Trainees take the helm: Munich-based H-Hotels promote young talent by giving them responsibility

Munich/Bad Arolsen, June 25, 2025: "Gianna Karadeniz retrieves the bill for two guests. She has done this hundreds of times. But today is different: The trainee hotel manager is running the restaurant at the H4 Hotel München Messe for the first time. “I have an overview of all the processes. It feels really good to have all this responsibility. I'm realizing how much I've learned over the past three years,” says the 19-year-old. Together with nine other junior staff members, Gianna Karadeniz is organizing the restaurant's evening service this week. The team has already created the menu, calculated and ordered goods, and carried out all the management tasks. The trainee restaurant is part of a new project established by Jessica Borowiak, Area Manager of the six H-Hotels in Munich, together with trainer Judith-Barbara Hindemitt.

The highlight of this project is the management of the 64-room H+ Hotel München, which the 35 aspiring hotel managers and chefs from the H-Hotels Group will temporarily take over in the Bavarian capital. They are learning their profession at the Hyperion Hotel München, H4 Hotel Messe München, H2 Hotel Messe München, H2 Hotel Olympiapark München, H+ Hotel München, and H.ome Service Apartments München. “After successfully completing their apprenticeships, we want to be able to hand over our young talent to other companies with a clear conscience. They should be capable of taking on management tasks,” explains manager Jessica Borowiak.

The 41-year-old is now one of the restaurant guests, together with trainer Judith-Barbara Hindemitt. Even during their conversation over dinner, the two keep a close eye on every move their protégés make. “The best teachers during my school days accompanied us closely, challenged us, and encouraged us,” says Judith-Barbara Hindemitt. This experience became her credo. The challenging thing is that, in addition to their different personalities, their life circumstances are more individual than ever. “The trainees are anything but pigeonholed, and we manage them just as flexibly,” explains Judith-Barbara Hindemitt. In addition, when they start their training, each apprentice will be assigned a mentor from the third year of training.

For the trained hotel manager, a broad overview of the industry is part of learning the profession. So she takes her 35 protégés to visit a winemaker, a gin distillery, the Munich Hofbräuhaus, and the Bayrischer Hof. Exchanges between the company's various hotel brands, from budget to premium hotels, are also common practice for the next generation. For example, trainees learn that they have to adapt quickly and flexibly to many guests at the same time in the bar of the H4 Hotel at the trade fair, whereas at the Hyperion Hotel – the premium brand – creatively and attractively presented cocktails are in high demand.

In addition to the regular Dehoga training program, the H-Hotels Group offers courses on specialist topics to aspiring chefs and hotel professionals at its approximately 60 hotels. Once a year, they showcase their skills in a friendly competition called the Young Star Award. In addition to promoting interaction among the participants and offering attractive prizes, this event serves as a simulation of the final exam. “This exercise is extremely popular with our trainees,” says Jessica Borowiak. As a teenager, the manager went through extremely strict apprenticeship years, during which young people were often bullied. “I vowed to myself back then that one day I would introduce young people to our professional world with respect and appreciation.” She is succeeding in this together with her team: all training positions starting in late summer have been filled for months. Among the newcomers are several who applied on the recommendation of friends who themselves are learning from Jessica Borowiak and her team or are now experienced members of the staff.

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