YOUR NUMBER 1 IN TRAVEL
Imprint
Owned, edited and published by: Österreichisches Verkehrsbüro Aktiengesellschaft Company register: FN: 74.803 f, Commercial Register Court: Vienna, VAT ID: ATU 15454103, Data Processing Register: 0000248 Photos: Austria Trend Hotels, Café Central Wien, Fotolia, Getty Images, iStock, Shutterstock Conception and graphic design: gantnerundenzi
Printed: August 2019 www.verkehrsbuero.com ESTABLISHED 1917
1917 Österreichisches Verkehrsbureau starts to sell tickets for the state railways
1922 Sale of the first airline tickets, organisation of group travel
1988 Takeover of Austropa Hotels International GmbH
1997 Founding of the Austria Trend Hotels & Resorts hotel group
1998 Incoming agency Eurotours GmbH joins the group
2004 Acquisition of Ruefa Reisen, travel agencies and tour operator
2010 Relaunch of all travel agencies under the Ruefa brand
2011 New subsidiaries: AX Travel Management, Jumbo Touristik and Palais Events with Café Cetral
First Motel One in Austria in a joint venture with the German hotel group of the same name
2013 Repositioning of Austria Trend Hotels
2017 The Verkehrsbüro Group celebrates its 100th anniversary
2018 “2b ahead”, the new future-oriented strategy for the Verkehrsbüro Group, is introduced
2 3 ONE GROUP, THREE STRONG SECTORS
The Verkehrsbüro Group is not only Austria’s LEISURE TOURISM BUSINESS TOURISM HOSPITALITY SECTOR most exciting and versatile concern in tourism, but also market leader in three areas: the Professional travel agent Stress-free business travel Modern city hotels hospitality sector, leisure tourism and High-quality tour operator Creative business meetings Magnificent event locations business tourism. Multi-channel distribution Incentive tours & events Easy booking online Congresses With more than 3,300 employees, the Group stands for decades of With Ruefa, Eurotours and Jumbo, the Verkehrsbüro Verkehrsbüro BUSINESS Services and Verkehrsbüro No matter whether you need a holiday or a business trip – experience and one main goal: to create Group unites three strong travel brands under a MICE Services stand for professional business travel our excellent hotels offering first-class service are among something special for our customers! single roof. More than 100 Ruefa travel agencies and MICE service. BEasy, the online solution for the most preferred addresses in Austria. 26 Austria Trend provide a personal and competent service. Jumbo SMEs, means that business travel can be booked Hotels and an exclusive suite in Schönbrunn Palace offer Touristik is a tour operator offering high-quality extremely easily and at a competitive price. Austropa hospitality combined with Austrian charm. Six Motel One cruises, study trips and long-haul holidays in over Interconvention, part of the MICE services, are our hotels offer great design at reasonable prices. Further- 190 different countries. Eurotours is the largest tour congress specialists and, with their Green Meetings, more, three Viennese palaces and the famous Café Central operator in direct sales and the leading full-range a pioneer in sustainability. Incentive tours and meetings provide unique locations for unforgettable happenings supplier in multi-channel distribution in Austria. and events complete the offer. In addition we are ranging from large-scale events to family celebrations. represented in more than 120 countries through our partner, American Express Global Business Travel. 4 5 Start the day with a smile FEEL GREAT with Austria Trend Every day gets off to a perfect start when you stay with us! As an Austrian hotel group, we attach particular importance RIGHT FROM to local produce – from freshly baked rolls to fruit juices and organic yoghurt. Our teas, coffee and muesli are all produced by Sonnentor, an Austrian pioneer in organic food. DAY ONE Two million satisfied guests stay at our Austria Trend Hotels every year. Our exclusive Schönbrunn Palace Grand Suite invariably appears in the list of exceptional accommodation (www.thesuite.at). Three categories of hotels provide a quick overview of our services: from overnight accommodation and breakfast in our Smart hotels to Comfort hotels with a wide range of cuisine and seminar facilities, through to our exclusive Premium category. You can book your favourite room directly at www.austria-trend.at.
As professional event organisers we offer free WLAN and 9500m² of optimally equipped event space.
Big on design, small on price: Motel One
Anyone checking into a Motel One in Vienna or Salzburg, can look forward to heaps of design at very reasonable prices. Our budget design hotels are operated under a joint venture with the German hotel group of the same name. Bookings can be made at www.motel-one.com.
