Zirve Eki - ISTANBUL REstate

16-17 Haziran 2010
organizers, they have realized that they have the hotel standards in the
city to be able to organize big events. Somebody in the audience might
remember we did the HABITAT in the city. I think it was in 93 or 94, if
somebody remembers. That was 3000-5000 people all international
that actually launched Istanbul as a congress-convention destination.
We also need the international brands in order to benchmark our local
service and facilities. We do have a quite extensive resort industry in
Turkey, especially in Antalya. There are some fantastic hotels. I am proud
to say as a Turkish citizen that our hotel standards is quite high in this
country compared to Europe especially. However in some areas we lack.
We lack service standards. We lack maintaining standards. International
companies somehow manage to sustain that. So we have to learn from
them. We are not saying we don't know. We are learning fast. We are
also teaching the international brands. The local way of our hospitality,
the Turkish hospitality. They also benchmark their service levels with the
Turkish hotel operators. So it is a mutually beneficial situation.
Stephen Schnorr
Motel One Development
We are not only looking for Turkey, we now have in almost every big
city in Germany an hotel. So our next step, we plan to do is to go to
every major city in Europe so not only Turkey, also Budapest, Poland
and London, Paris, at least one Motel One in every major city. But let
me say something about Motel One. We started in 2000 with the idea
to make a low budget hotel which is affordable for everybody. And the
first idea was to get more private customers, leisure guests and when
we started in the early, the first 2 or 3 years we recognized that our
business mix, the customers mix now is almost by % 50 business guests
and % 50 leisure guests. So we changed our product a little bit. And
went absolutely into the downtown areas so in the weekend we have
leisure guests. They can reach everything by walking. And below the
week we have a lot of business guests. So this is what we call the sevenday
location but don't have a five star product with conference rooms
and F&B areas. We just have the rooms, a huge lunch area for breakfast,
little toast or snacks. And that is how we reduced to a limit. And we
can offer affordable prices. For example in Munich, we charge 69 euros.
We don't make yield management so we charge everyday of the year
the same price which is very easy for the customer if he wants to book
a hotel in Munich, in Hamburg he knows in advance this will cost me
69 euros or 59 euros. So it is very easy to handle. The guest has to
check in. He doesn't have to check out. The price is always the same.
And we invested all the money in the rooms. So we are rated as a two
star group but actually I always like to explain it like it is four star room,
a four star system with a reduced service. So no conference rooms, no
F&B area. And so, as you said, in eastern countries there are a lot of
five star groups, coming first Sheraton and Marriott. But as we could
see in Germany the demand for affordable business and leisure hotels
in the cities is very big. For example, Budapest, Warsaw, Istanbul, there
are a lot of five star groups and we see a big demand for affordable
business hotels in the eastern countries, all the eastern countries but
even in London and Paris.
Gayrimenkul Zirvesi 10
Georg Wailand: And you can compare the situation in Turkey with
other countries from your group. What is the biggest advantage for
hotels in Turkey?
Tar›k Nasser: The biggest advantage of the hotels as I just said that
the product level is quite high. Most of the investors in this country are
also construction companies. So, number one, they are very proud to
have a hotel in most of the cases budget issues are secondary to achieving
to a nice hotel. And obviously we have a very young population. The
labor force, the human resources in this country is amazing. They just
need to be trained properly. Once they are trained and introduced into
the industry, they take off. So that is one of the biggest advantages in
Turkey.
Georg Wailand: Thank you so much. Stephen Schnorr, your company
is growing fast in Germany. You are looking for Turkey. What are the
perspective you have and your plans?
Oturum Baflkan› : Georg Wailand
How did the crisis affect your business?
Stephen Schnorr: Well, the crisis was at least very good for
us because many customers from the upper class hotels, four star,
five star groups now staying in Motel Ones. So we were winner
in the crisis.
Georg Wailand: And if you are looking to Turkey, which part
of Turkey is most interest for you?
Stephen Schnorr: Our product is more like a business hotel so
where we want to go first is Istanbul, maybe Ankara, all the big
cities. So just let's start with Istanbul to find a plot for us and the
overnight volume in Istanbul is so big that we see like five or six
hotels in Istanbul maybe.
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GYODER