Seaside hotels: corporate entrepreneurship strategies in Spain, Germany and Asia

Abstract

As with all companies in the hotel industry, Seaside Hotels/Seaside Collection (SC) was hit hard by the pandemic and the associated lockdowns and travel restrictions. Temporarily, sales plummeted by as much as two-thirds. However, the choice of locations and the decisions made years earlier to diversify helped to dampen the impact and stabilise the financial situation. A forward-looking strategy and a strong commitment towards its core values, such as that adopted by the Gerlach family, has brought the company safely through the recent turbulent times. The company’s culture is focused on the ongoing analysis of the best practices of service in tourism carried out by assessors travelling to the most innovative and luxurious establishments in the world. In this way, new developments and trends are identified very early on and can be adapted and adopted by the company’s hotels in Spain and Germany. Theo Gerlach and his family are very selective in their expansion plans. One basic consideration is that the region being looked at has a high level of political stability, making it possible to plan for the long term. Currently, the main barriers to corporate entrepreneurship actions are mostly related to supply chain issues caused by the war in Ukraine. Finally, the main insights gleaned are related to the analysis of the purchase of a hotel in the Maldives, the new PMS and the future plans focused on renovating their properties.