6 7 Hotel Savoyen Hotel Savoyen NUMBER 1 IN AUSTRIA
Hotel Schloss Lebenberg
Hotel Congress Innsbruck
Cities in the Austrian provinces Resort hotels CEE cities
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Salzburg Mitte + Smart Motel One Salzburg-Mirabell Hotel Schloss Lebenberg Hotel Ljubljana + Premium ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Kitzbühel Premium ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Europa Salzburg Comfort Motel One Salzburg-Süd Hotel Bratislava Premium Sporthotel Fontana ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Salzburg West Comfort Fieberbrunn Comfort
★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Europa Graz Comfort
★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Congress Innsbruck Comfort
★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Schillerpark Linz Premium
Radisson Blu Hotel ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Altstadt Salzburg Premium
Detailed information about our Smart, Comfort and Premium hotels can be found at www.austria-trend.at.
8 Hotel Europa Salzburg 9 Schönbrunn Palace Grand Suite NUMBER 1 IN VIENNA
Vienna & surroundings
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Doppio Smart Hotel Astoria Comfort Hotel Savoyen S Premium Motel One Wien-Westbahnhof
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Ananas Smart Hotel Europa Wien Comfort Parkhotel Schönbrunn Premium Motel One Wien-Prater
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Beim Theresianum Smart Hotel Rathauspark Comfort Schloß Schönbrunn Motel One Wien-Staatsoper
Grand Suite Premium ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Lassalle Smart Hotel Bosei Comfort Motel One Wien-Hauptbahnhof ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Zoo Wien Smart ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Hotel Anatol Smart Schloss Wilhelminenberg Comfort
★ ★ ★ Hotel Messe Prater Wien Smart Radisson Blu Park ★ ★ ★ ★ Royal Palace Hotel, Vienna Premium
Detailed information about our Smart, Comfort and Premium hotels can be found at www.austria-trend.at.
10 11 THE NUMBER ONE ADDRESS FOR EVENTS
Palais Events
Your guests will remember a perfectly staged event for a long time to come. From planning and organisation to implementation, Palais Events are the smartest way to celebrate your big day. And as top caterers, we also conjure up culinary delights for you and your guests.
The exclusive Ferstel and Daun-Kinsky town palaces and the former rooms of the Stock Exchange at the heart of Vienna are all impressive venues for your event. You can choose between twelve rooms for several hundred guests. All rooms have been faithfully restored and equipped with state-of-the-art technology. There are good reasons why around 100,000 guests a year choose us to organise their conventions and celebrations.
Café Central
Leading personalities from the world of art, politics and science have been meeting at the famous Café Central ever since 1876. And even today, the café’s cuisine and patisserie are enduringly popular with guests from all over the world – and with the Viennese themselves. The coffeehouse stands for the Viennese lifestyle and joie de vivre like no other institution.
12 13 YOUR FIRST Your dream holiday begins with Ruefa You can depend on the security offered by Austria’s largest travel agent, and simply look forward to the sun, the beach – CHOICE FOR and a hotel that will always fit the bill. Ruefa stands for a new generation of travel agencies. Their certified travel agents are there to offer support, HOLIDAYS either by phone, online or at more than 100 locations. You can also easily book our wide range of holiday packages on www.ruefa.at. Unlike other online providers, we also offer a callback service. Our online travel agents also provide expert information at weekends and on public holidays under 0810/200 400.
From Africa to Central Asia
Our tour operator Jumbo Touristik offers a wide range of high-quality long-haul holidays. Whether it’s Africa, Asia, South America, the Indian Ocean, cruises or global study trips you want, you can always rely on the experience and expertise of the market leader.
14 15 © WILDMAN - FOTOLIA.COM
THE WORLD AT FIRST-HAND
Austria and the whole world
Eurotours, headquartered in Kitzbühel, markets holidays in Austria, as well as travel to all parts of the world. For around 40 years, this one-stop-shop has been specialized in putting together individual services to create attractive packages which are then sold through its distribution partners.
Eurotours has been cooperating for many years with renowned European brands. These include HOFER REISEN in Austria (since 2003), ALDI Reisen (since 2009) and Tchibo Reisen (since 2011) in Germany, ALDI SUISSE TOURS in Switzerland (since 2007), as well as ALDI Utazás in Hungary (since 2017). In total Eurotours, the leading tour operator and multi-channel distributor, sends more than 1.3 million customers on holiday every year.
Eurotours offers spontaneous holiday experiences at top prices on www.justaway.com.
