Michael, how has Hoist developed during the past 10 years? "When we opened we were three people who sold interior, TV:s, channels and TV systems. The first year our turnover was DKK 8.9 million. We have several customers that have done business with us since we opened; among them you will find Hotel Legoland and Munkebjerg Hotel. Today we deliver products from Comfort Design to more than 250 hotels and TV channels to more than 450 hotels all over Denmark. We also have customers on Greenland and on the Faeroe Islands. Today we are 12 employees and the turnover has reached DKK 33.5 million."

One of Hoist’s customers here is the Maxima hotel chain, which has three hotels in Moscow. The Maxima Irbis hotel is a three-star business hotel with a total of 96 rooms, conference rooms, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a bar, internet access, etc. The Maxima Zarya hotel is located in north Moscow. This, too, is a three-star hotel, and has 192 rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a wide range of service facilities.

The Maxima Slavia business hotel is a brand new establishment. With a hundred guest rooms, it offers all the services which the demanding business traveller could want in order to feel at home. We caught up with Maximas’ Head of Marketing and Sales, Dmitry Orlov, to find out all about the Moscow hotel market.

Moscow’s hotel market is red hot right now, with sky-high prices. Why is that? Dmitry Orlov: During the Soviet period, we travelled much less and hotels offered much less in the way of services. Now, the business travel market in particular has exploded. Despite the fact that a plethora of modern new hotels has sprung up and the hotel industry has learnt what good service really means, there is still a shortage of hotels which offer the kinds of facilities and services which the modern business traveller expects. Obviously, this pushes up room prices.

How do you think things will change over the next few years? DO: A lot of new business hotels will be built in the coming years. Quite simply, they’re needed. The competition will grow gradually, and prices will come down. One factor which may hamper development could be our lack of a reliable hotel classification system.

Tell us a little about your guests. DO: The majority of our guests are business travellers: conference and seminar attendees, exhibitors, etc. Around half our guests are from other countries. Occupancy rates are consistently high, apart from the summer when they tend to go down. Most of our guests book online.

What do you want your guests to remember from their stay with you when they check out? DO: Our unique combination of European quality and Russian hospitality.

Does Hoist supply a range of TV services for you? DO: Yes, they supply us with hotel TV, pay TV and info TV services. This is an important way of being able to offer our guests service and relaxation. Hoist is an expert within this field, and we are extremely satisfied. If anything, we’d like to see an even more extensive range of pay TV services.

Moscow at a glance

Inhabitants: 8.4 million, or 15 million in Greater Moscow. Top sights: The Moscow Metro (possibly the most beautiful in the world), Red Square, the Kremlin and its armoury, the highly ornate St Basil’s Cathedral and the Pushkin Museum for art lovers.

Tell us a little about your operations. Gunther Dubber: Our company, Rand Data Systems, has eight employees. Our main focus is on selling software to the hotel and tourism industry, as well as using support agreements to help hotels with their hardware. From our office in Johannesburg, we serve the whole of the country, as well as Botswana.

The hotel market and the tourism industry certainly seem to have grown significantly in recent years. GD: Yes, that’s right. The big hotel chains are growing bigger every year. And in 2010, South Africa is hosting the football World Cup. Although right now, the tourism industry is being held back a little by the high general levels of inflation and rocketing oil prices.

Has this led to a boom? And what will happen after the World Cup? GD: Yes, the World Cup has definitely led to a boom. Lots of small hotels have sprung up, but lots of the major international chains are either opening up or expanding here. In the slightly longer term, the tourism industry will grow. Domestic demand is increasing as welfare improves, and South Africa will remain an extremely attractive destination for many foreign visitors.

You’re Hoist’s retailer for the HotSoft property management system in South Africa. How many customers do you currently have? Is HotSoft well-known in the South African market, and what do you think its potential is in the future? GD: We currently have around 35 customers. And there’s definitely the potential for growth here. HotSoft has become a wellknown brand within the industry, thanks to regular advertising. We don’t have any problems competing with the locally-developed systems. Compared with them, we can offer more added value in the form of functionality and attractive prices. However, getting a foothold with the large international chains isn’t easy. They often have a common system for all their hotels.

A key feature of the HotSoft concept is being able to get support, 24 hours a day. How have you addressed this? GD: We have our own 24-hour support. For day-two issues, we may need to contact Hoist in London.

How does your partnership with Hoist currently work, and what do you need in order to sell even more products? GD: It works really well. The London office is always available, which is a real help. In order to be able to sell more, I need more of the “right” product in the future, too. We had a retailer conference in October, where we discussed a whole range of questions. I know that Hoist’s development team in London is dealing with these questions right now.

