Athletes have become a hotel professional competence
The hotels in the Triangle Region are used to hosting athletes and spectators. It attracts more events.
Very few hotels profile themselves as having a utility room or a laundry room. For good reason; it is the fewest tourists or business people who need a place to wash their mountain bike. But if there is one thing a cyclist appreciates after a training trip before a big World Cup event, it is that they can clean their bike under proper conditions. Therefore, Scandic Jacob Gade in Vejle has become accustomed to the fact that visiting cyclists also means that a conference room is set up with plastic on the floor, water hose, buckets and soft washing brushes - and a number of tables to support the bikes: "There is no kickstand on that kind of professional gear", as hotel director Michael Fiil Thomsen states.
Understand the needs
At Scandic Jacob Gade, sports event tourists are very welcome. "These events are really important. It is a good experience for spectators and in general, athletes are fantastic guests - and they often visit in periods that are favourable to us ", says Michael Fiil Thomsen. For Scandic Jacob Gade, it is about seeing sports as a business case, he points out: “If you understand the specific sport, and if you can think into their needs, you have come a long way. For example, we have had a national team visit, where they stayed on an entire floor of the hotel. They were here for 5-8 days, and we looked into all of their needs during their stay", says Michael Fiil Thomsen.
Make it easy
For example, the hotel set up a depot where riders could pick up what they needed - extra towels and much more - and the kitchen was adapted to guests who make a living from being physically active: “It is much easier to have 130 athletes, who live according to a schedule than 130 different business guests who come and go and change plans. Here you have itineraries; it's people who have to eat carbs at 5 in the morning. So there has to be oatmeal on the menu, and also apples, juice boxes, bananas - completely ordinary things that they would have at home, but things that a hotel does not typically have. It's about making things smooth and asking: What's most important? Just as we ask the business guests" says Michael Fiil Thomsen, and then adds: " No one who says they should have it for free...".
Business is good
Michael Fiil Thomsen emphasizes that athletes and spectators are both fun guests and good business: “We have just hosted a tennis ITF World Tour in Vejle. Not a huge event, but there were 230-240 nights booked just here at our hotel. People from all over the world who dined and went for a walk and experienced the city", says Michael Fiil Thomsen: If you can work on making that event - and other events - a regular, recurring event, then it is business we otherwise would not get. We are logistically attractive for many sports events, and we have built up the competences", he says and points out that for him it does not matter whether it is in Vejle, Vejen, Billund or Haderslev, the event takes place:" If Middelfart is doing well, it will spread to Kolding. As long as they stay in the Triangle Region, it does not matter where it happens. The capacity they fill at a hotel in Middelfart pushes other guests over to me in Vejle. Overnight stays are contagious, ”says Michael Fiil Thomsen.