Digital offers for the benefit of the guest.
(Photo: Grand Elysée Hamburg / PR)
Lucerne The Grand Elysée in Hamburg is a rock in the hotel industry, and in many ways. Inspired by the gastronomy in Paris, London and New York, entrepreneur and owner Eugen Block specialized in steakhouses with affiliated franchises – until he opened the Grand Elysée as a further milestone after the “Block House” chain.
As the largest private hotel in Germany, the luxurious hotel can look back on over 30 years of success. Daughter Christina Block is a partner in Eugen Block Holding. The entrepreneur is always in direct contact with a guest or in a lively conversation with an employee. Above all, the prestigious establishment looks authentic in its furnishings and is through and through tradition. A real family business. But the solid first impression is wrong, in a positive sense.
One of the most exciting tightrope walks in the hotel industry is between a personal guest experience with warm (eye) contact and the advantages of the digital world. When you check into a luxury hotel, you can usually feel the unmistakable spirit, team spirit and good souls. Perfect service is the nucleus of the luxury hotel industry, and this is not available at the push of a digital button.
Or does it? As part of the “The 101 Best Hotels in Germany” ranking, the “101 Best – Digital Prize of the German Hotel Industry” will also be awarded to the hotel that performs best online. The Grand Elysée, which received the Location Award, the seal of quality for top event locations in Germany, in 2017, is now also the most digital hotel in the republic. The quality and reliable equipment of the house are well known. But the diverse digital possibilities are also clearly used in the interests of the guest.
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The award, which was created in cooperation with the Online Birds agency, looks at five areas of digital presence: website, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine advertising (SEA), social media and email marketing.
All of these tools are digital means to get in touch with the customer and to maintain the connection even after a physical visit. The Elysée makes life easy for its guests, whether in the virtual search or on site. This is only possible if the corresponding service attitude is already in place. Even mediocre guest contact doesn’t get any better on a digital highway.
In addition to the wide range of digital options, the house also offers a spa area.
(Photo: Grand Elysee Hamburg)
“At the Grand Elysée Hamburg we are concerned with unforgettable experiences, memories and emotions. With the right messages, emotions in particular can be perfectly conveyed via social media, ”says André Vedovelli, CEO of Elysée Hotel AG. “We build personal relationships with our guests and strengthen guest loyalty. We owe this so successfully to our film director Moritz Krebs, who supports us competently and creatively with the conception of our videos. ”
The digital prize will be presented by Achim Berg at the 101 best award ceremony on November 28 at the Der Öschberghof resort. As head of Bitkom, the industry association for the German information and telecommunications industry, he is perhaps the most influential man in the digital world. Berg can estimate very precisely how much courage and energy the Grand Elysée has invested in digital innovations.
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Thanks to the regular maintenance of the online channels, the hotel has succeeded in installing important bridges between the digital and physical world, a very relevant move in Corona times. But that’s not all: The hotel has a large ballroom with 1400 square meters and thus the ideal anchorage for congresses, festive banquets or glamorous ball nights.
Vedovelli and his team recognized the needs of their guests even in the currently difficult months and added a digital studio with ten square meters of scene space for productions in TV quality to the conference rooms. Streaming packages and event equipment are individually tailored to customer requirements. In this way, the Hamburg house creates all the prerequisites to connect people in meetings and conferences around the world in a digital experience.
Incidentally, the “101 Future Hospitality Days” will take place in the Grand Elysée at the end of March 2022. There is hardly a more suitable place where young hoteliers can discuss the future topics of health, digitization and sustainability with decision-makers from the industry. The “101 Best – Next-Gen Hotelier of the Year” award will also be presented here for the first time.
More: These international hotels are taking digitization to the extreme