Careers at HRS Hotel Reservation Service
Mission
HRS aims to provide efficient and affordable hotel booking services to corporates and individuals through its online reservation portal.
History
HRS was founded in 1992 by Robert Ragge, operating initially out of a small office in Cologne with just two employees. The Company developed and launched its own computer reservation system in the 1980s, allowing staff to view vacancies directly from their computer screens.
HRS launched its first website in 1995, which has since undergone a significant amount of changes. The Company now operates an online hotel reservation portal at www.hrs.de.
Since its establishment, HRS has expanded significantly, developing a network of offices across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The Company has established a broad network of partners, launched a mobile application and has integrated a range of payment solutions into its platform.
The Company continues to be one of the largest and most well-established online reservation portals in the worlds, and has received a number of industry awards.
Business model of HRS Hotel Reservation Service
Customer Segments
HRS serves more than 40,000 corporate customers worldwide from a variety of sectors. The Company provides solutions to companies of all sizes, with HRS dividing its customers base into three segments:
- Global Corporates, comprising large-scale enterprises with a multinational presence;
- National Businesses, comprising large corporates with a broad national presence; and
- Small Businesses, comprising small businesses with a small local or regional footprint.
HRS also serves professionals and individual travellers. The Company includes among its customers a range of well-known companies, including engineering company The Linde Group, IT and business services provider Steria, cosmetics company Lush, sports retailer JD Sports, media company Zoom Media.
HRS also provides a range of advertising solutions to hotels, hotel chains, tourist boards and companies through its website and newsletter.
Value Propositions
HRS provides value to its customers in the following ways:
- The flexibility and accessibility of its platform, with customers able to access the Company’s services online, as well as via mobile applications, managing accounts and making bookings autonomously from anywhere;
- Its global network of partners, with the Company collaborating with more than 300,000 partner hotels worldwide, and offering services to customer in 32 languages;
- Its competitive pricing and corporate discounts, with the Company providing discounted prices, free cancellations, and fee free services; and
- The Experience and expertise of its executives and staff, with the Company employing experienced industry executives and a global network of more than 1,300 industry experts.
Channels
HRS operates a corporate website at www.hrscorporate.com, through which it provides information to existing and prospective clients regarding its services and activities, outlining the advantages of its platform.
The Company’s corporate sales are handled via this corporate portal by HRS’s in-house sales team, which can be contacted over the phone, via email, or through an online contact form. HRS has branch offices in Paris, London, Warsaw, Shanghai, Rome, Milan, Istanbul, Barcelona, Moscow, Singapore, Japan, Sao Paulo, and New York.
HRS operates its flagship online reservation portal at www.hrs.de, which is available in more than 30 languages. The Company makes a substantial proportion of its sales through this online channel, notably sales to individual professionals and small groups of travellers taking a single trip. The Company also operates an affiliate program, partnering with a network of websites and travel agents which can earn commissions by generating sales.
Customer Relationships
HRS makes its services available to customers on a self-service basis through its online reservation portal, which can be accessed through mobile and desktop browsers. Customers are able to register for an account, make and cancel reservations, and manage their payment records through the Company’s online portal, as well as through its mobile apps, without interacting with members of the HRS sales team. The Company’s online portal typically serves one-time, single trip customers.
HRS aims to establish more long-term relationships with its corporate customers, who are required to consult directly with the Company’s sales representatives to discuss their requirements and budgets. This also enables the Company to offer its larger clients additional supplementary services, such as travel pattern analysis.
HRS provides a range of online resources to its customers, including white papers, as well as 24-hour customer service, which enables customers to contact HRS representatives by phone at any time. Corporate customers are also able to obtain personal assistance over the phone, by email or through an online contact form.
Additionally, customers can contact HRS directly through its social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+.
Key Activities
HRS owns and operates a hotel booking portal, which enables business and private travellers to browse and make reservations at a range of hotels, holiday homes, and apartments worldwide.