16 17 FIRST CLASS SERVICE
Verkehrsbüro BUSINESS Services Customised business trips
Our experts offer individual solutions for your business travel: both a customised full-service with personal, local support – if necessary around the clock – as well as reasonably priced online booking systems including set up and training. Once again tailor-made and not “one size fits all”. We take “Duty of Care” seriously and look after the business traveller – even as far as the accounting of the travel expenses.
Verkehrsbüro MICE Services Meetings, Incentives, Congresses & Events
We have the right experience and new ideas to help you find the ideal venue for your event and take care of the perfect proceedings – no matter whether it is a small meeting, a congress or event of any size. Our incentive trips provide long-lasting motivation. It is the details which are the key to success. Our experts plan and carry out the programme in keeping with your requirements and targets. From the initial communication to the administration of the participants and transparent accounting. We coordinate all suppliers, from the arrival transfer, accommodation and meals to the social programme and technical equipment. And all that with the financial security of Austria’s largest concern in tourism.
18 19 Only the very best employees are good enough for our customers! This is why the Verkehrsbüro Group ACTIVE OUR has always invested heavily in the training and further education of its 3,300 employees. This work is carried RESPONSIBILITY NUMBER 1: out by the Verkehrsbüro Academy, which organises over 200 professional seminars and workshops. The Travel opens up new horizons, but then so does Verkehrsbüro Group holds the “Career’s Best Recruiters” art. This is the reason why the Verkehrsbüro Group OUR award, a hallmark of excellence for successful recruiting. promotes institutions like the Austrian National Theatre. Austria Trend Hotels sponsor the Kunsthistorisches EMPLOYEES The company also operates Austria’s largest Museum in Vienna, one of the world’s foremost vocational training establishment for travel agent fine arts museums, combining art enjoyment with employees. Within two years, students are able to overnight accommodation. When it comes to conclude their studies as certified travel consultants. environmental protection, the hotels have taken many initiatives, such as electric charging stations Our reputation has also been enhanced by the for guests, and have been awarded the Austrian “berufundfamilie” (career and family) mark of quality EcoLogo. The Group also received the Viktualia Award awarded by the Austrian Ministry of Health, Family from the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, and Youth. Environment and Water Management for the reduction of food waste. A secure work environment, innovative training and further education programmes, as well as a There is also a joint venture with the “Integration Lower government approved work-life balance, make the Austria Association” and the “Association for Training, Verkehrsbüro Group an attractive employer in the Integration and Further Education”. tourism industry.
20 21 FACTS AND FIGURES Ownership structure
AVZ-Holding GmbH 60.98 % Vienna Insurance Group 36.58 % Toth Private Foundation 2.44 %
A reliable partner in changing times
A safe partner in turbulent times – the Verkehrsbüro Group is there for its customers around the world.
The largest tourism group in Austria plans holidays at home and abroad. We organise business trips, events and inter- national congresses. Quality, service and more than 3,300 excellently trained staff are the key to our lasting success. With more than 100 years of experience we can look forward to the travel of the future.
We are a driving force in the tourism industry and therefore seize the chances which digitilisation brings. From the planning up to the time of booking – we meet our customers at all digital touchpoints and inspire more than four million travellers every year with our services. We are here for you: Our mission as host: we make every journey, every overnight stay and every event a very special experience Österreichisches Verkehrsbüro AG Verkehrsbüro MICE Services Palais Events Jumbo Touristik for our clients. Tel.: +43/1/588 00–0 Tel.: +43/1/58800–480 Tel.: +43/1/533 37 63–0 Tel.: +43/1/588 00–0 www.verkehrsbuero.com www.vb-mice.at www.palaisevents.at www.jumbo.at
Martin Winkler, MBA, Spokesman of the Board Verkehrsbüro BUSINESS Services Austria Trend Hotels Eurotours Ruefa Travel Agencies Tel.: +43/1/58800-500 Central reservation desk (Headquarters, Kitzbühel) Serviceline: +43/810 200 400 Helga Freund, Member of the Board Photo f.l.t.r. www.vb-business.at 24-hour Hotline: Tel.: +43/5356/606–0 www.ruefa.at Mag. Helmut Richter (Member of the Board) +43/1/588 00–800 www.eurotours.at Martin Winkler, MBA (Spokesman of the Board) Mag. Helmut Richter, Member of the Board AX Travel Management www.austria-trend.at Helga Freund (Member of the Board) Tel.: +43/1/588 00–505 Eurotours (Vienna) www.ax-travel.at Tel.:+43/1/205 606-0 www.eurotours.at
22 23