In the small pond in the garden of the Hotel “Bergeblick” there are also a number of goldfish swimming around among the koi. Johannes Tien had them installed, one for each employee. A token of appreciation. The warmth of the employees is one of the three advantages that his guests have repeatedly mentioned since he opened the nature hotel on the Wackersberger Höhe in August last year. This is something different than professional friendliness, says the owner and hotelier. “We don’t want the rigid, the entrenched.” However, this aspect did not play a role in the nomination for the Hotel Design Award 2024. The two other plus points did: architecture and design. The building with its wooden structure, its airy foyer that extends over all floors and its interior design is “a special house,” says Tien. In that sense, he “wouldn’t even call it a hotel.”
The wooden construction on the facade of the hotel, designed by architect Sebastian Beham, impressed the expert jury.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer)
The “Bergeblick”, which was voted into the top ten by a jury of experts from among 37 applicants from 13 European countries, is in illustrious company. Luxury houses such as the “Rome Edition” in Rome, the “Maison ELLE” in Paris and the “Mandarin Oriental Savoy” in Zurich were also nominated. The prize is awarded by the “PKF hospitality group”, an international market leader in the field of hotel consulting. The criteria are the originality of the architecture and design, the associated quality of the building and the facade, and the design of the interior. But that’s not enough. The so-called “story telling” is also important. In other words: the hotel should tell a story. The forest and the foothills of the Alps, the peace and the leisure activity, this is what the Hotel Bergeblick is all about.
Johannes Tien in the garden of his hotel on the Wackersberger Höhe.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer)
The nomination is a satisfaction for Tien. There was criticism of the hotel created by architect Sebastian Beham on Facebook and other social media. Some scoffed at the wooden structure, saying the scaffolding had not yet been dismantled. Others would have preferred to see residential buildings with affordable rents on the remote meadow, which is intended for tourist use in the land use plan. The owner defends his builder. Beham “had the courage to actually create something new,” says Tien. And not the usual farm look with geranium boxes. “The house wasn’t built for the now either.” But with an eye to tomorrow. The criticism of this does not affect the owner and hotelier. “I’ve been in the entrepreneurial business for far too long to be deterred by such disruptions,” he says.
The first few months were strenuous for the “Bergeblick” owner
The first few months in “Bergeblick” weren’t exactly easy. Even though the city has been complaining about a lack of hotel beds for years, guests don’t rush in in droves as soon as a new hotel opens. The weekends have so far been “very well occupied”, but during the week people make a living from conferences and training, reports Tien. “This helps us to achieve capacity utilization.” Customers range from pharmaceutical companies to clinics and electronics companies to publishers.
The other hotel visitors were often young people under 30, also couples like mother and son or father and daughter, not least people from Munich who came by train or bicycle. It would be “brilliant” if the state capital residents came to “a completely different world” and took a break here, said Tien. The typical vacationers were hardly among his clients. He is now hoping for the summer season. In between, he still tweaks a few things in the hotel business. “Fine tuning,” he calls it. Saving electricity, the right water temperature for the pool, perhaps a “restaurant light” for visitors who would like to eat something in the evening. This requires “a lot of communication and dialogue with the guests,” he says.
Koi and goldfish swim in the pond in front of the hotel – one for each employee.
(Photo: Manfred Neubauer)
The hotelier is “surprised” that there has been no support from the city or Tölzer Land Tourismus so far. “I think it’s clear that we have to market the hotel ourselves,” says Tien. But in order to make it known, advertising through the Tourist Information Office or Tölzer Land Tourismus would also be helpful. Some of his guests were surprised that Bad Tölz was already in the foothills of the Alps. Tien believes that the city is still hidden behind outdated brands such as the Alpamare water park or the TV series “Bulle von Tölz”. “I don’t see the change that a new hotel, a nominated hotel, can bring about.”
Maybe the award for the image will help. Even though he won’t receive it at the award ceremony on April 15 in Milan, Tien finds it “fascinating” to have been chosen as the only hotel in Germany. He doesn’t suffer from an inferiority complex, he says. “But as little Johannes Tien, you are now among the greats.” On the other hand: The nomination is just “a rung that we can climb to get to hotel heaven.”