Case study – Art Deco Imperial Hotel, Prague – use of Enterprise Cultural Heritage

The aim of this case study is to provide you with an example of Enterprise Cultural Heritage training material use by the Art Deco Imperial Hotel, Prague

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Before you start…

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A special building

 The first Imperial Hotel was built in 1913 by the Kovar brothers on the site of a coaching inn which was pulled down to make way for the modern hotel.

The style of the building was very much of the period; the Secession period was just ending and Cubism was just starting and both styles were incorporated in the building. Egyptian, Moresque and Oriental touches could be seen in the interior design including the Imperial Café.

Part of the history of Prague

The Hotel and Café was a very popular meeting point for celebrities from the world of entertainment and the literary crowd as well as the political elite of the time. The former President (Tomas G. Masaryk) was a frequent visitor.

From 1940 to 1989 the hotel was closed to the general public. It was nationalized and used as a hotel for trade unionists from the Warsaw Pact countries.

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Preserving the history and heritage of the building

During reconstruction from 2005 the new owners went to great pains and cost to preserve the history and heritage of the building. The interior was also meticulously brought back to life, especially in the restaurant.

The distinctive interior of the hotel is a unique selling point (USP) that the hotel management uses to promote and sell the hotel.

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New marketing ideas

The Imperial Hotel was involved in the testing of the ECH training material; reading through the training material and answering the questionnaire .

They found the material informative giving them ideas of how to improve the marketing of their hotel.

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Differential marketing

An example of the new ideas is the need to address the different interests of foreign clients and to local clients in marketing the hotel. The obvious interest of foreign clients is in the accommodation i.e. the architectural interest of the building, design and comfort of the room and cost.

Most local clients are only interested in the restaurant / café i.e. the design of the restaurant with the almost 100 years old mosaic on the ceiling, the quality of the food, quality of service and price.

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Optimising the use of Enterprise Cultural Heritage

The ECH training material has inspired them to improve their promotion of the hotel’s history. Images of famous faces from the past who frequented the café could be used in their promotional literature. They could also hang pictures of important historic guests in the restaurant such as President Tomas Masaryk.

This will appeal to more local clients who can relate to the local/ national celebrities.

Lukas Klak, General Manager of Hotel Imperial Prague said: "I have found this free e-learning material in ECH management helpful and will definitely recommend it to my colleagues and maybe also to my competitors.”

For more information the Hotel Imperial Prague please visit: www.hotel-imperial.cz

President Tomas Masaryk – a frequent visitor to the Hotel Imperial Prague

The content included in this training material has been compiled by the MNEMOS project team from a variety of sources. The MNEMOS project team reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of use of this training material without notice and any time. The training material is produced for educational purposes only and does not offer legally binding advice. The training material as well as the www.enterpriseculturalheritage.org website are made available “as is” and “as available”. MNEMOS project team makes no representation and does not warrant:a) That the information selected for the training material and the website is comprehensive, complete, verified, organised and accurate;b) That it is licensed by the copyright or database right owner of any third party content to include or reproduce such content in this training material and the website;c) That the training material and the website will be uninterrupted and error-free; andd) That the server from which the training material and the website is available is free of viruses or bugs.

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

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End of Case Study in Enterprise Cultural Heritage (ECH) Management use

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