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Hostel chain A&O Hostels has announced the reappointment of Thomas Hertkorn as head of online marketing.
Hertkorn will be returning to A&O Hostels after five years and will be responsible for the digital marketing strategy of the hostel group.
Hertkorn started his career at the Berlin digital agency Peak Ace and has held several positions in various B2C and B2B markets, most recently as head of sales and lead AI Innovations.
In his former role at A&O Hostels he was responsible for online brand communications between 2017 and 2020.
Regarding the digital marketing strategy, Hertkorn will oversee the following aspects, among others:
- Personalisation and interaction: targeted communication across the entire customer journey
- Address quality and frequency: providing relevant content, with the right timing and scalable implementation
- Use of large language models (LLMs): AI-supported text generation for flexible campaigns, user interaction and conversion rate optimisation.
Hertkorn’s appointment will also see the A&O Club being significantly expanded to target regular guests with personalised offers.
Phillip Winter, chief marketing officer at A&O Hostels, added: “With Thomas Hertkorn, we are gaining back an expert who combines innovation with measurability. Together, we will further increase A&O’s competitiveness and use artificial intelligence in a targeted manner where it creates significant added value for guests and processes.
“Just under three million guests last year is proof for us that we are successfully using new technologies such as mobile booking routes or AI-supported customer care while at the same time meeting local expectations in terms of service and quality.”
