As any CFO knows and appreciates, in order to manage a group of companies efficiently, one thing is essential: to have all financial informations at your fingertips at all times.

Managing a very diverse enterprise, the Arkona Group with its subsidiary A-ROSA Resort GmbH, comprises of the A-Rosa Resorts, the Arkona Hotel Chain (of which 5 Hotels are under a Steigenberger Franchise agreement) and to top it off a subsidiary with River Cruise vessels.

All possible parameters are different, from the Property Management Systems, Protel and Fidelio Vs.6 and Vs.8, on the one hand to the accounting systems on the other (The chain uses Filosof and ISF/ISC). The reporting has to follow three different accounting standards: Uniform Systems of Accounts for the lodging industry, UK GAAP and German HGB.
A multitude of sub-systems, different countries; everything that could be different is different.

We spent three months looking at the market leaders for management information systems, first the top 20 and then a short list of 6. Unfortunately we came to the conclusion that everything was a compromise, all our initial goals were not even 50% achievable.

By chance one of our Resort Directors had very good experience with a Romanian Software Development Company. The first meeting was strange, everything we asked was possible, exactly what we wanted, this was new.

The whole project ran extremely smoothly and we now have a state of the Art Management Information System connected to various Sub-Systems doing what we had envisaged. It's the first Management Information System of this complexity for the Hotel Industry and we are proud that we have been involved in creating this groundbreaking new web application.

"Having worked with Programming-Pool Romania's software applications for several years, whilst I was GM at the Dorint Vital Royal Spa Seefeld Tirol (where we used PPR's Central Reservation System, dynamic pricing and yield management software amongst others) and again whilst being GM at the Grand SPA Resort A-ROSA Kitzbuehel (here we used PPR's "IMS" Management Information System to deal with our Budgeting, Forecasting & Reporting),

I can appreciate how well the applications helped increase Revenue and save Costs simultaneously in a totally practical environment.
Perhaps the biggest difference I have noticed between PPR and their competition is, that when the industry starts to talk about new developments or trends, PPR already has these applications working in the market.
For me, PPR remains an absolute trend setter in the Hospitality Software Industry".

Jeroen Wisse is a true "Dutch Globe Trotter", with a vast experience in IT, through out the International Hospitality Industry.

Jerry has worked all over the world passing through some fine Hotels, like the Oriental Singapore where he was in cost controlling, followed by a move to Eastern Europe as Operations Analyst for Rogner International the III Sobieski Hotel in Warsaw, followed by the position of Interim General Manager at the Hotel Dvorak, Karlovy Vary (Vienna International), then as Controller at head office of Vienna International, then Rogner Hotels as controller, followed by the position of Area Controller & IT Manager for Rogner-Dorint Hotels Austria and Eastern Europe, Area Controller & IT Manager Dorint Hotels Austria and Eastern Europe, followed by Coordinator, Support and Project Management IT for the Dorint Hotels for Accor Hotellerie Deutschland.
Then Jerry joined forces with PPR to manage the new account "neue Dorint GmbH", where he very successfully managed the creation of the new Data Center for Dorint, set up a new Network, managed the migration from the Accor Network to the new Dorint Network

Jeroen Wisse:

"My collaboration with Programming-Pool Romania started about 5 years ago, when I was working for Accor Hotellerie Deutschland and had the job of supervising what ever the "DorintResorts" was doing in the field of IT.
PPR built the DorintResorts website, with all the latest features and technical possibilities, built interfaces to the PMS's, built the first Web Booking Engine and countless sophisticated web applications, including a Sales Manager Administrational tool for the Dorint Sales employees, a fantastic Client Relationship Management Database, a new Central Reporting Database for all the Dorint Hotels, E-Marketing solutions and last but not least a fabulous Central Reservation System for Resort Hotels. PPR's certification with Pegasus, or the four GDS's, or with Perot for the Travel Agency Commission System always went smoothly and to plan, never a hitch.
PPR started talking about the need for a direct connection from the PMS to all electronic channels way before anyone else in the market and simply built it.
That is what I think sets PPR head and shoulders above the competition in the market, the ability to see improvement opportunities and just getting on with there implementation.
It is always a pleasure to work with creative professionals, and that they most certainly are, and what's even better it is always great fun working with them."

Being a hotelier of passion is not a romantic idea for us, rather a true vocation.

Our passion lies in the engagement and consequence with which we let our friends experience the values of the trademark DorintResorts. Values which many Hoteliers write and talk about, but do not fulfill with life, an eye for the smallest detail, continuity, trust, transparent prices.

Our Worlds of Well-being guarantee comfort, recovery and relaxation.
We create experiences, unforgettable precious moments.

How do you transport this on the Internet? How do you logistically deal with lots of Resorts with totally Unique identities, continuously changing offers in a wealth of domains?

Add to that yield management, dynamic pricing and we have only skimmed the surface of what PPR does for us.

