Running a business in the travel industry is no walk in the park. Oftentimes, there are lots of responsibilities on the shoulders of the owner, the GM or the departments’ head. Many companies face similar questions in certain situations, which could be for example

• In times of crisis
• In case of personnel bottlenecks
• Your business has a lot of ‘unfinished business’
• Your business needs in-depth problem solving
• You need fresh and unbiased input from an outsider
• Productivity is not at its maximum potential
• Customers/Guests counts are dropping
• Change of ownership

On this page you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions. If important aspects are missing, → please contact us.

What does HOTEL AND TRAVEL INSIGHT do exactly?

1. As strategic and operational consultants we reimagine, reshape and advise in the multi-layered areas of luxury travel and tourism.
2. Our mission is to galvanize everybody in the hospitality industry to set and achieve audacious goals — through inspiration, education, and application.
3. Our vision is to become the most loved hospitality consultancy.
4. Our objectives are significant, concrete, action-oriented, and (ideally) inspirational.
5. Our goal is to to help our clients to achieve optimal and sustainable results:
   – to remain competitive
   – to stimulate demand,
   – to improve guest loyalty
   – to increase visibility and
   – to rocket the customer experience.
6. We do this by helping the management to develop a compelling sense of WHY and to think differently about connecting with their guests, with their employees and with new technologies.

Please visit our → „what-we-do“-page for more detailed information.

What industries do you specialize in?

Whether you are a tour operator, travel agency, hotel, resort or carrier across skies, roads, rails, seas and waterways: We inspire and empower the most diverse sectors of the luxury travel industry to deliver excellence, compelling quality and commitment.

Please visit our → „Industries“-page for more detailed information.

We are a privately owned 4-star superior hotel and would like to upgrade to 5-stars. Can you help us with this? Do you work in the 3 or 4-star sector at all?

Yes, we can. We do not define luxury and upscale travel in terms of stars, number of elevators or other criteria of respective hotel rating associations. Especially in private hotels, the physical transformation and the size of the suites are not always the decisive criterion. There are countless ways to stand out from the competition and provide guests with an unforgettable stay. Since this is a highly individual question and ‘specific case’ related, please contact us directly. 

We are a travel agency specializing in corporate travel and exclusive resorts for upscale travelers. For some time now, more and more customers have been breaking away from us due to direct internet bookings, OTA’s and Airbnb. Can you help us transform our business model? 

Yes, we can. We hear this a lot. This is one of the most frequently described challenges that established travel agencies face today. Please contact us directly. 

Why should we hire a consultant instead of doing the work ourselves?

In addition to your duties and daily operations you could easily spend 500 extra hours or more to develop a business transformation plan, to implement strategies for better team communication or to work on product, guest communication, marketing and loyalty programs. Besides to our expertise in preparing these materials and save you time, we offer independent, third-party insights into your business, assess the entire guest experience from a customers’ point of view, raise questions that you might not have thought to ask and then recommend specific actions for improvement.

How do you price your services?

Consulting is a process, not a product! Accordingly this can be a flat fee with fixed packages, or a value-based fee, depending on various criteria, among others:

• The scope of the project, in terms of the tasks and a specific situation you require help with
• The sophistication and specific needs of your target audience
• The quality of your pre-existing materials, including implemented software, early drafts of business plans, market research, competitive research, etc.
• The clarity of your vision for your goals, marketing and distribution strategy, financial plans, etc.
• The availability of your own employees, which you can provide us with for specific tasks or work groups
• The desired timing relative to our workload. In general, “rush” jobs will carry a substantial premium over projects that can be completed as our schedule permits

We work according to the participatory design method and ask ourselves: Which dialog processes and planning tools are the simplest and most effective when it comes to identifying, critically sorting and then meeting the real and most urgent needs of our customers? An important part of our work is also to take away fears of change, to create confidence and to initiate further processes quickly. Pragmatically and quickly, cost-consciously and sustainably. Please visit our → Fees & Rates page for more information.

Will you sign a non-disclosure agreement?

Gladly. We prefer to use a Mutual NDA so that our own trade secrets and business intelligence can be protected as well.

Can you send us samples of your work or reference reports?

Our work is silent, discreet and revels in subtlety, so we are unable to hand over or email you a sample. If you would like a closer look, we can schedule an online screen sharing session or show you personally a few anonymized references of our work as a final step before you sign the engagement letter. Public projects, websites, marketing publications and digital content on YouTube or Instagram, which we have developed together with our partner agencies, we can of course present to you at an earlier stage. Please visit our → Mystery Shopping & Quality Audit page for detailed information and a to request a case study.

In which countries do you offer your consulting services?

We operate worldwide.

Where are you located, and how do you work with clients outside of your local area?

