Ehotel

The huge amount of effort that business travel entails is felt not only by the traveling employees, but also by the company’s accountants, travel agents or buyers who are tasked with organizing and post-processing these trips. When ehotel launched twenty years ago, the idea was very clear: providing an independent portal to simplify business travelers’ search for cheap hotel rooms while accounting for company specifications. Striving to offer customers a more and more comprehensive service, the small online company grew into a one-stop shop for business travel, and has long been considered one of the most successful hotel booking platforms.

Fritz Zerweck CEO
A Visionary Entrepreneur

This success can be attributed in part to CEO Fritz Zerweck, who, with his commitment and inventiveness, has been helping since 2006 to ensure that ehotel works in a customer-oriented manner and never stops evolving – although the company has already received many awards and recognitions from Focus, The CEO Views, Die Welt, WirtschaftsWoche, The Chief’s Tabloid, Stiftung Warentest, and other independent institutions and magazines. Zerweck, who studied economics and almost accidentally joined the board of ehotel after many years in the finance industry, is not only a great motivator for all employees, but also a promoter of new technologies, such as the innovative meta-search technology and the central accounting solution ehotel® central billing.

ehotel’s meta-search technology enables customers to search for suitable hotel rooms among over 7 million offers from all providers – including tour operators, resellers and hotels’ own contingents – with just one click. Thanks to the customizable filter settings, the search takes into account all specifications regarding sustainability and internal company regulations, and offers an all-round, economical comparison of offers. ehotel’s process-oriented booking service is complemented by further features that facilitate all essential aspects of organizing business trips: sourcing, payment and billing. With ehotel® central billing, registered corporate customers can save up to 20 percent on processing costs by standardizing their travel accounts and logging additional data such as project and personnel numbers or cost center details – whether they are using ehotel for individual bookings, meetings or conferences, for cost transfers, booking statistics or tax refunds. Other tools such as the ehotel® rate manager, which takes negotiated rates into account when searching for hotel offers and simplifies regular audits and negotiations for travel agents and buyers, round off ehotel’s process optimization concept with innovativeness and data-driven decisions.
The employees also play an important role in the company’s history, and are valued accordingly – not just at award ceremonies, but in the company’s everyday life. ehotel workplaces are modern, with state-of-the-art equipment, a pleasant atmosphere and excellent communication structures.Opportunities for further training are as natural as flexible working hours, and – last but not least – there are fair salaries. Everyone at ehotel has one thing in common: the desire to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction – which is only possible if the employees are satisfied as well.

Besides the innovations and excellent employees, the probably biggest secret of ehotel’s success is that even as a big player in the hotel booking market, the company is not losing sight of its original values, and looks after every customer individually, be it a small agency or a large international corporation. Those looking for further reasons to explain why ehotel has grown so enormously need look no further than its principles of fairness and transparency in all areas, the user-friendliness of its tools, the clarity of its pricing policy and its wide range of offers, which can be booked via desktop, OBE, mobile apps, or offline via the ehotel service team and travel agency partners, and can be combined with various payment and billing methods.

In its 20-year history, ehotel was never faced with truly big obstacles. Of course, progress and growth sometimes were slower than expected, and economic fluctuations were felt in the industry. But instead of looking over at the competition and adopting other businesses’ strategies,

ehotel has always remained true to its own principles and concepts, has managed to continuously grow to this day. The tourism industry is currently facing a comprehensive market overhaul, but ehotel is ready to help shape the future of business travel with new ideas and advanced technologies. The company succeeds in doing so by anticipating trends, addressing existing needs and proactively dealing with current problems – such as a global pandemic. Especially during the COVID-crisis, it is important for ehotel to remain a reliable constant for its customers. ehotel’s individual billing solutions, for example, help to organize even long-stay layovers and to facilitate payment even for large amounts.

With ehotel® Analytics, travel managers can locate employees currently on a business trip and fulfill their duty of care. Even in crisis areas, contact with travelers can be maintained using state-of-the-art technologies. In addition, ehotel’s individual billing solutions help to organize even long-stay layovers and to facilitate payment even for large amounts. Of course, the other features of ehotel® Analytics are always of great use as well: The dashboard offers 19 different report options, including reports by country, city or hotel as well as by contract rates, cost center or payment method. In addition, the respective savings potentials are indicated, and the hotel program’s performance is measured and shown in real-time. The channel through which bookings were made is also clearly listed.

ehotel uses its blog and newsletter to inform travelers and hotels about mandatory health and safety measures, hygiene rules and travel warnings. Maintaining the safety of guests and staff is always a priority for ehotel, and even more so in these times. In addition, ehotel’s meta-search technology takes into account only valid and available contingents, so each search is guaranteed to be successful – even during trade show season, when hotel rooms are in high demand, and despite COVID-related closures. Furthermore, ehotel used the temporary decline in bookings and service requests during lockdown to relaunch its website, expand the filter functions of its search engine, and develop new ideas.

“The awareness of customers is changing,” says Zerweck, explaining why ehotel is also constantly working on offering a perfect digital cycle. “For example, the aspect of environmental protection is becoming an increasingly important factor in the planning of individual trips, meetings and conferences, and due to the pandemic, customers increasingly preferring cashless payment methods. Our solutions move with the times – today and in five years’ time. ” Fritz Zerweck’s recommendation for aspiring entrepreneurs is to stay humble and not over-value monetary successes: “The most important aspect of a company is the people who shape it.” Zerweck has been taking his own advice to heart from the beginning.