According to Sacher boss Winkler, the company has reserves “to get through this very difficult time”.
The Hotel Sacher will survive the corona crisis, many others will not: Sacher boss Matthias Winkler is convinced of that. “The Sacher and the Sacher-Betriebe are a family business that has operated very economically for decades. That means we have reserves to get through this very difficult time,” he said in an interview with Ö1 magazine “Saldo”. “The Sacher will survive this crisis, but many others will and have to fight hard now.”
No over-funding
Since the hotel industry has to be closed due to the corona, the industry will receive a sales compensation of 80 percent from the federal government. However, this is capped at 800,000 euros due to EU requirements, said Winkler. This means that the support “de facto in a large hotel business like the Hotel Sacher Vienna amounts to around 20.25 percent”.
Winkler sees no over-funding in the 80 percent revenue replacement for the hotel industry: “If you look at November, at first glance it almost looks like over-funding. But if you look at the whole year, you realize that this industry might be like that is hit like no other and that these are necessary relief measures. “
Terminations
The Hotel Sacher last made headlines in autumn when Winkler had to announce that 140 employees in Vienna and Salzburg would have to be laid off. “Everyone hurts, and yet this decision had to be made. At the end of the day, however, one thing stands still: We make around a quarter of our sales and have been able to keep three-quarters of our employees in the company.” This is done through short-time work.
Winkler also pointed out the drama of the current situation: “Last year, in one of the best Sacher years, we were looking for almost 50 employees. Today we had to fire some. We want those we still have for everyone Keep the case. And those we had to part with we definitely want back. ” He is optimistic that this will not happen next year, but will succeed in the next few years.
Years of recovery
Winkler believes it will take years for business to return to pre-crisis levels. “For the city hotel industry, we are borrowing from the 2002 crises and the 2008 economic crisis. In both crises, we ultimately saw that it takes five to six years for both the price and the occupancy of hotel rooms to recover.
But it's a continuous uphill path to get there. “His great hope is that things will continue to improve again from next year.” We are not assuming that we will be able to make profits again next year; . Our hope is that in 2024/2025 we can return to the strength we had in 2019. “
