would say that the luxury hotel sector is suffering from ris- ing costs and stagnating turnovers, making the industry less profitable every year. The leading ski resorts find themselves in a situation where summers are hardly profitable so all investments have to be paid back from winter seasons which means in more or less four months a year. To keep these places alive, the shift towards diversification is the most essential challenge by keeping a younger generation of locals interested in the destination. This shift can only be successful if the public sector col- laborates with private stakeholders to develop the destination to a much broader and resilient base of businesses, facilities and housing options. Company: Hotel Almhof Schneider Name: Gerold Schneider Web Address: www.almhof.at Email: [email protected] Address: Tannberg 59, 6764 Lech, Austria Telephone: +43 5583 3500