Employing refugees: how a hotel in Vienna does it
Refugees are instrumental in running a hotel in Austria. Could a similar project be rolled out in New Zealand? Lucia Dore asks the CEO of Magdas Social Enterprise, Gabriela Sonnleitner, to explain how it operates.
Magdas Hotel, in Vienna, Austria, is a hotel with a difference. Run by 20 former refugees and 11 hotel professionals, in co-operation with artists, architects and students, it aims to improve the lives of marginalised people, refugees in particular.
Sixteen countries are represented at the hotel and 26 languages are spoken. Training is done on the job and in special courses supported by professionals and volunteers.
The refugees have “regular work and that gives them security and stability in their lives. With their loan they have a secure income, can pay for a flat and other things and are no longer dependent on social welfare. They can live a self contained life,” says Magdas’ general manager, Gabriela Sonnleitner.
Even though the hotel is a social enterprise, based on the work of Nobel peace prizewinner, Muhammed Yunus, (who founded the Grameen Bank and pioneered the concepts of microcredit and microfinance) it is self-financing and all income is reinvested. It does not receive any public funding.
Magdas Hotel tries to solve social and economic problems with entrepreneurial tools. The focus is not the maximization of profit, but the maximization of societal benefits, humanity and openness, the company says.
The hotel is based in a former Caritas (a Catholic charity) retirement home, and has been financed via crowd funding of €57,306, plus a €1.5m loan from Caritas Vienna.
In adapting the building, up cycling was a key element. The nine-month turnaround involved taking fitted cupboards and turning them into benches, tables and lamps. Old doors became new mirrors – and even luggage racks from Austrian trains now hold suitcases in each room. Enthusiastic volunteers got involved at every stage, from knitting lampshades to growing herbs in the garden.
The architects were AllesWirdGut and artist Daniel Buechel and it was opened on 14 February 2015.
Students and staff from the neighbouring Academy of Visual Arts produced art to decorate each room. The public and Caritas's own used furniture shop, donated furniture for each room. In 2015 the hotel was rewarded the Austrian State Prize for Design.
The hotel is also working with other partners. “By cooperating with training institutions and the tourism industry we are able to give refugees a proper training and later transfer them to our partners,” according to company information.
A hotel is considered the right environment for this sort of enterprise since people from different cultures, professional and social backgrounds come together.
“We are convinced that staff who come from around the world bring real advantages to a hotel business – skills, talents, languages and cultural insights – that give magdas HOTEL a significant advantage over its competitors. The experience of the past few months, since the opening of the hotel, proves us right,” says Sonnleitner.
Despite the fact that the hotel environment seems right for this type of enterprise, the concept has not yet been rolled out to other countries.
“There is lots of interest from all over Europe but up to know I have not heard that anybody has realized this concept somewhere else. In Berlin, Hotel Utopia is in the pipepline and hopefully will be realized soon,” Sonnleitner says.
The hotel comprises 88 rooms in five categories, 60 per cent of the rooms have balconies and three have wheelchair access. It also has a lounge, cafe, library and garden.
In its first year, the hotel hosted 20,000 guests and around 1,000 school kids, students, staff from various companies, politicians and other interested people, many of whom want to learn more about the project. Magdas’ booking rate is around 70 per cent and the bar and coffee area successfully hosts receptions for up to 100 people. Readings, exhibitions, concerts, film nights, discussions and social dinners are held.
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