Hotel investor Joerg Haas and his protocol about the aids disaster
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| This bridge helps to bridge chasms. The state is currently promising financial bridges to the hotel industry - but it lets large groups crash. / Photo: unsplash c j lamb |
Bonn (January 22, 2021). Over the turn of the year, Dr. Joerg Haas documented how the budgeted 5–million-euro profit turned into a 16-million-euro loss through no fault of his own in 2020. The hotel and gastronomy businesses of the entrepreneur from Bonn are, as many others, part of the "forgotten" large associated business groups. His Invite Group has not obtained most of the financial aids – contrary to the politicians' promises who stage their shows every night on TV.
Haas became known as investor of the Grand Kameha Bonn. Despite disappointments, he kept investing in the hotel industry. With the Invite Group, Bonn, Joerg Haas established a high-quality group comprising 5 hotels, 12 gastronomy establishments, 2 conference centres, and 5 fitness studios. "As entrepreneur, I criticise the politicians' announcement politics about gigantic corona aids, which lose any substance in the fine print in the end," says the man who first earned his money in the IT industry and then discovered his passion for the hospitality industry later on. "I like this industry; our businesses do not earn mega profits, but provide a steadily good income."
His office is still located next to the lifestyle and design hotel Grand Kameha Bonn, which was a showstopper as unconventional convention hotel, when it opened in 2009 directly at the Rhine River. Amongst his renowned hotels are the Bonn Marriott Hotel at the World Conference Center Bonn as well as the fine, but small pearls offering a peppy lifestyle in rather rural environments, the Klosterhotel Marienhoeh between Mosel and Hunsrueck, and the new Hotel Papa Rhein in Bingen at the Rhine river, which displays urban chic. In Paznaun in Tyrol, Austria, he created the chalet hotel Bergwiesenglueck (www.invite-group.com).
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| Dr. Jörg Haas: The hospitality industry fulfils a major social task. / Photo: photo Barbara Frommann |
Via the BonnVisio Group, Joerg Haas constructs and finances the properties in cooperation with Ruediger Wilbert, and with the Invite Group, he operates the hotels, gastronomy facilities and recreational facilities in these buildings. At the same time, the business informatics graduate manages 12 B2B cloud software businesses together with his partners (https://hwpartners.de). This shows that his view on the current political situation and the consequences in the hotel industry and gastronomy are not one-sided. As hotel entrepreneur, he regards the current measures issued in Berlin as methodically poor, unfairly conceived and constitutionally vulnerable.
Politics ignores 2.4 million jobs
"Therefore, between Christmas and New Year's Eve, I wrote down the entire drama concerning the financial corona aids objectively," he reports. "And as diversified entrepreneur and investor, it is certainly easier for me to publish my own figures as it is for an entrepreneur, who only depends on hotels," he says, with an understanding glance towards the numerous hotel entrepreneurs, who have kept silent so far.
In the attached experience report, Joerg Haas publishes his business figures and explains which requests for financial aids were denied and thus increased the losses and debts through no fault of his own. However, the reserved businessman, who normally does not seek the public, is not able to stay quiet for any longer. He is shocked about the discrepancy between the publicly announced gigantic aids promises and the total failure when it comes to the operative realisation of the corona aids politics: "Contrary to all grandiose announcements, politics has in most parts neglected the hotel, gastronomy, and leisure industries, especially the larger groups, when it comes to the aid politics. The public perception was important to politics, but not the medium-sized hotel and gastronomy groups. However, those who ignore 2.4 million employees, are not only arrogant – they will also feel it when it comes to electoral votes," he says angrily.
"Who of these civil servant politicians, who get 'magically' paid every month, have understood how demanding the job of a head chef is, and how much energy waiters have to invest to make their guests happy?"
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| Papa Rhein on the Father Rhine in Bingen, the latest hotel of the Invite Group. / Photo: HW Partners |
"With my experience report in facts and figures, I want to help the industry and make the mistakes of the corona-based aids transparent, and I want to provide constructive and concrete suggestions for improvements," he says, summing up everything. He refers to the impressive but under-estimated significance of the hotel industry and gastronomy: "The hospitality industry with all its hotels, restaurants, bars and cafés is a social institution. It has a great social purpose: It enables social contact and generates personal satisfaction. And satisfaction is the cement of every society! "
The hospitality mixture is system relevant
And how has Joerg Haas, owner himself, coped with the fiercely discussed topic of leases with his own lessees in these difficult times? "We first allowed lease deferrals, but then we adopted a 50:50 regulation. I want my lessees to survive. I'm lucky to be able to allow myself the luxury of such a deal from a financial perspective. But I'm also happy to do it. Because hotels, restaurants, bars and cafés are meeting points, venues of communication, of spending time together… This mixture needs to be preserved; this is infrastructure, which is relevant to the system!"
What does he think about the development in the cities as well as in the city and business hotel industry? Concerning this topic, he is convinced that the hotel capacities will decrease by a quarter. However, he sees an even bleaker future for the city centres – illustrated by the recent wrong decision of the German Federal Government: "The week prior to Christmas is one of the most important shopping weeks of the year. The businesses had to close in the fourth week of the Advent season, with only two days' notice. The closing of the retail industry from December 16 to December 19 was disproportionate and a disservice to the city centres, which cannot be undone. Closing all shops and businesses during that timeframe is the biggest collateral damage you can cause," says Joerg Haas, being very clear.
Please find attached the PDF containing the protocol of the Covid-19 financial aids drama of the Invite Group. / map
| Invite Group Protocol Covid19 Financial Aid Drama_Jan 2020 | |
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