Editorial Board   Guest Author

Ms. Papenhoff

Michaela Papenhoff

Managing Director, h2c

Michaela Papenhoff is Managing Director of h2c, a Germany-based company that specializes in hospitality commerce supporting hotel chains and large individual properties increasing success when selling online and offline. Building on 25 years of hospitality experience, Ms. Papenhoff early recognized the initial stage of electronic and Internet distribution and the great potential of global marketing.

Prior to founding h2c 10 years ago, Ms. Papenhoff worked as Director of E-Distribution and E-Marketing at a leading European representation company with more than 200 member hotels. She implemented the company's first central reservation system and was accountable for all properties' revenues via electronic channels. Concurrently, she set up a CRS specialist's team which trained all associated hotels, thus providing an on-demand knowledge pool.

Ms. Papenhoff has worked in several functions prior to founding her own company including front desk, reservations, sales development and public relations at international hotels chains. Clients benefit from h2c's expert team in the areas of distribution strategy development via international and national channels, implementing effective SEO/SEM strategy, training how to improve processes and technology, market research and business intelligence.

In her beginnings with h2c, Ms. Papenhoff also served as PhoCusWright's Inc. Managing Director Europe representing the company in this region, holding speeches during industry events and conducting high quality research. Today, h2c assists PhoCusWright in carrying out market research projects with a core focus on the European and Middle East countries.

By completing her International Executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management/Erasmus University, Ms. Papenhoff could deepen her skills in marketing, finance, leadership development und change management; her industry insight initially began with a professional hospitality education program.

Please visit http://www. for more information.

Ms. Papenhoff can be contacted at +49 211-239-8360 or papenhoff@h2c.de

Coming up in December 2020...

Hotel Law: Protecting Guest Privacy

Every business is obligated to protect their customers from identity theft but unfortunately, data breaches have become all too common. In an effort to protect a guest's right to privacy and to safeguard their personal data, the European Union passed a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that could hold hotels legally liable for any breaches that expose a customer's sensitive personal information. Though the GDPR only pertains to EU citizens' data, any international business that mishandles their data can be legally responsible. Another legal issue of concern is the fight involving hotel "resort fees." Several states attorney generals have recently filed suit against two major hotel chains in an effort to litigate this practice. Their suit alleges that these companies are "engaged in deceptive and misleading pricing practices and their failure to disclose fees is in violation of consumer protection laws." The suit seeks to force the hotel chains to advertise the true price of their hotel rooms. There are several other legal issues that the industry is being forced to address. Sexual harassment prevention in the workplace is still top of mind for hotel employers-particularly in New York and California, which now statutorily require harassment training. Hotels and motels in California will also soon be required to train all their employees on human trafficking awareness. Immigration issues are also of major concern to hotel employers, especially in the midst of a severe labor shortage. The government is issuing fewer H2B visas for low-skilled workers, as well as J-1 visas for temporary workers. Though there is little hope for any comprehensive immigration reform, hotel lobbying groups are actively seeking legal remedies to alleviate this problem. These are just a few of the critical issues that the December issue of the Hotel Business Review will examine in the area of hotel law. 


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