The Company also provides bespoke solutions to small, medium and large businesses, managing corporate travel plans, organising group bookings, providing travel analytics, and business intelligence data, and providing automated processing and invoicing and payment reporting solutions.
HRS also makes a range of advertising solutions available to customers, primarily companies and organisations operating within the travel sector.
Key Partners
HRS partners with a range of businesses in order to enhance its own services and solutions. The Company’s partners include:
- Affiliate Partners, including travel agents and website that work to extend the Company’s sales and marketing reach to a broader online audience;
- Hotel and Hospitality Partners, including a network of more than 300,000 hotels and guest houses worldwide that make reservations available via the HRS portal; and
- Online Booking and Travel Management Partners, which integrate their own booking and reservation systems with HRS’s, with the Company’s booking system handling third-party reservations.
The Company includes among its partners companies such as Amadeus, SAP, TravelSky, Sabre, Atlatos, and GetThere.
Key Resources
HRS’s key resources are its technology and online platform, its IT infrastructure – including servers and data centres, its network of affiliate partners and participating hotels, and its personnel.
Cost Structure
HRS incurs costs in relation to the development and operation of its online platform, the maintenance of its IT infrastructure, the management and development of its partner network, and the retention of its personnel.
HRS operates an international network of offices, spanning Europe, Asia and the Americas, accruing fixed costs in the form of rental and utility fees.
The Company also employs a multinational workforce, representing costs in the form of salaries and benefits.
Revenue Streams
HRS generates revenue primarily through the operation of its online reservation portal. The Company takes a commission on the nightly room price for all booking made through the Company’s booking website. The Company also generates revenue through the provision of various ancillary corporate services.
HRS additionally provides a range of advertising solutions to individual hotels, hotel chains, tourist boards and companies, including advertisement placed on its homepage, banner ads, and advertisement through its newsletter. The pricing model for its various solutions is available on its website, with prices going as high as €22,750 for a single week of homepage advertising.
HRS is a privately-owned company and, as such, is not obliged to publish its annual financial reports. Information pertaining to the Company’s annual revenue is not, therefore, available on its website.
Our team
info: Tobias Ragge (“Ragge”) has served as Chief Executive Officer at HRS since 2004. During his time at the Company, he has also served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Holidayinsider, and as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Hotel.de, both of which are HRS-operated portals. Ragge is the son of HRS founder Tobias Ragge. He does not have any executive experience outside of his time at HRS. Prior to joining HRS, he served as a trainee at Lufthansa from 2002 to 2004. Ragge holds a master’s degree in Business Administration, specialising in Finance and Marketing, from the European Business School Oestrich-Winkel and a degree in Strategic Marketing from the University of San Diego.
info: Jason Long (“Long”) was appointed Vice President of Global Solutions at HRS in 2013, having first joined the Company in 2012 s Vice President of business Development. Long began his career in 1993 at Nortel Networks, where he served initially in various sales and account management positions. He was promoted in 1998 to the role of Head of the Sales Consultancy Group, which he held for a little less than a two years before moving to mCentric as a member of its International Business Development and Sales Division. From 2004 to 2012 Long was employed by Amadeus IT Group in a number of positions, including spells as Global Partner Manager, Head of Global Partners – Corporations, and Head of Global Commercials – Corporations. Long holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering and Computer Systems and a master’s degree in Business Administration from IEDE Business School in Madrid.
info: Lukaz Dabrowski (“Dabrowski”) has served as Senior Vice President of hotel solutions at HRS since 2015. He first joined the Company in 2010 as General Manager of the CEE Region. Dabrowski began his career in the travel sector in 1994, holding various positions at travel agencies and working as a tour guide. In 1998 he joined Marriot International as a sales representative. He went on to work for Marriot International for a little over 12 years, holding a range of sales-related roles with increasing responsibility. This includes spells as Director of Sales and Marketing in both Manchester and Athens, and Market Director of Sales and Marketing in Paris. Dabrowski holds a degree in Law from the University of Warsaw.