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Get your copy now from co-author Karin Niederer at Kohl & Partner!

Now with numerous tips and tools for these topics, which you will not find in conventional training courses, this book is aimed at hotel owners and managers and junior managers at hotels, day spas and thermal spas.

The wellness market is growing and many hotels have invested in large spa facilities which often run at a loss. Spa and wellness hotels therefore have to think and act in a more business-like manner. There are many strategic and operative decisions to be made regarding issues ranging from high-quality services for guests, positioning your establishment and making it stand out from the competition, to performing the balancing act that will make your spa a commercial success. This is no easy feat, as many establishments are struggling with problems such as suboptimal operating size, lack of equity, lack of know-how, significant re-investment needs and a high fixed cost burden.
This comprehensive guide by authors Stefan Nungesser, Dagmar Rizzato and Karin Niederer provides expert advice on these issues and more. It contains essential information for hoteliers on spa and wellness centre management, such as the

basics of a spa and wellness concept
planning a spa and wellness area
organisation and quality management of your spa and wellness department
staff management
spa marketing
efficiency and controlling

Learn from the best tourism destinations (DMOs)on the basis of a specific and anonymous comparison of data and figures. Being familiar with your own figures and comparing them with similar DMOs is an important factor in making your organisation more professional.

Compare apples with apples – Kohl & Partner principles in DMO benchmarking

Due to the diverse DMO structures in the Alpine region, general guidelines are not really suitable for tourism associations and regions. The challenges in DMO benchmarking are based on a variety of factors, such as:

revenue differences in the regions - due to the different tourism and local tax rates in Austria's federal states - must be taken into account in direct benchmarking.

An example: Tourism taxes are higher in the west of Austria than in the east. Therefore, due to the different statutory revenues in the DMOs, a relative comparison of employee costs (as a percentage of total revenues) is not appropriate in direct DMO benchmarking.

• Uniform data basis and evaluation mode - Kohl & Partner uses a uniform standard for determining the DMO key figures - this guarantees direct comparability.
• Differences due to corporate forms - DMO benchmarks must be adapted to the specific legal form of the DMO. The DMO benchmarks from Kohl & Partner are adapted to the respective company form in order to enable comparability within your DMO structure. A tourism association (corporation under public law) is not benchmarked against a regional limited company, as the structures are different (different statutory tasks, VAT deductibility, etc.).
• New main tasks in the DMO - DMOs are increasingly taking on a triad of tasks. Depending on how they interact with other organisations and companies, DMOs are also primarily responsible for the servicing/support of companies (keywords: Landlord coaching, e-coaching, recruiting coach, etc.). Conclusions can be drawn about the cost structure; this depends on the focus of the DMO.

The Kohl & Partner approach and procedure for your specific and anonymous DMO benchmarking:

• 1. You send your last year's balance sheet to Kohl & Partner for evaluation
• 2. You will also receive a questionnaire to specify the benchmarking, e.g. bed structure, offer structure, length of hiking trails, etc.
• 3. The data basis is evaluated according to a uniform standard (based on STAHR) and anonymised
• 4. Kohl & Partner selects structurally similar DMOs from its database, chooses comparison DMOs and compares them with your business on the basis of current results
• 5. The benchmark comparison includes comparative and guide values for the entire operating result (up to DB III / GOP) and tourism guide values relevant to the region (What does the maintenance cost for each kilometre of hiking trail? How much is put into marketing for each accommodation facility? etc.)
• 6. The evaluation discusses the benchmarks and includes a technical commentary on the relevant revenue, cost and destination guide values and is supplemented by tried-and-tested saving measures to realise savings potential
• 7. Kohl & Partner does the necessary preparatory work in-house and holds telephone conversations to support the process. We put the benchmarks in a presentation with expert comments which is sent digitally

A key aim of DMO benchmarking is to reduce fixed costs in order to free up funds for product and marketing projects. Kohl & Partner DMO Benchmarking now features proven implementation measures. These implementation recommendations for (fixed) cost items above the benchmarks lead directly to savings that can be used for new product and marketing projects. Specific DMO benchmarking and implementation measures provide you with valuable tools for professionalising your DMO.

Further information:
Mag. Daniel Orasche

"Will we still need tourism organisations in the future?". This is the central question of this exclusive 19-page brochure.

Kohl & Partner aims to make a contribution that is both visionary in ambition and grounded in expertise to the discussion surrounding the development of professional tourism organisations - with a view to 2030.

The Dos & Don'ts in Service - A Practitioner's Guide

In all tourism businesses, be it hotels, restaurants, mountain railways, baths, thermal baths, excursion destinations, tourism organisations ... there is still more to give in terms of service.
Why? Because nearly everyone fails to provide proper service to the person standing in front of them.

This book is a toolbox that plays a great emphasis on soft skills. Because tourism is a people business.

Twelve practitioners and consultants share their experiences and tips in the book. Forty stories from everyday service work round off the guide.

Price strategies for the hotel industry

"Hot tips" and smart pricing strategies

This guide will make you want to examine your own price policy and make use of unused opportunities

An indispensable tool to make your company fit for the future in the "shark tank" that is the hotel market.

Use qualitatively selected benchmarks instead of a quantitative collection of generic industry figures. This enables you to express and analyse company-specific requirements in the best possible way The challenges in benchmarking are based on a variety of factors (location, size, profile, etc.). The unique character of a holiday hotel, something which guests value highly, makes it more difficult for companies to create business-specific benchmarks. You can have a tailor-made benchmark comparison created for your company to preserve company individuality in benchmarks.

Kohl & Partner's benchmarking principle:
Qualitatively selected benchmarks mean more than quantitative collection of generic key figures. This enables you to express and analyse company-specific requirements in the best possible way.

• You transmit your own operating data to Kohl & Partner for evaluation
• We perform a STAHR analysis on the data
• This ensures a uniform structure and comparability
• We select structurally similar and easily comparable businesses from the Kohl & Partner database
• Five comparison businesses are defined and compared with their actual results
• The benchmark comparison includes comparative and guide values for the entire operating result (up to DB III / GOP)
• The evaluation includes expert remarks from Kohl & Partner and provides initial starting points for the entrepreneur

Kohl & Partner's business-specific benchmarks provide you with valuable insights into operational revenue, cost structure and operational earnings. Kohl & Partner does the necessary preparatory work in-house and holds telephone conversations to support the process. We put the benchmarks in a presentation with expert comments which is sent digitally.