South Africa at a glance

Surface area: 1,219,912 km² Population: Approximately 49 million Currency: Rand Languages: Eleven (!) official languages Major cities: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria Type of government: Republic

For many years, the fort led a relatively peaceful existence. But on the night of 8 April 1940, the fort underwent a baptism of fire: in a surprise attack, the Nazis suddenly invaded Norway. A key element of the invasion plan involved the German navy rushing up the Oslofjord, taking the sleeping capital by surprise and capturing the king, the government and the military command.

In the middle of the night, the alarm was raised at Oscarsborg and the under-manned garrison used its antiquated equipment to open fire on the enemy fleet. The results were devastating for the Germans. Torpedoes from an underground battery struck and sank their flagship, the heavy cruiser Blücher. More than a thousand German sailors and soldiers drowned in the ice-cold waters. The rest of the fleet was forced to retreat temporarily. Oslo was granted a brief respite, providing enough time for the Norwegian king, the government and the military command to reach safety and organise the resistance campaign.

It is here, in this historic and beautiful location, that Oscarsborg Hotel & Spa can be found. It has 85 rooms, many of which boast spectacular views out over Oslofjord, with a total of 170 beds, as well as modern conference facilities and a gourmet restaurant. The hotel is a popular venue for conferences, weddings and romantic breaks. We spoke to Carl Bernhard Svenke, who runs the hotel.

What kind of guests and occupancy rates do you have? Carl Bernhard Svenke: The hotel has an occupancy rate of around 44%. Of our overnight guests, 80% are here for conferences. And then there are weddings, celebrations, and so on. Tens of thousands of diners also come to our restaurant from Oslo and elsewhere. They like to stroll around, look at the fort, visit the museum, and of course enjoy an excellent meal in our superb restaurant.

How do people get here? CBS: There are relatively frequent boats from Oslo and Drøbak. In the summer months, lots of people bring their own boats here and moor up at the guest wharves.

Hoist is one of your suppliers. They offer a wide range of products and services for hotels. What do you buy from them? CBS: First we bought the HotSoft property management system for the hotel, and then added the HotSoft restaurant module. Hoist has also supplied TVs and installed our aerial equipment.

Does the partnership work well? CBS: Yes – the term “good service” doesn’t do Hoist justice. We find that Hoist really WANTS to help when there’s something to be done. Nothing’s too much trouble.

For more information, visit www.oscarsborghotel.no

The hotel only opened relatively recently. How have things gone so far? Reshi Chibba: Very well. Our expectations have been exceeded. This year, our occupancy rate will be on a par with the other central Stockholm hotels at just over 70%. We’re delighted.

Have you noticed any signs of a down turn in the market yet? RC: Not at all. And nor have colleagues within the industry that I’ve spoken to. It’s possible that there will be a downturn in 2009, and if so it will mainly be in terms of business travellers. We don’t expect other private leisure guests to be affected to any real extent.

What is your guest structure like? RC: 65-70% are business travellers. 40-45% of our guests are visitors from other countries. Hoist is one of your suppliers.

What exactly have they supplied? RC: Pretty much everything! Our property management system, a range of TV services, films and programmes, wireless internet and even the beds. It’s been a real pleasure using a supplier who was able to synchronise all the services. Everything has gone extremely smoothly. And we also avoided all the problems which different interfaces can bring. Now we have a uniform, modern system which works perfectly. Their support is excellent, too. We’re really pleased.

The Stockholm hotel market at a glance

Number of hotel rooms: Approximately 25,000 in Stockholm County. Approximately 14,000 in the city of Stockholm. More hotels with a further 3,000 rooms are planned for the city of Stockholm over the next few years, including major international chain hotels.

Occupancy rate in 2007: 71.5% for the city of Stockholm, and around 10% less for Stockholm  County. Average accommodation income per occupied room in 2007 was SEK 1,058, compared with a national average of SEK 876.

Source: SCB, Nutek and SHR (year 2007)

We can now also proudly present our new website! Here you can read more about our services and products, get contact informtion and read news and press releases.

Welcome!

Hoist and Philips IPTV solution has been developed on a platform already used by more than 100.000 households ensuring its stability and very user friendliness. Hotel guests will feel right at home navigating and using the system services. As the technology evolves we will continue to implement new and exciting interactive services for hotel-tvs.

The feature set of the network interface card is specifically designed for the hospitality, healthcare and digital signage markets. It offers full TV-set control from an IP network, Internet level browsing with high resolution and HD video decoding.

In the beginning of 2007 Philips announced a new strategy which included NetX, a network interface card for Philips flat TV range. Hoist and Philips made an agreement in November 2007. Hoist will act as supplier of software to the NetX card for the Nordic and Russian regions. Hoist also have the right to sell this software in other countries through their dealer network.