The company stopped its work.

The official founding party was the starting signal for the step outwards to raise funds and donations. According to initial market studies, Köhne and her colleagues have 70 to 80 rooms in mind, a high single-digit million sum must come together for this. The opening should be in five to six years.

Lots of areas for people with disabilities

“The advantage of a hotel is that it can be run economically,” explains Köhne. “You have a completely different turnover than a café or a supermarket. And you have a lot of areas in which people with learning disabilities, who are mentally or physically handicapped, can work.”

It is precisely for this reason that, according to industry estimates, there are between 70 and 80 so-called inclusion hotels throughout Germany, most of which are sponsored by social associations. 50 houses have joined forces in the Embrace Association – from youth guest houses to 4-star superior Welnes stamp. “A hotel is a fabulous place to integrate people. A hotel is always a meeting place,” emphasizes Embrace Vice President Alexander Tränkmann. One thing is very important to him: “We create encounters at eye level. The guest perceives the employee primarily as an employee, just as the guest is also a guest. We don’t want to create any special worlds.”

Social added value through employees with disabilities

Martin Bünk, a consultant and manager specializing in inclusion hotels, emphasizes: “The guests come because they are looking for a good service, because they are looking for a nice hotel room, because they want a decent breakfast, or because they are holding a conference that they are professionally organizing want to have.” The social added value that arises from the choice of a hotel with disabled employees can be actively marketed, but is never sufficient as the sole quality feature.

A project has to be self-sustaining after five years at the latest. Then the start-up financing, which the Inclusion Office pays from the equalization levies, expires. That is why economic efficiency is paramount when planning and operating an inclusion hotel. “It is often expected that a specific work environment will be created around an individual. That usually doesn’t work,” Tränkmann emphasizes. “First there is the task to be done.” It is therefore also important when communicating with employees “not to lie to yourself that every employee can do any job”.

Specialization depending on the disability

For example, a wheelchair user can work very well at reception, but make beds poorly – which in turn can be a suitable job for the deaf. Autistic people can specialize in the complicated IT reservation system, while people with Down syndrome are in good hands with the service.

Tränkmann emphasizes that a normal job that requires social security is extremely important for employees. It not only gives them their own income, life skills and self-confidence. “We are completely normal employers. It is therefore also important for employees to learn that their own well-being is no longer in the foreground,” reports the gastronomy specialist – in order to limit immediately: “But this has long been the case with the younger generation as well for non-disabled people . “

More and more inns are disappearing in rural regions. The reasons for this are not always bad sales: Even gourmet restaurants have to close.

The hotel and restaurant association Dehoga warns of a creeping disappearance of inns and inns in the country. The number of companies in the hospitality industry fell by eight percent to 30,800 from 2008 to 2016, said state chairman Fritz Engelhardt of the German Press Agency in the run-up to the Dehoga delegates’ day in Esslingen. This shows that innkeepers and hoteliers in particular are giving up in rural areas.

Bureaucracy and working hours as obstacles

In some parts of the country this is now clearly noticeable: In the Schwarzwald-Baar district, around 130 inns, inns, guest houses and hotels closed between 2008 and 2016 – a decrease of 16 percent.good argumentative essay topics In the Zollernalb district, 93 companies had to give up – 15 percent. The Main-Tauber district holds the sad record. Here 120 companies have given up – a decrease of almost a quarter. The figures are based on the sales tax statistics; more recent data are not available.

The situation in the hospitality industry is not bad: in the latest economic survey, almost two thirds of the innkeepers questioned and a good three quarters of hoteliers described their economic situation as good. However, all respondents complained about the lack of staff and the bureaucratic effort involved in documenting working times. Almost half of the innkeepers have problems complying with the maximum daily working hours.

Number of trainees is falling

“Companies suffer from a chronic shortage of employees,” complains Engelhardt. “Entrepreneurs and their families compensate for the lack of skilled workers with their own extra work.” Where that can lead can be seen in Nagold, where the gourmet restaurant “Alte Post” is closing. First chef Stefan Beiter gave up the star, then he saw no way at all. The reason: shortage of personnel.

The number of employees in the industry recently rose to a high of 132,500 employees. But there is a lack of young talent: the number of trainees has fallen from a good 10,000 to around 6,200 in the past ten years.

High quality as a rescue?

The structural change is dramatic: “While larger companies that can invest are often among the winners, the smaller companies in rural areas are falling behind.” According to Dehoga, 4,000 owner-run businesses are about to be handed over over the next five years as the owners are retiring.

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Tourism Minister Guido Wolf (CDU) appealed: “Here politicians are also called upon to give catering businesses more space and to put legal regulations to the test.” Economics minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) advises country inns to expand the catchment area: “The traditional village economy can hardly survive solely with customers from the village,” she said. Restaurants are also often successful in rural areas if they rely on high quality products – especially from regional suppliers – and service.

Award-winning restaurant has to close

That this is not necessarily enough, however, recently became apparent in the Central Baden municipality of Bühl. The “Gasthaus zum Lamm”, which is even in the gourmet bible “Gault Millau “attracted attention, will close next year, as” Badische Latest Nachrichten “and” SWR “have already reported. Leaseholder Ludwig Bechter confirmed this to the German press agency. Here, too, the reason is the lack of staff: he loses his cook – and finds it no offspring.

