Hotelplan is on its way to success thanks to good customer service

Hotelplan had a lot of good things to present at today’s media conference on the 13th of June. As part of the statements by Laura Meyer (Ceo Hotelplan Group) and Nicole Pfammatter (CEO Hotelplan Suisse), it became clear that not only has travel demand recovered after the pandemic calm, but is now seeing a real boom due to pent-up travel demand. As a result, the orange travel giant is very optimistic about the upcoming summer and fall months.

This is confirmed by the current booking status of Hotelplan Suisse. The number of new bookings received in the past three months (from March to May) was more than ten percent higher than the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, the total number of bookings for the classic beach holiday and the city’s brands are Hotelplan and Migros Ferien. The period from the beginning of the fiscal year (November 1) to the reference date of June 13 is above the level achieved in 2019 for the same period. According to Laura Meyer, the Hotelplan Group is expected to reach about 80 percent of 2019’s volume by the end of the fiscal year.

Nicole Famätter – Presented by Meyer as a ‘natural choice for CEO’ (happened March 2022) – Comments: “The booking boom has been going on for several weeks now, and we feel a very strong need to catch up on the holidays. Abroad – be it from families with children. Or couples or solo travelers. The confidence in traveling abroad is definitely back, and our customers are increasingly booking their holidays for longer periods again.” Not only are the upcoming summer holidays currently being booked, but this year’s fall holidays are also being booked. This is also due to the fact that Hotelplan Suisse has already launched several rental venues for the fall semester. Pfammatter explains: “We want to offer our customers flights at attractive prices at all times. We can guarantee this with the rental venues we have purchased – despite the current very high prices for airline tickets at times.”

But Pfammatter also says that months ago no empty promises were made when it was announced that Hotelplan would emerge stronger from the crisis. On the other hand, with Migros, of course, you had a lot of security behind you. But that wasn’t the only reason: “Customer service” had emerged as a distinguishing feature. A survey of new customers by Hotelplan Suisse showed that 69 percent of nearly 800 respondents had booked their holidays before the pandemic either through a booking platform or with another tour operator. In other words: during the pandemic, Hotelplan has been “discovered” as a reliable travel partner. According to the customer survey, what was important was comprehensive carefree support, support when looking for an offer, but above all compelling advice. Overall, 93% of customers were satisfied or very satisfied with the services booked (67% were very satisfied), which puts the “Net Promoter Score,” that is, the recommendation rate, at a strong 88. In 2021, this value was still 76.

“In particular in our 87 branches across Switzerland, we have been able to welcome many new customers in the past few months,” notes Pfammatter. “The high recommendation rate is proof that our employees have done an excellent job even in the last two tough challenges. Years and despite all the adversity the clients have not lost focus.” Looking back, winters can be said to have gone well – especially in the islands Maldives This will also be the focus of the new winter catalog “Traumstranden”, which will be released at the end of June.