SMACK Hospitality

Ever wondered what will be left of the people business that is called hospitality follwing the #recovery and how it's evolved over the past decades? With more experience in the hospitality industry than the entire team at Smack combined, Ingrid Eras-Magdalena is one of those people you could listen to for hours. Nothing short of a legend in the HR-world of hospitality, with previous high-level pos...

As recovery from the global travel ban due to Covid-19 global slowly commences, let's talk revenue. We asked Lukas Peter, Head of Revenue Global at Soho House & Co to join us on the show to hear a first hand statement on the current state of revenue management, how hospitality can and should adapt and what the future holds. Fortunately Lukas also gave us a glimpse of why he is seeing some light at...

With #covid19 taking the world by storm, here's a reminder that there will be a life after the pandemic. Pierre Perusset, General Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, came to join us on the show to discuss some scenarios for hotels and General Managers of how to deal with Covid-19 during and after the lockdowns around the globe. Including some great examples of how hoteliers had to go from "mana...

Round two from the German Hotel Kongress 2020 (DHK 2020) speaking to some industry veterans and boy oh boy did we have fun in this one. In our longest ever Smack episode we got Ullrich Kastner, CEO of myhotelshop & Constantin Rehberg, CDO of prizeotel together in a room with us alongside a couple of beers and just turned out the microphones. The result was an hour long chat about the state of digi...

"Let us treat you with some very special insights into the mind of a hotelier, who embodies luxury hospitality like very few others. Frank Marrenbach, CEO of the Oetker Collection came to the show and talked to us about the current state of ultra luxury hotels, what it takes to run such properties and what the future has in store for them. A true veteran of hospitality excellence, Frank has previo...

As part of our visit to the German Hotelkongress 2020 Tobias Wann, Global CEO of Oyo Vacation Homes stopped by on the show to talk to us about the vacation homes business, its benefits and challenges and why it should really be called preferred accommodation, instead of alterantive accommodation. Beyond that Tobias explained the importance of branding in the context of Airbnb and Oyo Vacation Home...

We were invited to the German Hotelkongress 2020 (DHK 2020) to speak to some industry veterans and we're not one to miss a party! Where there are veterans, the next generation usually isn't far and so we got some experts together on the whole next-gen discussion and simply switched on the mics - the rest is history! Nadja Dahlmann from the Empire Riverside Hotel Hamburg, Sophie Gotte from the Mari...

Conference & Banqueting marks an important and profitable revenue stream for most medium and large hotels - so it was about time for us to speak to an expert. Tina Brack, GM at the Ellington Hotel Berlin used to run the C&B department in one of the largest conference hotels in Germany and now runs her own hotel as a GM in one of Berlin's hippest locations. Tina told us all about how events have ch...

Our very first ONTOUR-episode of Season 1 leads us to the preparations of the Young Hoteliers Summit (YHS) 2020 edition, a 3-day event organized solely by current students of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, during which students and staff of over 30 international hospitality management schools come together to discuss, exchange and socialize. Sounds fun? You bet! We had a quick word with two key...

Episode 7 of season 1 saw us taking on your favourite Christmas angel and Santa: Nicole Rosenkranz & Ian Millar, professors at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL). We got a quick update of EHL’s expansion plans, heard about why it’s not a great idea to take an exam without wearing pants and how teaching hospitality has changed over the past years. Needless to say the occasional story of old time...

Episode 6 of season 1 with Gregor Andreewitch, a seasoned veteran of Hilton and currently the GM of the Waldorf Astoria Berlin. Gregor talked to us about the struggle of getting respectable rates in a traditionally cheap city like Berlin, the importance of loyal programs and his experiences over a lifespan-career as a GM in hotels around the world. Also, Gregor gave us a great last remark of what...

Episode 5 of season 1 sees the team speak with Mark Somen of The Conduit about some topics that genuinely matter. Having sat down with Mark in London, we discussed social change, our planet and how to save it from a hospitality perspective. We also had a look at the story behind private member clubs and what they need to work. Mark was even kind enough to share a personal story that may serve as a...

We’re back with Episode 4 of season 1 and this time multi-award winning UK-hotelier Adam Rowledge, Ex-GM at The Georgian House in London and now running his own show at Rowledge Associates, joins us in London to talk about all things HR-related. Keeping talents in the industry, keeping talents in your hotel and how to grow and nurture staff. We even managed to not make Brexit and the performance o...

In our third episode Philip Ibrahim GM of The Student Hotel Berlin which is about to open swings by the show and talks about his move from a global operating hotel company (Accor) to a young and modern brand. Additionally Flo & Fritz tried to get behind the secret of being the coolest GM in town! Follow us on Social Media: Facebook: https://bit.ly/2k9u7ZY Instagram: https://bit.ly/2lLE0O8 LinkedIn...

In our second episode we welcome Beat Fornaro. Beat is Area Director Portfolio Development EMEA at Design Hotels. In today's episode he will talk about what it takes to be original in hospitality and what his experiences are, looking for the most original hotels around Europe, the Middle East and Afrika. Listen and enjoy! Follow us on Social Media: Facebook: https://bit.ly/2k9u7ZY Instagram: https...

In our first ever episode our two hosts Fritz Dickamp (L.I.K.E. Hospitality Consulting) & Florian Montag (hotelhero) will talk about the idea behind smack and what it means to start a business in hospitality as a young person. Listen and enjoy! Follow us on Social Media: Facebook: https://bit.ly/2k9u7ZY Instagram: https://bit.ly/2lLE0O8 LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2lLEx2A Copyrights: L.I.K.E. Hospita...