Female trio leads MEININGER Hotels on new paths of communication and sustainability
MEININGER Hotels is strengthening its internal and external communications and is restructuring its marketing and communications team. The team will continue to be led by Anja Keplin, who has been back from parental leave since April 1, 2023 and has successfully resumed her position as Director of Marketing and Communications. Pia Berghöfer, who joined the company as a parental leave replacement for Anja Keplin, will take on the newly created position of Head of PR and Communications from May and will remain with MEININGER Hotels. In addition to the focus on communication, MEININGER Hotels is also placing even more emphasis on sustainability: the position of Sustainability Manager, which was previously held by Silvia Gonzaga on a 50 percent basis, will be expanded to 100 percent. The trio of women is thus ushering in a new era.
Strong team for strong brand positioning
The restructuring of the marketing and communications team aims to strengthen and expand the internal and external communication of MEININGER Hotels and to skillfully position the hotel group in the industry. Anja Keplin looks back on more than a decade of experience at MEININGER Hotels: Starting as Marketing Coordinator in 2009, she took over the leadership and management of the team in her role as Marketing and Communications Manager in 2012. Thanks to her many years of expertise, her strategic thinking and her passion for marketing and communications, she has represented the MEININGER Hotel Group as Director of Marketing and Communications since 2016. Both parts of her title - marketing and communications - are inextricably linked for Keplin. She says: "The optimal perception and design of a brand, whether externally or internally, is the task of marketing and communications. Both areas must work hand in hand, pull together and set the same priorities. I am glad that MEININGER supports this approach and that I can manage, coordinate and synchronize both areas accordingly."
During her parental leave, Anja Keplin knew that her tasks were in the best hands with Pia Berghöfer, who had joined the company as a parental leave replacement. Having started out as a marketing manager at DB Schenker in China, Berghöfer now has more than 12 years of experience in marketing and communications and has worked internationally in various industries for many years. After successfully replacing Keplin and due to the restructuring of the team, the position of Head of PR and Communications at MEININGER Hotels was created for her. In this role, Berghöfer will lead a communications team and manage both internal and external communications. "We are a great team and that's what matters. Improving the reputation of our brand, increasing awareness and always driving forward communication strategies is only possible together. I'm really looking forward to this new task and to shaping this process together with Anja Keplin," says Berghöfer about her new role, in which she reports directly to Anja Keplin.
Focus on sustainability
Another topic that is becoming even more important at MEININGER Hotels is sustainability. By creating a 100 percent Invest position, the hotel group is demonstrating the importance it attaches to this. Silvia Gonzaga developed her role as long-standing assistant to the management at MEININGER Hotels back in 2019. At that time, she also began to focus on the topic of sustainability professionally. Over the years, her position was filled 50 percent with this topic, and since April 1, 2023, she has now held the new position of Sustainability Manager 100 percent, in which she leads MEININGER Hotels on the path of strategic sustainability management. "I am deeply convinced that sustainable management and equal opportunities form the basis for a future worth living and thus also for the preservation of the hotel industry. An ambitious sustainability strategy is just as important as transparent and honest communication," explains Silvia Gonzaga, Sustainability Manager.
Internal development is a top priority at MEININGER
Anja Keplin and Silvia Gonzaga have already passed through many stages during their careers at MEININGER, and now the example of Pia Berghöfer also shows that the internal promotion of employees at MEININGER works. "We are delighted that we were able to fill the two newly created positions, Head of PR and Communications and Sustainability Manager, internally. Pia Berghöfer did a great job during her parental leave and we are delighted to be able to keep her on the team. With Silvia Gonzaga, we have a person in this extremely future-oriented position who has stood for MEININGER Hotels for years and brings personal passion to the topic," comments Malin Widmarc-Nilsson, Vice President (VP) Commerce at MEININGER Hotels.
The implementation of the female power trio coincides with the start of MEININGER Hotels' new fiscal year and heralds another dynamic year full of further development, new properties and other highlights.