We are headquartered in Germany and have consultants in many countries. Given the nature of our work, during the assessment of a travel service, for inspection of a hotel/resort and depending on the goals of the project, travel in our line of business is mandatory. We will determine that together as we define the project plan and scope. That said, we rely heavily on the phone, e-mail, video conferencing and online meeting tools – especially during short meetings and follow ups –  to do our part to protect the environment and reduce our ecological footprint as much as possible.

Please visit our → „about us“-page for more detailed information.

What are your qualifications?

Everyone on our team comes with an extensive leadership and management background and we pride ourselves on a humble, focused and zero-nonsense attitude and approach towards all client projects. In addition, our team members have a „can do” attitude, mindset + IQ + EQ, experience in core sales, at a B2B function, client facing plus a deep passion for hotels and the hospitality business.

Having said that, we believe that the value we bring to the table is not the industry expertise — which you already possess in abundance — but rather an unbiased analysis, mentoring and communication skills, Scrum / agile project management, understanding of intelligent personalization and translating to account growth strategies. Developing action plans and successfully execute these strategies is required to achieve your company-, financial- and partnership targets.

Please visit our → „why us?“-page  and → “consulting”-page for more detailed information.

How is a consulting project started and organized?

Working with consultants shouldn’t be a hassle. We work with you and your teams to make sure the experience and process are great while working towards your goals. Although we customize just about everything to your business needs and goals, the typical consulting project is started and organized in the following ways:

• Initial consultation meeting(s) to determine your goals and current business challenges.
• If we require deeper information before or during building a proposal, we’ll have you sign a mutual NDA (non-disclosure agreement).
• We’ll develop a proposal that includes a SOW (statement and scope of work), pricing, timelines and any options or recommendations.
• Once the scope of the project is agreed, we’ll establish you in our systems for effective collaboration. (if applicable). This will also include a regular communications plan and milestone reporting.
• We’ll work our magic to make you and your business shine.
• Towards the end of the project, we’ll finalize knowledge transfer so the results are sustainable.

Why do you only work in the upper price and luxury categories?

Well, this is what we love to do. This is our expertise and our style, and we want to keep it that way. Besides, there are just too many hotels in the world and we are a relatively small boutique consulting firm with a very bespoke service. 

A consultancy, on the other hand, that would encompass all categories and levels within the entire hotel industry would inevitably be too impersonal or “watered down” and lose its focus. For the same reason, we do not offer financial audits, legal consulting or risk advisory, investment planning or other services as offered by the big management consulting firms which specialize in finance and lawl. Also keep in mind that budget hotels, convention hotels specialized in hosting the MICE traveller segment, accommodation for package tourists and motels for backpackers have completely different requirements and rules of the game.

Please visit our → „why us?“-page  and → “what we don’t do”-page for more detailed information.

Management, marketing, staff training, strategy or loyalty schemes aside, what is your approach when you test a hotel? What are your criteria when it comes to operational business? How do you go about mystery guesting?

When it comes to testing, during the assessment of a travel service or for inspection of a hotel/resort, our only benchmark is the highest level of excellence – achieved by location, design, wellness, furnishing, friendliness and the creative power of high performing teams. As regards the hotel-owned restaurants, we comment on the quality and freshness of the products and become concerned if convenience food is regenerated. We consider knowledge, creativity, cooking time, taste and the care taken in food preparation itself. Altogether, there are around 400 different criteria to be taken into consideration during our stay. On cruise ships they are even more.
But all these rational criteria would not take us very far. In our opinion, subjective impressions, which can’t be rated or analyzed with the help of checklists, are just as decisive: The atmosphere of a place, its aesthetics, the harmony of the different elements, the poetry of the place itself – and last but not least, the style of the guests and the motivation of the General Manager, who is meticulously and passionately striving for perfection. Only the complete interplay of all these factors in accordance with its target audience and their expectations will make the discerning guest and/or experienced traveller feel comfortable and only then in will show within seconds after booking or arrival that one have really opted for a home away from home. Please visit our → Mystery Shopping & Quality Audit page for more information

Can I email my proactive CV/resume directly to the recruitment team? What is your e-mail address? 

To be considered for a role, we highly recommend sending your application through our → career website.

Is it necessary for me to travel to Germany for a face-to-face job interview? Is there an alternative? 

After receiving your written application, we conduct the initial conversations and video interviews on Teams, Facetime or Zoom. In most cases, we then meet in a major city near you, where we see all candidates in person. If you are travelling to Germany or Europe anyway, our office in Frankfurt (located directly at the airport) is the ideal place for an encounter. Otherwise, we will always come to your area. However, it all depends on the circumstance and position applied for.

Apply for a call with one of our Business Consultants today! Our team would be delighted to exchange ideas with you.