Andreas Aichinger hasn’t lost his sense of humor in the fourth lockdown either. “Of course it is tough to shut everything down again. But by now we have had practice with it,” says the 40-year-old hotelier from Nussdorf am Attersee with an ironic undertone. Together with his wife Michaela, he is the sixth generation to run the Boutique Hotel Aichinger and also runs the two associated restaurants.
The history of the hotel goes back more than 200 years, Andreas Aichinger has been working in the family business since 2003 – and since March of the previous year he has been particularly challenged: With the outbreak of the corona pandemic, everything in the local tourism businesses was different from one day to the next. The consequence: closed hotels and restaurants, absent guests and employees on short-time work.
Even though Aichinger says his company got away with it “with a black eye”. The permanent workforce of 20 employees remained unchanged thanks to short-time and persuasion work, the four lockdowns hit the company in the off-season.
“But I can understand any frustrated hotelier,” says Aichinger. The permanent locking and unlocking is nerve-wracking – and also requires a lot of brainpower: “In normal companies it is difficult to plan weeks in advance, in hotels and restaurants even more.” You have to make sure that food is fresh, that the connection to suppliers is upright and that employees are in a good mood and busy, says Aichinger.
However, the hotelier cannot complain about too little work at the moment. “Since we knew that we could unlock the door again, things have been going well. My cell phone rings almost non-stop. Many tables are already reserved in our brewery on the Christmas holidays.” This also compensates a little for the planned “Kulinarium Attersee” campaign, which fell victim to the renewed lockdown. With four other restaurants on Lake Attersee, Aichinger planned menus with delicacies from the region – including a competition. “We wanted to do that last year, but it didn’t work there either. Next year we will dare the third attempt. We will certainly not let ourselves get down,” says Aichinger.
“Stay healthy and happy”
The hotelier can still gain positive things from the lockdown in Advent: “You are, as it were, forced to come to rest and reflect.” The Christmas party at Haus Aichinger is traditionally planned in a small circle with the family. The celebrations will not be too intense, however, because “at this time, we basically have Christmas and New Year’s Eve meals until Epiphany,” says the landlord.
When asked about his Christmas wish this year, Aichinger remains modest: “The most important thing is that the family stays healthy and happy. And of course I also hope that the pandemic will pass quickly.”
Source: Nachrichten
