Business Case — Brand, Communication & Guest Experience
Helping a hotel say what it already was.
St. Raphael im Allgäu — a 3-star superior conference hotel in Kempten, Germany. Brand concept, visual realignment, guest experience and communication support.
The starting point
Everything was there. Nothing was said out loud.
A hotel and restaurant in Kempten with real character: history, a park, a fire lounge, conference rooms, and a team that runs an inclusive business where people genuinely come first.
The management’s goals were clear — strengthen the brand positioning, modernise the communication, improve the guest experience. What was missing was a single idea to hold it all together.
Together with the management I ran a short brand-reflection process. Out of it came one concept — three words the house was already living, that nothing had ever said out loud.
People. Values. Impact. — people at the centre, authentic hospitality values, a real effect on the guest experience.
Visual identity
Aligning the look with the idea
With the concept defined, the next step was the visual side: reviewing the logo, defining how the brand colours are used, and keeping everything consistent across materials. The identity evolved from an institutional wordmark toward a signature — warmer, more personal.
Before
An institutional wordmark. It named the place without saying much about it.
After
A handwritten signature. The mountain profile stays — that’s their landscape. The tone shifts: a house that introduces itself like a person.
Applied
An identity only exists if it survives contact with real life
Part of the communication support was making sure the same voice showed up everywhere — print, social, in-house material, vouchers — including the pieces nobody thinks of as branding.
Restaurant & events
A concept, not just a menu
The restaurant didn’t need more dishes — it needed an idea. Kulinarische Weltreise: every month the menu travels to the home country of one of the house’s guests. It’s Menschen. Werte. Wirkung. made literal — the people at the centre, brought to the plate.
Website relaunch
Contributing the vision and the content structure
For the website relaunch I supported the team on the part I know best: sharing the hotel’s vision, defining the key characteristics to communicate, and helping shape the content structure — so conference, restaurant and overnight guests each find their own clear path.
Guest experience
Updating the digital guest information
One of the first jobs was the digital guest directory: reviewing it, improving the structure and design, and updating the information on services, restaurant and local activities — so the stay feels clearer and more self-guided. And in the guest’s own language, because you shouldn’t ask someone who travelled to get here to also translate.
Press & media exposure
When the positioning is clear, the regional press picks it up
Part of the work was preparing content and communicating the hotel’s positioning for the regional press. For wd — wir dahoam I prepared the content — and the concept ended up on the cover. St. Raphael was also featured across further regional titles in the same period.
wd — wir dahoam
Kulinarik & Genuss im Allgäu
Kulinarik & Genuss im Allgäu
Advertising I designed
Paid placements — same voice, different format
Regio Spezial Kempten 5/2025, page 42 — carrying the new logo and the concept Menschen | Werte | Wirkung. See it in the issue →
Allgäuer Wirtschaftsmagazin — “das kleine feine Hotel”.
In short
One idea, carried through every touchpoint.
Brand concept, visual realignment, guest information, an internal event system in Trello, communication support, press content and website contribution — all held together by three words: Menschen. Werte. Wirkung.