Union der Wirtschaft: New think tank in first exchange with Berlin politicians
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From organic farmers to food distributors to hotel groups - the Union of Business and Industry wants to cover the whole value chain. Snapshot from the meeting in the Paul Löbe House this week. / Photo: map |
Berlin (April 29, 2022). Whether government parties or the opposition, all representatives of the four major parliamentary groups in Berlin assured the 70 or so representatives from tourism, hospitality and the food industry that they hold regular discussions with them in the future; that they'd learn from them and so help the industry to boost its profile within German politics. The new members and invited guests of the Union der Wirtschaft (UdW / Business Union) think tank, established in May 2021, met in Paul Löbe House: The disaster that befell the industry as a result of corona has given birth to new lobbying initiatives! And this first with politicians marked a successful start.
For decades, the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) and the German International Hotel Association (IHA) have claimed to be the "industry association of the hospitality industry" in Germany. The Merkel administration's poor handling of the pandemic has meanwhile brought the IHA quite a few new members from the hotel industry (as reported). Frustration in the industry is writ large, everyone is looking for an effective alliance and better links to politicians.
With the UdW, a new circle of highly motivated entrepreneurs and association officials ready for change is now emerging, covering the entire value chain and diverse tourism segments - from organic farmers and food distributors to tour operator associations and well-known hotel groups. Georg Broich, Managing Director of the Broich Hospitality Group, summarised the common objective: "We are moving from a value chain to a value appreciation chain!"
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Politicians in dialogue with UdW: (from left) Nico Tippelt (FDP), |
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The first major
exchange
with politicians
The first meeting in the Paul Löbe House, just across the street from the Chancellor's Office, gave this first encounter an official touch. UdW Board Chairman and Spokesman Dr. Marcel Klinge and President Gerhard Bruder managed to win Kerstin Vieregge (CDU), Member of the Bundestag from North Rhine-Westphalia and member of the Bundestag’s Tourism Committee, as patron of the event. She began by thanking those present for "this dialogue format" and expressed her enthusiasm for the number of participants. Tourism, she said, is an "industry that deserves to be appreciated more."
She, as well as all other group CDU politicians present, offered their help and support to the business union's members repeatedly and explicitly during the discussions and encouraged everyone to have more courage to explain their needs and wishes in specific terms to the politicians. This sounded sincere - even if details later quickly made it clear that these open arms will not embrace everyone and everything (see below, "Talks with politicians").
The Bundestag members showed their appreciation for the new think tank by all showing up on time for the meeting and by not leaving early. Claudia Müller (The Greens, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Federal Government Coordinator for Maritime Economy and Tourism answered the participant's questions for one hour. She is currently the highest-ranking person in Berlin's political arena when it comes to tourism, and she is the one who can take the industry's wishes and concerns to parliament - at least as long as Germany does not have its own tourism minister. And that will not happen in this legislative period at least, Müller, Vieregge as well as Bundestag members Lena Werner (SPD, Rhineland-Palatinate and member of the Tourism Committee), Stefan Schmidt (The Greens, Bavaria and spokesman for tourism policy issues) and Nico Tippelt (FDP, Saxony and tourism policy spokesman) agreed on this.
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| Dr Marcel Klinge: We will speak in future through swarm intelligence. / Photo: map |
The Union is an independent "think tank" that presents itself as "the only private-sector, non-partisan interest group for the entire tourism, hospitality & food service industry in Germany". "It serves as an innovative platform for dialogue between politics, practice, science and society and focuses its work across the entire value chain," Marcel Klinge explains. He himself was a member of the German Bundestag from 2017 to 2021, was a member of the Economics and Tourism Committee and was the tourism policy spokesman for the FDP. Until a few years ago, his father ran a small hotel in Villingen-Schwenningen near Stuttgart.
UdW sees itself "as an advisor to policymakers and a stakeholder in key industry issues. On behalf of the industry, key strategic priorities will be advanced and brought to decision. The aim of the knowledge transfer is also to gain supporters in parliament, public administration and the media," Gerhard Bruder adds. A native of Bregenz, he is a trained chef and has experience in F&B and as a hotel director in Germany. He founded the Institute of Culinary Art (ICA) in 2006 as an executive network to train the next generation of industry professionals. Today, the ICA is state recognised.