Sources used: dpa

The hotel booking platform Amoma has filed for bankruptcy. Hotel nights that have already been booked will most likely be canceled.

Spectacular bankruptcies: From Borgward to Schlecker

Photo series with 30 pictures

Amoma, an online platform for booking hotel rooms, has filed for bankruptcy. The company stopped its work. Anyone who visits the company’s website will only receive a brief note about the bankruptcy, which was also sent to customers by email. It says that price comparison sites would impose “unsustainable financial conditions” on Amoma. These “make it impossible to continue our activities”.

Price comparison sites charged high fees

Booking portals like Amoma often have to pay a fee per click for price comparison sites like Trivago, HRS or Hotels Combined. Depending on how much you are willing to pay, your offer will be placed more or less well. At the same time, according to Amoma, there is an unjust situation on the market: Many comparison portals belong to other online travel agencies whose offers are preferred on the portal.

The bankruptcy is bitter for customers: Your bookings are likely to be canceled by the hotels, according to the notice on the Amoma website. When booking a hotel room through Amoma, it was common practice to pay the full amount directly to the booking platform. The hotels have not yet received the money for any outstanding trips and will therefore not be able to maintain existing reservations. As early as Friday, the “skift.com” portal reported on complaints from travelers who found out on site that their room reservations had been canceled.

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What those affected can do

But not only the room, but also the money is gone for the customer. Anyone who has reserved a room through Amoma should contact the relevant hotel and ask whether the room has been canceled. In addition, those affected should contact their bank. Chargeback proceedings may be initiated due to non-performance. For this purpose, those affected should have the cancellation confirmed in writing by the hotel and submit the booking and payment confirmation from Amoma.

Sources used: Company website AmomaE-Mail to Amoma customers: “Cease trading notification” Skift: “Amoma.com Troubles May Delight Hoteliers That Hate Its Rate Discounting” Travel Topia: “Online travel agency Amoma files for bankruptcy” Show more sources less sources

The hotel room doesn’t really have a flaw, but you just don’t like it? Then you’d better change it than worry about it for a long time.

There is no legal right to a more attractive room anywhere in the world. But every good hotel will try to make you a satisfied guest. Here are ten tips on how to get a good room.

1. Ask immediately

They had been looking forward to a quiet room facing the garden. But now you’re being taken to a room that faces the street, where the elevator creaks next door and a jackhammer thumps down below? Then you’d better not put your suitcase down in the first place, but immediately ask for a quieter room. The experienced hotel guest remains routine and friendly and expresses smiling that he is convinced that the hotel employee can definitely do something for him.

2. Remain friendly

Only beginners compulsively look for faults in the unloved room. Instead, the connoisseur compliments the hotel employee and then frankly tells him that he cannot attach it to anything special, but that he feels uncomfortable. And then kindly asks which other rooms in the house are available.

3. Difficult neighbors

The neighbor watches television at excessive volume, speaks half the night on the phone with someone who is hard of hearing or argues with his wife? The next morning, ask if the gentlemen from room 307 are leaving. If not, you will surely be given a remote room.

4. Not an easy guest

If you know that you are not an ordinary guest: Don’t just ask for the next best room, but ask in advance to be able to take a look at the room intended for you. Most of the time you will notice immediately whether you like it.

5. Have a choice

Often you have the option of being shown two or three rooms upon arrival, from which you can then choose one.

6. Allergy to house dust

Do you already know before you arrive that the hygiene in most hotels does not meet your standards? Then a little trick that hotel managers like to use on their own private trips can help: you tell us when you book that you are allergic to house dust. As a rule, the chambermaid then receives a corresponding note on his operational list: “Guest is allergic. Clean particularly thoroughly.”

7. What doesn’t cost anything is nothing either

The room was a bargain, the price suspiciously low, and now you’ve got the narrowest dump directly above the kitchen with the exhaust rattling all day? Put earplugs in your ear and next time don’t book the cheapest room category, but one step better. That costs maybe 10 or 20 euros more, but in conjunction with a small compliment is often the key to the very best rooms in the house.

8. Conduct towards staff

Take one thing into account: friendliness towards staff always pays off. Anyone who says hello, perhaps starts a little conversation, does not make a phone call during check-in and expresses their appreciation for the staff at all, gets appreciation in return – and often an upgrade too.

9. Become a regular customer

Appreciation towards a hotel or a hotel group also expresses who is a member of their Frequent Guest Club. This not only gives you discounts after a certain number of overnight stays, but also a regular customer treatment, even if you have never been to this special hotel.

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10. Polite but firm

Do you not only have a bad feeling, but an objective reason for rejecting the room? Does it get moldy behind the cupboard, does it smell sweet and stale of bed bugs, is the shower defective? Then it’s no longer about goodwill. Explain politely but firmly what you saw and change rooms immediately. And preferably the hotel right away.

Check-in at the hotel is always tense for most travelers: does the room face the main street or the green inner courtyard? Is it because of the elevator or at the end of an endless corridor? Sometimes the guests are happy, sometimes they ask themselves angrily: Why did I get this room here? / P