MUNICH, Germany
The brainchild of a Munich hotelier, Johannes Eckelmann, who also runs the Cocoon Hotel brand, Hotel Buddy at Stachus Square is a new concept, low-budget hotel that is completely staffless.
"The benefits for guests are pretty obvious," says Eckelmann. "That is, they are staying in a modern, brand-new hotel right in the heart of Munich, and at an unbeatable and affordable price."
The 75 hotel rooms are located inside a large office complex and distributed over several floors. Guests can check in early, even days in advance, and they just need to sign their name on the pad at the kiosk upon arrival. This signature is then saved together with their reservation.
Once signed in, guests collect their key card from a machine. This code-based key card will then automatically transport them by elevator to the correct floor.
All of the technology behind these staffless systems—online booking, online payment, early check-in or kiosk-based check-in at the hotel, the interfaces to process guests’ credit cards and create key cards, the automatic check-out technology, not to mention the system for managing car parking spaces—is provided by a cloud-based hotel management platform from hetras.
"This technology is a perfect fit for the demands of young target groups that are used to organizing their travel on mobile devices and online," explains Tanja Baier, hetras sales manager. "Just as urban travelers today just check in online for flights, they would also much rather be able to check into hotels the same way—quickly, without any fuss and without having to stand in a queue."
Buddy Hotel was created as an alternative to Eckelmann’s two existing Cocoon Hotels, which are based on a budget lifestyle hotel concept with a retro design. Together with Oliver Massabni, Eckelmann set up the first Cocoon Hotel in Munich at Sendlinger Tor in 2008, and the second at Stachus Square in 2012.
Another Cocoon Hotel near Munich Central Station is set to open at the beginning of 2016. Both Cocoon Hotels currently have a very high capacity utilization rate of 90%. At present, plans are underway to expand the hotel brand beyond Munich to either Hamburg or Vienna.
It does not appear that Hotel Buddy has any meeting or event space, but it is an interesting model/test subject that major hotels in the U.S. and overseas will likely be keeping an eye on.
