Bavarian Wellness Hotel - Where Sustainability Meets Luxury

Andrea and Johannes Tien have fulfilled their dream with the Bergeblick Hotel in Bad Tölz Bergeblick Hotel

Those who stand here are given a breathtaking view. Green meadows, grass gently swaying in the wind, framed by an imposing mountain panorama. The view also includes the soundscape, or more the lack of it. All you hear is the rustling of the forest in the background, occasionally a car, maybe a tractor from a nearby farm.

Couple fulfills dream with sustainable wellness hotel

This is the Bergeblick wellness hotel in Wackersberg near Bad Tölz, just under 31 miles from Munich. It is run by Andrea and Johannes Tien, who moved here almost ten years ago and thus fulfilled their dream.

They wanted to use honest materials here, they say and makes their way into one of the rooms. The guests have the choice between alpine panorama or forest bathing, in between there are different room categories, from single rooms to suites. Those who want to be completely alone can opt for one of the three garden suites – including their own pool.

The house follows the principle of being right in the middle of nature, so “natureness” instead of just “wellness.” The couple thought about how to implement this symbiosis of hotel and nature.

Wooden construction in village idyll

The result is, for example, what is known as the pergola, a facade made entirely of wood. The spruce wood comes from the Allgäu, a small forest was cleared for it – and a new one planted to compensate, as the self-proclaimed inventor Johannes Tien later says.

Johannes jokes in a conversation in the hotel lounge that some locals have not yet been able to get used to the style and simply call the wood cladding “the scaffold.” The couple takes the topic of wood and the specification of “honest materials” seriously: even the equipment in the fitness room is made of wood, including the bicycle and weights for training.

The Bergeblick philosophy: “natureness” instead of “wellness”

However, the room wing is made entirely of concrete. Johannes remembers how he was not enthusiastic about it at the beginning, because all the wood was supposed to merge with nature in the foreground – but according to the architect, it was the only way for the guests not to constantly hear their neighbors stomping.

In order to keep the connection to nature, the architect made a few adjustments. The windows were installed into the concrete building in a wooden structure. Fire protection also played a role.

Inventive cooling for the summer

Another reason for concrete is the cooling effect. The Tiens absolutely did not want to install air conditioning, so another way of cooling had to be found. The result is a special invention, essentially a type of reverse underfloor heating. The solar panels on the roof can cool water slightly, which is then passed through pipes inside the room ceilings and floors. This can cool the rooms in the hotel wing without air conditioning and would not have been possible in a pure wood construction.

Cooling in the summer is also supported by the pergola. Large curtains on the facade provide shade. It not only fulfills an aesthetic function, however, but also an energy-related one. Thanks to the wooden construction, the building is a ” type E”, i.e. a particularly energy and resource-saving house. This is made possible by the renunciation of metal coverings on the facade, which are considered particularly energy-intensive.

Johannes would also like to use the cold air which blows from the peaks of the Brauneck into the valley in the evening for cooling. He wants to figure this out together with a climate technician from Munich.

Johannes has now come to terms with the concrete construction. “From the outset, we knew that we were building for the future,” emphasizes the hotel manager. He hopes that the current Gen Z will still come here in 20 years and can appreciate this “symbiosis of wood and concrete” as he calls it.

The hotel generates its own electricity

The Bergeblick not only includes the main building and the room wing, but also the wooden sauna house, the outdoor pool and the indoor spa with saunas and natural pool. The electricity for the entire hotel complex is generated by the hotel’s own PV systems on the roof. Hotel guests who arrive with an electric car also benefit from the wall boxes.

At night, they get their electricity from the Tölzer Stadtwerke, 100 percent green electricity, as the municipal supplier writes on its website. Providers cannot usually guarantee a one hundred percent share, according to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), but the more consumers choose green electricity, the higher the proportion in the overall network.

Wood from the region

Heating in the Bergeblick Hotel comes from a wood chip system. It is currently supplied by a sawmill in the nearby Bichl, which produces these from sawing residues.

Wood chips, like pellet heating, are in the middle of the sustainability spectrum. Although the combustion of wood has a better climate balance than oil and gas, wood boilers also release climate-damaging gases such as CO2, methane or nitrous oxide. In addition, all the CO2 stored in the wood is also released.

It is therefore important, according to the UBA, that appropriate filters are installed which catch as many soot particles and other pollutants as possible. As the Bergeblick gets its wood chips from a regional supplier, at least the transport routes are comparatively short here – and the associated emissions are lower.

“We aren’t perfect”

The Tiens know that their hotel is not a prime example of sustainable tourism. “We are not perfect,” says Andrea, while her husband nods and adds: “I don’t want to wag my finger and say how others have to do it.” But they have plenty of ideas on how they could improve their hotel.

Like the power supply, for example. At the moment, excess electricity from the PV systems is fed in slightly, but they would prefer an energy storage system. “We don’t have one yet because the prices are way too high,” says Johannes. “But we are striving for 65 to 70 percent self-sufficiency.”

They need additional PV systems for this, the costs for which are estimated at around 200,000 euros. But that is too expensive at the moment, without any more subsidies.

After analysis, the team tackles with towel strategy

Another facet that probably every hotelier can empathize with is the laundry. After six months, the Tiens examined the mountains of laundry that piled up every weekend. They found that the average guest uses two towels and three sauna towels every day.

A first measure was to get rid of the extra sauna towels, a second measure was in housekeeping. Anyone who completely waives housekeeping for the duration of their stay will receive a ten-minute massage. In order to save heating costs, each guest has to consider in advance which sauna will be used when.

It is primarily these small improvements that the team has made everywhere bit by bit in order to save not just electricity, but also money. For example, they have installed timers throughout the house that control everything – from the lamps in the lounge to the drinks refrigerators. This has already had an impact on the costs. “In the end, it’s a business decision,” says Johannes.

Sustainability also means taking more “staycations”

The Bergeblick is an example of what can encourage and inspire the majority of hoteliers – to help their own wallets, but also society. Of course, there are CO2-neutral tree house hotels and eco-hostels with compost toilets – but the masses will always prefer to go to South Tyrol for a wellness break. And this is exactly where there is huge leverage.

“Many guests say that now you don’t have to drive all the way to South Tyrol anymore. Wellness, mountains, and so on can also be found here,” says Andrea. “That is also sustainable, because less CO2 is produced in traffic, because nobody has to make the journey over the Brenner,” she adds.

No more KfW funds at the moment

Their demand is not unfounded. In Bavaria, this found great approval in the form of “staycations” during the COVID pandemic. Suddenly it was not Spain, Greece or Italy, but Bamberg, Sylvensteinsee and Walchensee.

This awareness has also risen among Germans, which is why the demand for climate-friendly travel has increased in the post-COVID period. The destinations that are well connected to local transport in particular benefit from this.

Johannes Tien emphasizes how important such incentives are. But there needs to be incentives in order for other hoteliers to also take the time, the effort and above all the costs: tax relief, for example, so that building more PV systems or investing in storage really has advantages.

“Instead, there is a dispute about the budget and the KfW funds are cut,” he says, shaking his head. “Politically, we are currently at a dead end – regardless of which party is in government.”