Klaus Kobjoll is a rarity, as far as entrepreneurs go. He has set for himself rigidly high standards for running his business – Hotel Schindlerhof, near Nurnberg, Germany - making no compromises in the process. He has installed total quality management as a tool for his success. His business model takes into account employee interests equally to customer satisfaction.

Leaving room for employee input as well as their active involvement in running his business has not only made his hotel one of Germany's most productive workplaces, it has also garnered him and his team countless awards, European, German and international, in all business categories.

Innovation, quality and customer interest are essentials in his business – aspects of which he shared with other hoteliers, during the ITB Travel Fair in Berlin.

Klaus Kobjoll, Hotelier

Kobjoll warns hoteliers that they will not be able to satisfy every customer nor should they try to do so. But it is essential to set high standards and uncompromising customer service in order to get as close to that goal as possible.

His small country-cottage is now an ever expanding hotel of nearly 100 rooms, following a 14.5 million Euro investment. His turnover in 2012 amounted to a modest 7million Euros. In productivity numbers, however, he earned approximately 125,000 Euros per employee.

Kobjoll spends no penny on classical ads

Klaus Kobjoll likes to call himself a host for individuals rather than a hotel. He does not offer any kind of all-inclusive amenities, nor does he offer any kind of room discount. Everyone pays the same price and his standards remain the highest they can be. Because of his high quality standards, he fills a demand - making money by sticking to his guns. Both customers and employees seem happy and spread the word. Klaus Kobjoll invests no money in classical advertising, nor does he invest in bold print, in the telephone directory.

"Our aim is be a niche product and not a market leader. We have a strong brand with very strict rules to protect it," he told 4Hoteliers. "Our customers benefit from our good value, job performance as well as the emotions we can offer – the latter often lacking in the German branch of the hotel industry. The emotional part of our business is what makes our product so popular, not the environment around us," he said.

Kobjoll is a stickler for detail and individuality. For example, each guest room is styled individually, 5 kinds of salt are offered at meals and special guest amenities are given when bills are paid on time. At Hotel Schindlerhof, even the birthdate of a regular customer's dog gets entered into the hotel's CRM

Try to treat your customers as individuals

"All our customers are individual people and we treat them as such. But also, all of our employees are individual people as well – each with varying degrees of tastes, strengths and moods. We recognize individuality and believe that it creates the intimate mood, which make both our customers and employees feel at home," Kobjoll said.

Hotel Schindlerhof does not work with a service design model so typical of the industry. It trains its employees to be themselves, empowering them with tools fitting to their characters and encourages them to sell the hotel in the way that best fits their character.

"You can only smile if you are in the mood for it," Kobjoll said, referring to his hotel as a 'training center for future entrepreneurs', rather than a hotel per se.

Develop employees although this means they will leave

Kobjoll keeps his employees happy by empowering them to bring out their own individual talents. He encourages them to develop both their careers and personality – which means that most of them will leave the hotel. When they do leave, Kobjoll encourages every one of them to consider self-employment – "since it is the only form of work which allows a person to truly flower".

But until they do leave, Kobjoll's employees are offered their requested salary, get recognition for every year of employment, receive a welcome party when they are new, get vacation perks, go on team-building trips, can take further-education courses, and get a welcome back note and a box of sweets, upon returning from holiday – to name but a few benefits at Schindlerhof.

Each employee also works with a Schindlerhof specific smartphone app which keeps them informed about the hotel, particularly when they are not there. The app facilitates employee access to the week's business goals and management protocols. It also gives them insight into the previous day's turnover and allows for them to give on-time feedback to management as well.

"Our hotel is a school in which we grow"

"We involve each employee in our business processes. This has made us a dynamic organization in which we can all learn from each other – i.e. through total quality management. Our hotel is a school in which we continually learn and grow. Nothing in our hotel is ever concluded," Kajoll said proudly.

This mindset won Schindlerhof countless international awards, including the Europe Excellence Award's Best Employer for 4 consecutive years.

But all these achievements come at a price. "Our employees accept the challenge of being worked hard. If one were to write something on their tombstones, ‘Returning Unused' would not be it!, Kajoll said with a chuckle. "I expect a lot, and we expect a lot from each other. There is a very positive return from the hours we've invested working," Kajoll said.

Are you still a manager - or do you lead already?

In concluding his presentation, Klaus Kobjoll wanted to leave hoteliers with a bit of sound advice.

He believes that all stakeholders of the hotel should be involved in every process of the business. This means every employee as well. This strategy translates into positive business results. Also, hoteliers need to be able to make a distinction between "manager" and "leader" and decide what they really want to be:

Managers are practical, turnover-fixated, reasonable ("boring"), decision oriented ("…yes, but"), analytical, controlled, tidy, well-mannered, consistent, hard working, knowledgeable – i.e. good systems managers but not good people-people.

Leaders, on the other hand are visionary, future oriented, trial and error experimenters ("learners from flops"), innovative, option seekers, intuitive ("I can't tell you why… but 'it' feels right), spontaneous, chaotic, passionate, unpredictable, creative, insightful and, most importantly, people oriented

Make your team identify with the company's goals

"We do not hesitate to thank our employee for their flops, because it usually shows that they had the courage to try something out, to be a hammer, so to say, rather than a nail."

He adds: "Everyone can be a hammer in a working environment in which trust prevails. This is freedom and this is the essence of our business strategy – i.e. risk taking and future oriented. We try to share our vision and values with our employees – giving them many freedoms in the process," Kobjell said.

If Klaus Kobjoll is capable of sweeping up major awards, then it is because he has been successful in getting his team to identify closely with his company's goals. This is what has led him to achieving greater productivity and being a success.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Roland Wildberg is Travel Writer and Correspondent based in Berlin, Germany. He started as an Editor for the National daily 'Die Welt' (tourism section), later on switched to a freelanced career and nowadays mainly publishes on the Web. Observing the hospitality industry always has fascinated him as it looks like the perfect combination of sleeping and writing – work-live-balance as its best.

Roland also heads the annual 4Hoteliers ITB Berlin news micro-site journalist and video/photo teams for the 5th consecutive years.