On November 2nd, Therme Erding had to go into the second lockdown.
Instead of bathers, workers and craftsmen now run around in the largest wellness facility in the world.
Erding -
Where does this man get his vigor from?
For the second time, politics has closed its
Therme Erding
.
The thousands flow from the
world's largest wellness facility
like the water used from the pools.
And yet
Jörg Wund
strolls
through the facility and monitors what the few who are still there are doing.
They are not bathers, they are workers and craftsmen.
Corona lockdown: Therme Erding hits the crisis hard - boss gives insights
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Everything empty again: Spa owner Jörg Wund looks skeptically into the future in the middle of the second lockdown.
His hope is that he will be able to open a few more weeks this year and that there will be a corona vaccine afterwards.
© Hans Moritz
The 55-year-old had to close for three months in the first corona lockdown, and was allowed to reopen for three months - everything has been tight again since November 2nd.
How long?
Nobody knows.
Wund admits: "I feel that the company and myself have been
abandoned
." But giving up is out of the question, even if strength and confidence decline.
He's even considering a lawsuit.
Wund receives in the foyer.
Where in normal years the short vacation under 300 palm trees begins for 1.8 million people.
You have to pay attention to every step, a cross sticks to some of the green floor tiles - they have just been replaced.
As in the first
lockdown
from March 14th, Wund uses the time to bring the thermal baths up to date.
"I would have preferred not to have had the opportunity again so soon," he confesses.
Corona: It's cool at Therme Erding - a lot is uncertain
The shops in the large entrance hall are also
closed
, the Badhaus Gruber and the Müller-Brot branch.
They are allowed to open, but what good is that in a ghost bath?
Is that why they benefit from Markus Söder's “Novemberhilfe”?
That too: uncertain, like so many things.
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Investing in a historical crisis: the world's largest wellness facility is once again being transformed into a construction site.
Here floors in the wave pool are renewed.
© Hans Moritz
He anticipated the
second
compulsory closure
, Wund also speaks of an occupational ban.
“Six weeks ago I said that we would be locked again at the end of October.” He was laughed at for that at the time.
Wund foresaw the disaster almost exactly to the day.
Just as it has become colder in society, a cooler wind blows through the thermal baths: 21 degrees air, 20 degrees water temperature.
“Otherwise the palm trees will break.
The water stays in so that pumps and filters are not damaged. ”This time, Wund left all the basins full, knowing that operating and energy costs would continue to run.
Although he had to put 84 percent of the workforce on
short-time work
again
,
this time he didn't
quit
anyone.
Lockdown at Therme Erding: "I'll only believe it when the money is in the account"
Will he get it replaced, at least the 75 percent promised by Söder?
"I won't believe it until the money is in the account." In the spring it came out empty-handed.
He paid his tax advisor 4,000 euros for the application.
Even this money - gone.
The thermal baths were obviously not an infection driver in the
corona pandemic
.
450,000 guests have visited it since it reopened in June.
Not a single infection could be traced back here.
Wund never overstepped the curve.
“We should have given half to two thirds of the lockers.
But it was a maximum of 45 percent, ”he reports.
At its peak it was last 4800 guests a day, never more than 2300 at a time.
In pre-Corona times it was sometimes over 10,000.
The reservation system has proven itself: no queues and only a small number of non-bookers who had to be turned away.
The first
post-lockdown balances of
the spa restaurateurs
show how great the need for relaxation was
: “They implemented significantly more than usual.” Translated, this means: The starving people wanted to have a really good time.
Areas in which the guests were alone were particularly popular: in the chalets, lake huts and in the spa.
“People wanted security,” says Wund.
The more it fell and the more the number of infections began to rise again, the more cautious the guests became.
"You noticed that the fear was back," diagnosed the owner.
Corona: New construction sites at Therme Erding
Wund's entrepreneurship could
not attack
the
virus
.
He measures his thermal bath at a fast pace.
There are - again - construction sites.
He had 600 screws replaced on the slides, several floors are being fitted with high-quality coverings, the Roman villa is getting new Carrara marble, and there is a new platform on the lake.
One of the focal points now: the Hotel Victory, which has recently been very busy again.
In the first
lockdown
, he put a few million into the renovation and modernization.
Now there are thousands and tens of thousands - with zero income.
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Use the time wisely: Hundreds of screws are replaced on the water slides.
© Hans Moritz
And yet his insatiable entrepreneurial spirit emerges again and again.
He has made a clear space under the slide dome.
“You could add a
big wave slide here
.
You would have to open the roof in two places. ”He would be interested,“ but it's a damn difficult decision whether I should spend 2.8 to 3.2 million euros on it ”.
Speaking of millions.
2020 is the first year in which the thermal baths will run a deficit.
Wund has two scenarios: “If it is tight by the end of the year, it will be 2.8 million euros.
If we can take the
Christmas business
with
us
, I expect two million euros. ”He had to use private money in the spring.
Lockdown payments for Therme Erding: Insurance refuses
The 55-year-old had
secured
himself
optimally
.
He thought.
“I paid premiums for business failure insurance for 21 years.
And when the business went down for the first time since it opened on October 3rd, 1999, the insurance company refused to compensate for the damage, ”he says.
"They squirm like a worm." He was offered 15 percent.
That would be the turnover of four days.
“Not with me,” says Wund.
His lawyer advised him to sue the insurance company.
He still hesitates, because just initiating a process would cost him 250,000 euros.
The exit?
Like so much in these unreal times: highly uncertain.
This also applies to the future.
When does it start again
?
And are those looking for relaxation drawn to the distance?
The Erdinger Südsee is definitely ready.
If you give Wund four days to have the wellness temple thoroughly cleaned and the temperatures up again.
Hans Moritz
List of rubric lists: © Hans Moritz