David Wagner

Thank you, Team! As CEO of Super Urlaub GmbH, I started in 2012 with my second decade vision: To build the leading No.1 short trip platform in the German market. achieved my goals with 19% CAGR and 35-55% EBITDA margin.

Thank you, Team Austria. Acquired in 2018 a foreign travel company in Vienna, merged both companies and started operations in European markets. GOP Margin 45%, CAGR 12%

Thank you, Team! As General Manager, I worked on my first vision in 10 years: The vision to build a small hotel chain with 78% accum. occupancy, 16% CAGR and 14m€ gop margin. Started with a 12 room bed&breakfast with 3 employees and developed it successful to one of the leading hotels. Through the purchase of 4 neighboring properties, the hotel could be successively expanded up to 400 rooms, 15 meeting and event rooms, wellness and cosmetic area, 2 restaurants.

Thank you, Team! As hotel director, I placed the Hotel on the market during the pre-opening and i built all departments, structures and service processes. The hotel was built by a private investor and successfully operated by me. Through my acquired sales knowledge in e-commerce and my negotiation skills with the travel managers of the countless DAX corporations in the Rhine-Neckar region, we achieved an occupancy rate of 80% and a GOP margin of 1m€ already in the first year.

Thank you, Birgit Baldauf. Work at the german chamber of commerce and industry as an examiner for the hotel specialist training profession and conducting intermediate & final examinations. I learned a lot from Birgit about clear, unambiguous communication and serious behavior as an examiner. Especially the experience in dealing with people who are in stress, anxiety and pressure situations was very instructive.

Thank you, Steffen Lindenmaier. Volunteer work for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and involvement in the development of the existing volunteer program for the departments press and marketing. We accompanied TSG Hoffenheim's promotion from the third division to the Bundesliga and were the first point of contact for the press & media while match days. I accompanied the promotion of TSG Hoffenheim from the third league to the Bundesliga and learned a lot about adaptation, change management as well as scaling here.

Thanks, to me. Now there was time for something of their own. I wanted to create something useful and used my experience from the hotel industry and with this my journey into the e-commerce began. I founded a platform for trainees in the hotel industry on the topic of exam preparation. The 600,000 listed users were able to train here for the first time on digitally transformed exam sheets. I programmed these features in SQL, HTML and PHP and sold the platform to a competitor in 2009.

Thank you, Gerald Gerstner. I then decided to join a management consultancy for 2 years to quickly get to know many business sectors. I supervised logistics projects and worked for companies like MAN (decentralization of warehousing), Infineon Technologies (European replenishment logistics) and Merckle ratiopharm (new construction of a high-bay warehouse). Gerald taught me everything a manager needs to understand complex issues and to make the right decisions.

Thank you, Jörg Krauß. In Heidelberg, I had the unique opportunity to accompany the pre-opening and the new opening of a hotel. With three people, we started placing the hotel on the local market six months before the opening. Jörg authentically demonstrated an extremely social, demanding and supportive leadership style that inspired me. Much of what I use today in dealing with my employees I learned from him. The Pre Opening process taught me for the first time how to build a company from 0 to 100.

Thank you, Günther Klaasen. Following the training as a restaurant specialist, I started a two-year management training. I went through 4 hotels of the chain and worked on a specific business goal for 6 months each. Along the way, I began my studies to become a tourism consultant with a focus on corporate and personal management.

Thank you, Günther Klaasen. I become a second chance to continue my apprenticeship as restaurant specialist in a hotel far away from my home. And here I met another person who had a strong influence on me. I completed the practical final examination as the best in my year and my hotel director Günther Klaasen enables me to complete a 2-year management training program following my apprenticeship. Günther also founded the short trip platform kurz-mal-weg.de and we would meet a few times in the future.

Thank you, Axel Hüpkes. Despite being the best trainee of the year in the intermediate exam, i lost my bearings. But I have been taught one of my most important values here. And which are an integral part of all my corporate philosophies: Everyone deserves a chance.