How Zeitwohnhaus creates frictionless hospitality with zero integration costs and 20% more upselling revenue

Zeitwohnhaus Suite-Hotel & Serviced Apartments is a family-run lifestyle apart-hotel in the heart of Erlangen. Across 101 individually designed rooms, premium suites, and serviced apartments with fully equipped kitchens, it caters to both short-term guests and those looking to settle in for a while. Anyone who walks through the door quickly senses that this is something different from a standard hotel stay. It feels more like a second home. A feeling the Herdegen family have built their entire concept around: "First Choice. Second Home."

That spirit carries through both properties. An open lobby brings together the breakfast lounge, bar, and urban bistro in one welcoming space, with room for co-working, meetings, and events. A modern fitness studio and a community rooftop terrace with views across the city round out the experience. It is a place where comfort, modernity, and genuine warmth come together, and one that the Herdegen family have continuously shaped with a clear eye on the future.

Together with Straiv and Schulte-Schlagbaum, we visited Zeitwohnhaus in Erlangen and spent time with the owners Gabi and Holger Herdegen. What stood out was how much that same forward-thinking mindset drives their approach to technology. With Apaleo at the heart of their operations, as Holger himself described it, and a tech stack that includes Straiv and Schulte-Schlagbaum, they have found three partners who share their vision of hospitality that thereby is both personal and digital.

Challenge: Modernising hotel operations and creating a seamless digital guest journey

Gabi and Holger Herdegen had a clear vision for their hotel: a balance between efficient digital processes and genuine personal closeness to their guests. They wanted to give their team flexible, streamlined workflows while ensuring guests felt supported and well looked after at every stage of their stay.

Their existing server-based PMS made that vision difficult to realise. The system was rigid, integrations were scarce and, when available, came with significant effort and cost. That meant expanding the tech stack was slow and unwieldy, and many processes stayed manual and fragmented.

"In the past, it was a real ordeal for us. We had to actively ask for integrations and then wait to see whether they would even be built. It cost us a lot of time and money. With Apaleo, everything just works. Almost anything is possible right out of the box. Apaleo truly thinks ahead, acts with the future in mind, and always keeps the hotelier at the centre," Holger said.

The guest journey was where concrete gaps in processes showed most clearly. The check-in experience, for example, still relied on paper-based guest directories, leading to outdated information and unnecessarily complex updates.

On top of that, Zeitwohnhaus was looking for a flexible access solution that went beyond a standard RFID card system, one that could combine both traditional and digital entry options to meet the needs of different guests.

Solution: A seamlessly integrated setup built on Apaleo, with Straiv, and Schulte-Schlagbaum

To bring their vision of digital yet personal hospitality to life, Zeitwohnhaus chose Apaleo as their central platform and built their tech stack around it, bringing together Straiv and Schulte-Schlagbaum to seamlessly connect the guest journey with day-to-day operations.

As an API-first property management platform, Apaleo gives Zeitwohnhaus the technological foundation for maximum flexibility. Its open architecture makes it straightforward to connect third-party solutions without complex integration projects or significant costs. Apaleo Pay adds an integrated payment layer, allowing guests to pay securely and conveniently through their preferred payment method at various touchpoints throughout their stay.

"For us, Apaleo is the most powerful PMS for a modern hospitality business. The world is becoming increasingly digital, and Apaleo provides exactly the flexibility and openness to keep up with that, whether it comes to CRM integrations or AI-powered solutions," Holger mentioned.

Guest communication, check-in, and checkout are now handled through Straiv. Moving from a traditional paper-based guest directory to a fully digital experience on guests' own devices brought noticeable changes. Information is always up to date, paper is gone, and the entire guest journey can be managed digitally. A self-service check-in and check-out kiosk rounds out the setup, offering a practical alternative for guests who prefer not to check in digitally in advance.

Access has been transformed too. Through the integration of Schulte-Schlagbaum, Zeitwohnhaus replaced its existing RFID card system with a versatile access solution. Guests can now enter their rooms and shared spaces such as the fitness studio via PIN code, traditional key card, or fully digitally, whichever suits them best.

Results: 70–90% digital check-ins, leaner operations, and growing upselling revenue

With Apaleo at the core and all three solutions working in sync, Zeitwohnhaus has been able to significantly streamline its operations and meaningfully improve the guest experience. Between 70 and 90% of check-ins now happen digitally, and among younger international business guests that figure rises to nearly 100%. The front desk has felt the difference too, now only needing to be staffed until 8pm on weekdays and 5pm on weekends, with night audits eliminated entirely.

And the impact does not stop there. Straiv connected to Apaleo enables Zeitwohnhaus to offer guests targeted upsells such as breakfast, parking, or room upgrades, both before arrival and during their stay. The numbers back it up: breakfast bookings have risen by around 20%, and demand for parking is trending even stronger.

Apaleo Pay then seals the experience at checkout at the latest. Every payment runs 100% automatically, which means manual reconciliation is gone, errors are minimised, and guests can settle their bill in whatever way they prefer.

Zeitwohnhaus also benefits financially from Apaleo's open architecture. There are no additional costs for integrations or their ongoing maintenance. And by connecting the Schulte-Schlagbaum access solution, the lifestyle apart-hotel was able to avoid extensive cabling, significantly reducing the need for traditional hardware.

And what's next?

For Zeitwohnhaus, this is just the beginning. The operational improvements have taken real pressure off the whole team, and that shows in how front desk conversations have evolved. Instead of troubleshooting missing data or chasing open payments, staff can now spend that time on what actually makes a difference: talking about the stay, picking up on guest feedback, and offering the kind of personal recommendations that turn a good visit into a great one.

Meanwhile, the team regularly browses the Apaleo Store, always on the lookout for solutions that plug in seamlessly, add value to their daily operations, and keep pace with what their guests need.

"Many solutions are already in the Apaleo Store before we even know we need them. Our team loves exploring what's out there to see how we can make our processes leaner and more impactful, just like we did with housekeeping," Holger concluded.

A dive into the tech stack of Zeitwohnhaus:

Browse apps in the Apaleo Store:

• HotelNetSoltuions – Booking engine and rate distributor

• SAG Schulte-Schlagbaum – Door locks

• Straiv – Guest self-service check-in/out app

• happyhotel – Revenue management system

• Sweeply + Traces – Housekeeping software

• Make.com – Visual automation platform

• HQrevenue – Rate shopping & market intelligence

• DATEV Connector – Accounting software

• helloTESS! – Point of sales