Established in May 2021, the Business Union was born in a year of total corona frenzy and in anger at politicians who didn't seem to understand the struggle and the hardships faced by the hospitality sector. This was accompanied by self-criticism in the industry, but also criticism of Dehoga and IHA (see hospitalityInside article links from May 2021 below). On its website, the UdW is now trying to distinguish itself as a think tank from the association's work by means of a task check.
After almost twelve months of preparation - and little information to the outside world - the first results from the Business Union can now be seen: Over 100 member companies have joined, as well as a further 39 associations, educational institutions and organisations as (permanent) network partners. "Our objective is to have maybe 300 to 400 members, and we won't count every market player as part of that, but we'll be looking for the 'right' partners," Klinge says.
The office (a co-working space in Prenzlauer Berg) is already in operation. In addition to Klinge, three young employees have started work there for marketing/PR, event organisation and content maintenance. "Our membership fees will see us through in terms of financed for this year and next," says Klinge, explaining the young organisation's financial backing.
Even though Gerhard Bruder presented a paper on employee recruitment and retainment for the industry during Monday's meeting in response to the industry’s acute distress, going forward, the UdW wants to devote itself more to future topics - "acting preventively and proactively, tracking down trends..." is how Klinge illustrates it. Planned activities include projects with the Union partners, assistance with studies (e.g. on value creation) or topics such as crisis prevention.
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Gerhard Bruder: Today was |
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The list of UdW members is long, colourful and so necessarily characterised by very different needs. In order to achieve their common objectives, members will in future come together across various segments to focus on key topics, steered by the Union’s advisory boards. "In future, we're looking to speak with swarm intelligence," Marcel Klinge describes procedure and output.
In the discussions with the UdW members and guests, the politicians themselves showed that they have a good basic knowledge of tourism. What is missing is - important - detailed knowledge, for example on the subject of training or state aid, which to date has not reached the most important hotel companies. So the mutual dialogue may begin!
Talks with the politicians
From the discussion with Claudia Müller: Tourism is a driver for the country's infrastructure and for the local economy, the tourism coordinator said, advocating emulating the Austrians by including tourism as a key factor in regional development. This would help large hotels as well as smaller businesses. In this context, Müller repeatedly praised the government's financial injections for SMEs, which "have often fallen out of the political spotlight." This is true, but does not reflect reality: While the SMEs were compensated for 90% of their revenue losses, it is precisely the larger associated companies that are still struggling to survive: These pillars of the business hotel and MICE business with hundreds of thousands of employees have been compensated at best 50-70% and are still struggling for their financial survival.
Müller gave the impression that she understands the core issues, but not (yet) the structural details of the entire industry. That's why she also promised the larger hotel groups more aid in 2022 for "emergencies" if another lockdown were to be necessary in case of any new wave of infections, possibly in autumn. The top priority though, is to avoid the need for such support measures, because market stimulation must now also take effect again.
As a Green Party member, she wants to drive tourism qualitatively to achieve climate-neutral goals as quickly as possible. By 2023, therefore, a new platform for the tourism industry is also to be established under the umbrella of the federal government. The tourism expert criticised the poor reputation of the hospitality industry, especially in terms of wages. It therefore also supports measures by the coalition to help migrants and seasonal workers find jobs in tourism more quickly. "But there is no roadmap for such workers yet, at least not yet this season," she responded to a precise question from the group of participants.
Two comments by Claudia Müller were interesting: The sector’s desire for a permanently reduced value added tax for the catering trade is obviously interpreted by the politicians as a one-sided securing of the profit margin for the entrepreneurs and not as a profitable relief for the consumers - at least that is how it is normally thought. And on the current, exorbitant price increases for hotels/gastronomy, she noted: "We see that gas and oil prices are decreasing worldwide, only in Germany prices are increasing." Why this is so, she left open.
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| Power in sight: The meeting took place in the direct vicinity of the Chancellery: The tourism politicians promised more dialogue and help, but also want concrete lists of priorities. / Photo: map |
The concrete work
may begin
HospitalityInside will report further from the discussion with the other political representatives of the parties elsewhere. It is worth mentioning again that the politicians asked the participants, among other things, to agree among themselves on priorities and then submit them to the politicians as a 10-point paper.
Now it is up to the Business Union to react and start concrete work - to eventually position itself as a new, unified voice as regards politics and without treading on toes at Dehoga/IHA. However, overlaps in topics addressed as well as by members who are represented in both organisations do not make the daily routine any easier.
