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Cornelia Kausch, Managing Director, Hotel Berlin, Berlin

“We could almost say that Hotel Berlin, Berlin has a destination destiny! It is the most “Berlin” hotel in Berlin”

Experience a destination and a venue: a key feature when organizing an event and an eternal objective for the Hotel Berlin, Berlin. Charismatic and involved MD Cornelia Kausch, provides BWMN with the history of a hotel closely linked to the city and gives you tips about her vision of hospitality.

BWMN: Can you present your hotel in a few words to our readers. When was it built? Why this name? 

Cornelia Kausch: Hotel Berlin, Berlin opened its doors on April 26, 1958 as the first Top Class Hotel in the city of West Berlin after the 2nd World War, in a desert of destruction and ruins.  Soon it became the talk of the town and integrated lifestyle, fashion and great cuisine into the expectations of the traveller. Looking back at such a great history and at the same time being creative and innovative is something that this house incorporates every day. The hotel manages to combine a long tradition with modern settings.  It was always a visionary, always having global perspectives in mind and always seen as part of the city. Many things have changed, but some things don’t change however: The focus lies on the satisfied guests yesterday like today, being the centre of all the actions and renovations which we did and do and will be doing in the future.

Why Hotel Berlin, Berlin - because we are just twice as good and our hotel has always been intimately bound with the city of Berlin and each of our messages is generally the result of a great passion for this city and for our mission as a host, and for our hotel as an ambassador to the city.

BWMN: You invested more than 20 M € in a renovation programme. Why such a big project?  

Cornelia Kausch: We decided that in order to survive on such a competitive market, where we have over 100.000 bedrooms which is even more than NYC - the development of a hotel has to be as innovative and influential in this century, as the original Hotel Berlin was in the last. Hospitality professionals are forever exploring routes to success through delivering guest experiences. In Berlin, a unique combination of opportunity, challenge and experience has inspired a new hospitality vision. Our goal was and still is unique. And so also is our strategy for reaching it. 

For all business segments, a primary key buying influence is the destination: first, the choice of destination, from almost endless options; second, the desire to optimize the experience of the chosen destination. Here at the Hotel Berlin, Berlin we are not only free to pursue a very focused destination policy, we have unique credentials to do so. We could almost say that Hotel Berlin, Berlin has a destination destiny! Hotel Berlin, Berlin is the most “Berlin” hotel in Berlin. It has shared Berlin’s most formative recent history. It now shares Berlin’s unique talent for bringing together different people and ideas, and Berlin’s modern passion for creativity.

Our unique promise - “the hotel that is part of your Berlin experience” - is crystallized in our slogan, or theme line “Original Berlin”, the same in German, English and almost every other mainstream western language.

BWMN: You are offering a “living surface” system to meeting planners. Can you tell us more about this interactive tool? 

Cornelia Kausch: We have state of the art facilities with screens as well as living surface in the lobby, here we can integrate the colours of the company or the logo or the slogan directly on the floor. Now and then if it is not used and bought by our meeting planners it is a soccer field and people stand in the lobby and play football. 

BWMN: What kind of experience would you like to offer guests and delegates? 

Cornelia Kausch: The unique Berlin experience. As a single hotel with the world as our marketplace, we have a very special approach to communications. Wherever our audience meets us, globally (e.g. via the internet) or individually (e.g. at check-in), we convey our brand personality and our unique promise. It is key that we behave consistently across the communication spectrum.

We focus on the delivery of our promise at numerous points during the guest’s stay, golden opportunities to create loyalty and the harness the most powerful communication tool in the world: word-of-mouth... satisfied guests as ambassadors for our brand.  The meeting planner tells us what he needs and we tailor make a programme for him, according to his specifications. The better the brief the better we are able to fulfill and we combine it with our knowledge about the city, to ensure that each delegate becomes an ambassador of our city and our brand. 

We love what we are doing and have a passion about this business, whichever touchpoint our delegate reaches out for, we try to be there first, to help and support him.  It is always our goal to seek to differentiate the Hotel Berlin, Berlin by moving into the aspirational and active thinking of our guests.

BWMN: Do you have other projects in the pipeline especially for the MICE business?

Cornelia Kausch: Yes, but before I have not passed through the Board and an agreed investment, I do not want to talk about it, but assure you, that Bedouk will be the first one to know.

www.hotel-berlin.de