"We are hosts with passion"

2020 was a memorable, intense and challenging year for all of us. In spite of everything, Andreas, Georg, Klaus and Markus look back with gratitude and look forward to the future with hope.

It was a winter of dreams. Masses of snow already in November 2019, then plenty of sunshine. Good mood. Busy slopes. And the icing on the cake was the opening of LOOX in Obereggen, which set new standards in the South Tyrolean club scene. In January, the Corona virus was still far away from all this, until it eventually came closer and closer, becoming more and more threatening and abruptly ended the ski season all over South Tyrol. At the beginning of March the season was suspended – and the Italian government imposed a hard lockdown with strict curfews all over the country.

When you look back at 2020, what goes through your mind?

Markus: Such scenarios were only known from films – and they suddenly became reality. I don’t think anyone in the whole world was prepared for something like this, which you can see in the way we dealt with it at first. But after the shock at the beginning, we learned relatively quickly how to cope with the situation. And even though it became more critical again in autumn, there is now a certain sense of confidence.

Georg: When it became reality that we had to close five establishments overnight in the middle of a vibrant winter season and that the ski season was over practically from one day to the next, we couldn’t really comprehend it.

Markus: Especially since we had an incredibly successful year up to that point. With plenty of snow and, last but not least, the opening of LOOX in Obereggen, which, as a club, was a magnet for locals and tourists from the very first day.

How did you deal with this situation in the beginning?

Markus: Somehow I couldn’t realise the whole thing right away, it happened too quickly. I was at home, suddenly I had time for my kids, which was very nice on the one hand. And at the same time, I was thinking about what would happen next. We all put so much passion into our businesses – and at first we were obviously afraid that Covid would destroy everything we had built up. But then together we came pretty quickly to the conclusion that we have to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead.

Klaus: The biggest problem for us in the Corona year 2020 was – and still is today – that we could and can actually only ever fly on sight. Either we were not allowed to open – and if we were allowed to open, our main task was to prevent having a positive case in our house. And of course, doing that, I worry about the company, our families and our staff.

Andreas: Apart from the operational area, we were also able to set a long-term course. Corona led to a situation that we could never have imagined: that the Brenner pass was closed, that we were not allowed to leave the house for two months.

What course have you set?

Klaus: We didn’t bury our heads in the sand – and started planning despite all the planning difficulties. Not opening our businesses over the summer was never an option for us. And looking back on the summer, which all in all went well and without a problem, that was good and the right thing to do.

Georg: The good thing about the first lockdown period in March was that we took care of things that we might otherwise have put off even longer. We implemented many technical issues and optimised internal logistical processes. But we also digitised all menus, for example, and introduced digital information maps in the hotel rooms. Not only because this was necessary for hygienic reasons, but also because the question of who still needs printed menus in the future was being asked anyway. If we want to put a dish on the menu that is updated daily, we had to print that out in three languages beforehand.

Markus: We usually had ten daily newspapers on display – and today our guests can choose from 400 digital magazines which they can read on the Suitepad in their room or on the go on their smartphone. For example, if a guest comes from Belgium, he can read his usual Belgian daily newspaper while staying here. For our father, who is 78 years old, it was previously unimaginable to read a newspaper on a tablet. And now it is the most ordinary thing in the world for him.

When retail, gastronomy and tourist businesses were allowed to reopen at the end of May, a bit of normality returned. Within Europe, one could move freely again little by little – but the encounters were suddenly different. Distance, masks and hygiene rules created separation. At least physically.

What were the biggest challenges for you when the summer season started?

Andreas: I have to admit that at the beginning I thought that holidays with a face mask would be difficult. But reality has proven that I was wrong. The guests’ willingness to take responsibility and be open to change was huge. You noticed that people also get used to new situations quickly.

Markus: But we were also extremely challenged to organise everything without losing the most important thing: our hospitality. Without hospitality, a holiday experience is not possible. The main question was: how is it possible to develop hygiene concepts, to keep a physical distance without losing emotional closeness?

And how did you manage this?

Markus: By all working together in an impressive way. Not only us as a family, but also our core staff, all of whom we were able to keep on board despite all the difficulties. After all, it was not only the changeover of our operations to the Covid situation that was difficult. Opening all the establishments on the same weekend after the lockdown was a huge organisational challenge for us. The way we worked as a team was great. We are very grateful for that.

Klaus: What spurred us on, of course, was that we quickly noticed that the summer was going better than expected. Normally we always have to make a lot of effort to attract new people to us and our beautiful region. But this time it was suddenly very easy. People booked a holiday here who otherwise would never have thought of it. And many of them liked it so much that they have already made another booking for 2021. No marketing campaign in the world could have achieved something like that?

Were these people who normally would book a long-distance trip or a flight?

Georg: Not only them. But also people who usually go to the sea during summer, but for whom it was perhaps too crowded there with Corona and who therefore sought out the expanse of the mountains.

Markus: We also had an unusually large number of Italian holidaymakers this year, because in the end many people in Europe went on holiday in their own country. And our regular guests from Germany or other European countries who came during summer had the good feeling of being back home in a few hours by car, in case something extraordinary happened.

Holidays in the mountains. Enjoying nature. Being active. All of this is now very much in vogue. Sustainability is on everyone’s lips. Perhaps one of the positive effects of Corona over the long term is that regions like South Tyrol will become even more popular than before. At the end of 2028, a transport policy dream is set to become reality when the Brenner Base tunnel is scheduled to open. The longest tunnel in the world will raise the accessibility of South Tyrol to new dimensions – trains will need less than three hours from Munich to Verona.

Is this also important because the pandemic has made many people realise what is really important in life?

Klaus: I think that many of us know the situation where our private life suffers because of our work. The importance of good health is demonstrated every day, especially during a period of health threats. And my daughter was certainly the winner of the first lockdown in spring. I cooked twice a day, we sat together at the table three times a day, I was with her around the hotel for two hours every day, working, cultivating the garden, cutting lilacs. When was the last time I cut lilacs?

Andreas: We always came up with something useful, jumped on the trampoline, had a lot of time and fun together. In this sense, the time was actually even energy-giving.

Georg: We cooked a lot at home, sometimes one of us would come up with a whole menu. When did we ever have time to cook a menu together? And we spent a lot of time in the garden, barbecuing earlier than ever before – because it was exceptionally warm in spring.

Markus: But somehow the situation was also a paradox. On the one hand, we all had a lot of time for our kids and family, but on the other hand, we worked harder than ever before – not in the business, but on the business. All our plans were overturned and we had to rethink many things. It was also ironic that we were practically unable to meet as a family during the lockdown. Nevertheless, the situation welded us together even more. It quickly became clear to us: Everything we do now must not be to counteract Corona. Instead, everything must be sustainable and must last even after Corona.