Sustainability Talk with Michaela Reitterer from Boutiquehotel Stadthalle

Sustainability is a central component of our work and working in partnership with our customers naturally plays a major role in this. We are particularly impressed by the Boutiquehotel Stadthalle in Vienna, the world's first SDG hotel. Host Michaela Reitterer, who was also President of the Austrian Hotel Association for many years, focused on sustainability at a very early stage and transformed the hotel on the basis of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Boutiquehotel Stadthalle is a sustainable flagship hotel with a zero-energy footprint. By using photovoltaics and solar energy, it produces as much energy as it consumes. With the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also in the rooms, the hotel offers its guests an environmentally friendly and comfortable experience in the heart of the city.

Our boss Ulrike Rabmer-Koller recently visited Michaela Reitterer and had a "sustainability talk" with her. She wanted to find out more about the hotel's sustainability initiatives and why she decided to work with Rabmer.

• Dear Michaela, what inspired you to choose the SDGs as the basis for the concept of your hotel?

The SDGs are a particularly good tool for me to see that sustainability is not just the PV system on the roof. They are the same everywhere in the world and therefore a perfect opportunity to communicate with our international guests and to ask them to put our activities in front of the curtain.

• What specific measures have you taken at the hotel to actively promote sustainability and the SDGs?

At Boutiquehotel Stadthalle, we focus on energy efficiency through passive house construction and renewable energies such as solar energy and geothermal energy. We use efficient water fittings, separate waste and promote local, organic food and the use of public transport. We are particularly proud of the renovation of 16 rooms, each dedicated to an SDG, with upcycled furniture. In this way, we create awareness for sustainability and offer our guests environmentally conscious accommodation that actively contributes to the 2030 Agenda.

• What do your guests say?

Our guests not only like the way we have taken up the theme, but also how we have implemented it. Our upcycled furniture and accessories are very popular photo motifs here and we also turn our guests into ambassadors for sustainability.

• To what extent does the ecowaterjet by rabmer® support your efforts to further reduce the ecological footprint of your hotel?

I'm delighted with the Ecowaterjet, you can literally see how it saves water and therefore money. Simply great. You rarely come across products that pay for themselves in the first year

• You already had 9 liter water-saving shower heads. What was the decisive factor in your decision to also opt for the ecowaterjet by rabmer®?

It was finally possible to implement the additional equipment internally and we did so immediately. My employees were so enthusiastic that they also wanted to install the Ecowaterjet privately.

• What experiences have you had since installing ecowaterjet by rabmer®?

Really only very good ones. We noticed different water pressures in our very angled building in advance and were able to install 2 different models accordingly.

• Would you recommend the ecowaterjet by rabmer®?

A very clear and unequivocal YES

• What are your plans for the future to further advance the sustainability goals?

We will continue to promote the SDG theme with upcycled furniture, especially when it comes to room furnishings. We now have 25 of the initial 17 SDG rooms and would like to convert 35 rooms into SDG rooms. As we are building this furniture together with Gabarage and collecting the components ourselves, it remains my great pleasure to drive this forward even more

Thank you very much for your insights and of course for the trust in our product and the positive feedback!

Ulrike Rabmer-Koller (Rabmer), Michaela Reitterer (Boutiquehotel Stadthalle)