From the beginning we have had a very amicable successful collaboration based on reciprocal respect, we never hear what's not possible or why.

Whatever we want is made to the highest professional standards. In fact we really enjoy working with PPR as they share our own dedication to excellence and have a first class understanding of our business.

Andreas Behrmann started his Hotel career as Spa & Fitness Manager at the Hotel Park Hyatt Hamburg, followed by a period at the Ararat Park Hyatt in Moscow where he was also manager of the Spa, he then moved to the Seehotel Ueberfahrt Lake Tegernsee where he became GM, and is currently GM of the Dorint Strandhotel & Spa Ostseebad Wustrow.

"I remember the day that three programmers arrived at the Seehotel Ueberfahrt, because my Hotel had been designated as the pilot Hotel for PPR's new CRS / dynamic pricing and yield management application.
Apart from having had a splendid two weeks with Felix Hanos (Chief Technical Officer PPR Worldwide), Ghita Tocaciu (Senior Development Manager for CRS applications at PPR) and Jeroen Wisse (Accor IT -Accor Hotellerie Deutschland) everything worked immediately.

The fact that nothing was intrusive, the Hotel simply just continued to run, and in hindsight the fact that the software dramatically improved our results left me with this as a great memory.

Now as GM in the Dorint Strandhotel & Spa Ostseebad Wustrow, we still use their great software applications and anything we need is catered for immediately without any complicated procedures, I believe that PPR is light years ahead of the market".

Claudine Becker has 13 years of hands on experience in hotel-operations, TQM, marketing and e-Commerce for leading hotel chains, like Accor and Dorint.

Claudine Becker:

"I have worked intensively with PPR for well over 4 years now, first in the role of client, (for my former employer the Dorint AG) and later as a consultant at key-SIS.

In January 2005, I was asked to build a new website for 17 of the Resort Hotels (part of the Dorint AG), to be sold under Dorint's own brand "DorintResorts", the new website had to include a dynamic web content management system, the possibility for our clients to use Dynamic Packaging, a Web Booking Engine, Yield management & Dynamic Pricing system for the 17 Resort hotels, these were built and deployed, and thus the successful co-operation with the Software Development Company Programming-Pool Romania (PPR) took off.
Later when the "Neue Dorint GmbH" came to life, as a direct result of the spin-off with Accor, I became Marketing Director of the group of 40 hotels.
During this position I held the complete responsibility for the redefinition of the marketing and sales strategy for the group from October 2006, as well as the deployment control and optimisation of sophisticated IT solutions.
When I left Dorint I joined key-SIS, PPR's implementation partner in Germany and Austria where I managed big projects for PPR. But my calling to the Hotel business was to strong and have decided to go back to the "front" as we say in the Hotel Business, so in to a hotel again.

PPR was and is still my partner of first choice as I never heard a, "no we can't do this", or a "but this will cost more".
The cooperation was superb, everything I expect and more from a professional supplier.
Therefore the decision to carry on using this fabulous company in my new position is straightforward. Boy's thanks for everything thus far, I look forward to bringing your tools and expertise in to the hotel which I will now be running".

Volker Geiger highly respected European Resorts GM, having worked for over 25 years for the Dorint AG where he was Director in multiple properties, of which he served 16 years as GM of the prestigious Dorint Sporthotel Garmisch-Partenkirchen, as well as acting as Regional Director for all the Dorint Resorts in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

"Having been the GM at Dorint Garmisch for over fifteen years I have done quite a few big events for clients. A whole new world opened for me when I saw the Package Builder (PPR's dynamic packaging software), after fifteen minutes of the presentation I knew I would buy it.

Having put in all the content myself to get to know the product, I can see how it improves back office efficiency enormously, not at the cost of the clients, who for the first time have immediate access to all relevant information about my product and a degree of inter activeness which is unparalleled.

It is simply tremendous how the boy's at PPR make data transparent saving the hotels costs and generating revenue at the same time".

Over the last three decades Ernst Miebach has been Director of many of the Dorint AG's properties, as well as Vice President Operations of the entire Dorint AG (while it was the largest Hotel Chain in Germany). In addition to this Ernst Miebach is Managing Director of a Hotel Consultancy company.

"Having worked together with Adriaan Kleingeld and his team at Programming-Pool Romania from their start in 2000, I have been extremely impressed with their very thorough understanding of the Hospitality Industry, their ingenuity always helping us, the Hotels help the Clients better and faster, helping save money and create additional value, for me as a Hotelier that is a true win win situation".

We work regularly with Programming-Pool.com and will continue to do so because they have a unique mixture of software development and analytical ability.

We started a collaboration with Programming-Pool.com because we wanted to create a Content Management System which significantly improved our efficiency, as well as making the lives of our clients easier.

Our experience with Programming-Pool.com is that they do what they promise and much more. We are confident that the software solution we have created together will set new standards.