Alexander Aisenbrey, one of the main drivers in the development of the UdW, is also a member of the Business Union with the Fair Jobs Initiative, which he founded. "I see this as a bridge to policymakers to increase value appreciation for the industry as a whole. DEHOGA and IHA are doing important work, but that alone is not enough. Lobbying must also be lived publicly and should include the supply chain on an equal footing," he responds when asked by hospitalityInside. However, he is keen to continue actively supporting IHA.
The response was the same from from Jürgen Gangl, 1st Chairman of HDV / Hotel Directors Association with 150 members and also a member of the Business Union through the HDV: He nevertheless feels an amicable connection with IHA and points out that next year HDV will participate jointly with IHA in its annual conference (this year it is HSMA). In addition, he said, a major event is now planned with several associations. "At the core, everyone should support everyone," Gangl wishes.
Novum Hospitality only became a member of the IHA at the beginning of the year and is now also a member of the UdW. CEO David Etmenan on this extraordinary double commitment: "As a hotel group that continues to grow, we want to actively participate in the exchange of opinions within the industry. The expansion of the network across various associations and interest groups strengthens this approach and allows us to advance the hotel sector collectively and with the help of various multipliers. Moreover, the UdW sees itself more as a think tank than a 'classic' association."
Conversely, IHA Chairman Otto Lindner also stressed in an interview with hospitalityInside before Easter that initiatives and associations such as HDV, HSMA, Fair Jobs, etc. are included in its own work and welcomed as permanent guests in the advisory board.
The will on all sides to cooperate is thus obviously there, but politicians still demand competent information from a single voice for the industry. And this must demonstrate competence in all fields - from food to the hotel industry, from digitisation to tour operators. One area of expertise that both Dehoga/IHA and the UdW lack is real estate and investments. A mega topic in the hotel industry! The hosts have long been driven by the capital side.
That's why the Central Real Estate Committee (ZIA), the German real estate industry's highly influential lobbying association, established a Hotel Real Estate Committee in 2018. It has so far been chaired by hotel consultant and real estate expert Olaf Steinhage. He will hand over his duties to Stefan Lenze, co-CEO of Motel One, next Monday. The successful budget design group is a new member of the UdW, too but was not previously a member of IHA, and is thus making its first commitment to the industry at association level.
The balance is shifting as courage towards lobbying work is growing. This is a positive development. The new Union is currently benefiting most from this momentum. As President Gerhard Bruder said at the end of the Berlin meeting: "That was a milestone today! We are already in valued communication [with politicians]. Today's result is here to stay!" / Maria Pütz-Willems
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WHO is behind the think tank UNION DER WIRTSCHAFT?
Member composition (selection, rounded): > 40% from hospitality (of which 15% are caterers) Members from the hospitality industry: Motel One, Center Parcs, Centro Hotel Group, Althoff Hotels, Dorint Hotels, RIMC, Novum Hospitality, Premier Inn, Selektion Deutsche Luxushotels, Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk, Schloss Elmau Luxury Spa Retreat & Cultural Hideaway, Der Öschberghof, Hotel Traube Tonbach, Weissenhäuser Strand Hotel, Sonnenalp Resort, Hotel Der Blaue Reiter, Hotelverbund Die Sterne im Sauerland, Bergdorf LiebesGrün, SMARTments der GBI AG, Augustinum Gastronomie, Broich Hospitality, SV Group, Dussmann + FoodService Future Lab powered by Dussmann. Four other large hotel chains are in the process of joining, as well as two other large caterers. Members from the food/non-food sector: SSP Germany, NordCap, Transgourmet, Unilever Germany, Der Beck, Edeka Convenience, Hack AG, HGK, Hinsicht Gastrowelt, Intergast, SBI, Meiko Germany. Members from tourism/leisure: Best-Reisen, Mediterana Day Spa, Schloss Dankern, Ameropa, 1A Vista Reisen, Traffics. Members from digitalisation: Duetto, Hotelbird, Shiji Germany. (Source: Union der Wirtschaft, as of 27 April 2022). |
Continuative Links:
- May 21, 2021 Lobby frustration is a lobby opportunity: A new "Business Union" boosts the industry debate
- May 14, 2021 Time for self-criticism: The crisis reveals a weak lobby - Hoteliers demand discussion
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