Mr. Streletzki, you own Germany's largest hotel, the Estrel in Berlin.

Last week it was like Mary and Joseph in the Christmas story: there was no space left in the inn.

What was going on?

Sebastian Balzter

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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A large corporation had rented our entire building for two days for an event.

We couldn't accommodate anyone else there.

That was an exception.

We have 1125 rooms and there is usually a vacancy in our hostel.

A major event in Bethlehem was also to blame at the time, the census.

In the hotel industry, 2o22 was a state of emergency almost continuously.

How did it go for you?

The corona lockdown in winter was brutal, you sometimes forget that.

Until March, many employees were on short-time work.

Then things picked up again much faster than expected.

In autumn we had one big congress after the other.

September, October and November have been the three best months since we opened in 1994.

Did you have enough staff for this?

We have around 50 vacancies, that's our biggest problem.

But we have never canceled an event or not offered a room because we lacked staff.

The 500 people we have work even more.

That's why we have now paid out 1000 euros for every 1000 euros as tax-free inflation compensation.

I think that's how it should be.

Have there ever been such exciting times as this year?

We've been doing exceptional things for almost twenty years.

That's what the Estrel is built for.

We've hosted all Harvard Business School graduates.

12,000 people come to the World Money Fair coin fair every year.

And in 2019, the United Nations Internet Governance Forum took place here with diplomats from all over the world.

The United Nations even brought their own police force with them, so for a few days the Estrel was, so to speak, international and not German territory.

And that in the no man's land of Neukölln, between allotments and scrap yards.

How did you come up with the bold idea that a hotel in this location would ever be profitable?

I come from the construction industry and had a business in Munich with branches in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Berlin.

So I was here once a month and knew the hotels in town.

The night cost 120 marks.

Then came the turning point, and suddenly it was 500 marks.

Then the thought came to me: if I can offer an overnight stay out here for 80 marks, no one can avoid it, despite the location.

Then everyone can take a taxi to the city center and still save a lot of money.

Everyone laughed at me back then.

Measured by sales, we are now number one in Germany.

I don't even want to talk about the profit.

How was the competitive price calculated?

Out of interest, I asked the head of the Munich Hilton Hotel about his business figures.

Then I made a four-page business plan.

The bottom line was: 1100 rooms, 80 marks for the night - we would earn money with that, and that from 30 percent occupancy.

I had the room price written in giant letters on the shell.

The hotel ran from day one.