Organic as positioning?

Simon Wilhelm: The decision to convert our hotel to 100% organic was made around 2010 with the birth of our son, our first child! We had already given a lot of thought to how to feed a baby or child properly and sustainably in an age characterized by fast food, convenience and the like. The decision to switch our private life to "organic" was quickly made, especially as this topic had been dormant in us for a long time. And as we were so impressed and convinced by our private orientation towards organic and sustainable food, the decision to take our hotel business down this path was a foregone conclusion. My wife Nicole in particular was the driving force here, who was determined to change everything as quickly as possible. With a lot of respect for this task, I was a little more hesitant at first in order to be able to better assess the scope of this change. In the end, however, we made the full switch to 100% organic in 2012.

Simon Wilhelm: The changeover to 100% organic presented us with some major challenges for many weeks, even months, especially in the kitchen. It proved to be the case that the changeover up to around 80% was relatively quick and uncomplicated, but that the last 20% was much more time-consuming and laborious. "As is so often the case, the devil is in the detail!" One difficulty was establishing a functioning supply chain that met our requirements in terms of price and, above all, quality. Many hours of research, discussions, negotiations and phone calls were necessary to put together a "starting team" of suppliers and partners who could tackle these challenges with us. Our long-standing kitchen team, led by head chef Kurt Regensburger, was a great support here. Without their support, this change would not have gone so smoothly. We then faced another challenge when it came to preparing individual dishes and our existing recipes. Many ingredients are simply not available in organic quality or no longer make sense when switching to organic. This meant that the menus and recipes had to be constantly adapted. But our kitchen team also mastered this with flying colors. One or two gray hairs may have sprung from this...!

Simon Wilhelm: On the one hand, we communicate very clearly and transparently through our advertising channels, and on the other through our membership of Biohotels, that everything here is 100% organic. From food and drink, to the care products in the rooms, to the products used in the spa area. Green electricity, sustainable heating, recycled paper, etc. are also part of this self-image. Guests need to know what we do differently to other hotels and that we also accept significant additional costs for this. Many of our guests really appreciate this commitment, some come to us for this very reason, others see it as an "add-on" to our other services (rooms, wellness, sports, etc.). Very few of our guests are not at all interested in sustainability or the topic of organic food. However, we do not want to be missionary here. We live out our convictions and are delighted when our guests appreciate this. We have already been able to convince quite a few people of this "way" who had not previously given it a second thought. Of course, that always makes us particularly happy!

Simon Wilhelm: The Covid-19 crisis is a huge challenge for everyone, and tourism, especially in Tyrol, has been hit harder than many others. It doesn't always seem easy to see something positive in this. It can be an "eye-opener" for all of us to live more consciously and sustainably, to think about what really matters in life and whether we always have to push through everything regardless of the consequences. As sustainable hotel operators, we have been thinking about this for many years and now hope that a much wider audience will start to think about many things. I was already convinced of our path before Corona, even if such paradigm shifts in society often take a very long time. But the steady drip wears away the stone...
However, this crisis is certainly giving the sustainability movement more momentum... and that makes us happy. Not mainly for us, but especially for the cause itself.