5 stars for your health

This place is as beautiful as the setting for a television series: The Asklepios St. Wolfgang hospital in Bad Griesbach south of Passau brings together a combination of health, wellness and premium comfort. This is due in part to the fact that the hospital complex incorporates a 5-star hotel. 20 rooms in this hotel were fitted with the Stiegelmeyer suite eMotion bed in February of this year. How has the bed fared in the day-to-day medical routine? What feedback is there from the guests? We asked CEO Frank Tamm.

How did your combination of a hospital and a hotel in Bad Griesbach come about in the first place?

Frank Tamm: The complex was designed as a hospital and a hotel when it was built in 1996. At the time, these were two different businesses that operated under separate management albeit under one roof. This didn’t work out at all – the hospital went bankrupt after 11 months and the hotel was a disaster. After that, Asklepios took over both businesses and merged them into one. Following this, business steadily improved and we are now in a good place today. The approach has proved successful.

Who uses the hotel – patients, family visitors, tourists?

20 percent of the guests undergo an operation in the complex, particularly in the area of orthopaedics or internal medicine. A further 20 percent stay with us for medical rehabilitation following operations. 10 percent of guests attend conferences held by reputable companies. Then we have another 15 percent of guests who come for a healthy holiday, such as a check-up or therapeutic fasting. The large remainder consists of purely hotel guests who come to enjoy the wellness facilities or play golf. The fact that the hospital and hotel are in the same hands is our great strength which sets us apart on the market.

But if you undergo an operation, do you have to change rooms – from the hospital to the hotel?

Yes, the rooms are separated on different floors of our building. The first floor houses acute patients. Two-thirds of the second floor is taken up by the hotel. The last third, where the Stiegelmeyer beds are, is used for follow-up treatment. These rooms are fitted out so as to also be usable as hotel rooms at any time. The suite eMotion helps us to achieve this. On the one hand, with its height-adjustment facility, it meets the requirements of a patient bed, while on the other hand the bed blends in visually with the hotel’s 5-star ambience. The beds themselves really do look good.

Did you purchase the suite eMotion as single or double beds?

We use both, depending on the room size. However, the only person ever accommodated in the same room is the person accompanying the patient, never another patient.

Have you had any feedback from guests?

The beds have been very well received. There is feedback from different sides. Nursing staff are pleased as the beds are fully height-adjustable. Cleaning staff also praise the beds because the covers are easy to disinfect and they can reach everywhere easily – there are no inaccessible areas on the beds. And the guests are pleased since the numerous adjustment options of the suite eMotion are self-explanatory – right down to setting the bed to a comfortable recliner chair position. It all works so well that we are now trying out a double bed in the hotel suite which is currently being refurbished.

Do you have the same model of suite eMotion in all rooms, or do you have a variety of different covers and colours?

The beds all look the same in appearance. We opted for leather covers, and have used our own self-constructed headboard in place of the Stiegelmeyer one, as it goes better with the other furnishings.

Are treatments given in the beds?

Not very often, but physiotherapy treatments sometimes take place in the rooms. In this case, being able to adjust the height of the beds is a big advantage which we have not had up to now. On the old beds, it was only possible to adjust the backrest. This was good for patients, but was of no use to the people administering the treatment.

Could you imagine using the suite eMotion in further rooms in your complex?

Currently, 20 rooms out of a total of 180 are fitted with these beds. At the present time, we can definitely say that if further refurbishment is due, we will certainly consider using the beds. If guests are impressed with our suite eMotion beds, we would also like to enable them to purchase the bed themselves. We plan to place a leaflet in the rooms containing information for the guests to read.

Thank you very much for talking to us.

The interview was conducted by Kirsten Kaawar and Manuel Jennen.