Jan Lehmann is a man who at first glance radiates a lot of strength and joie de vivre. The 54-year-old is at home in the Eifel, a low mountain range in western Germany. Here nature still sets the tone: mountains, valleys, small rivers and lakes, bizarre rocks and a lot of forest. Two years ago, Lehmann went into business for himself and, together with his wife Sandra, rents 18 holiday homes that they have leased along with the land and forest belonging to them. The contract with the owner runs for 15 years and insists on full payment of the rent even in the lockdown.
Jan Lehmann’s holiday homes are empty
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A few of the Canadian-style houses made of thick tree trunks are in the small town of Gemünd on the edge of the Eifel National Park. The Urft river babbles in front of the covered terrace and the birds chirp. Guests haven’t checked in here since early November. “With the lockdown in the spring of 2020, we are now closed for six months and have no income,” says Jan Lehmann sadly while looking into the tall trees.
The small river Urft flows between tall trees
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Nonsensical closure
“Do you actually know what it is like when you see politicians and virologists on talk shows saying that vacation homes are safe places in the corona pandemic?” He asks bitterly. “Decision-makers have recognized the nonsense of the closings and yet we are not allowed to work.” It is increasingly difficult for him to motivate himself, says Lehmann, and at this moment he seems almost powerless. “You can’t imagine what that does to you.” Sometimes Lehmann asks himself in the morning why he should get up.
Every guest can check-in contactless, there is a code for the key box in advance
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Above all, it is the lack of planning that makes the couple weary. Since the end of October 2020, politicians have repeatedly named dates when the lockdown should end. Instead it was renewed every time. “Politicians drive on sight,” said Lehmann. “For us, that means that we always have to accept bookings and then cancel and refund the money.”
Fear of existence
The holiday homes would have been fully booked during the Christmas holidays and the turn of the year. Afterwards, lots of snow and, since mid-February, exceptionally warm weather with lots of sun attracted people to the Eifel. “Guests call and ask us whether we can make an exception so that they can stay here for a few days and relax, but we are not allowed to.”
Everything is ready, should the guests be allowed to arrive again
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With each week of lockdown, Jan Lehmann and his wife fear more for their existence. The reserves built up in the successful summer of 2020 have been used up and the promised state aid is still a long time coming. “The money comes three months late and if you think that the aid will be enough, I have to tell you that it is not true.” The costs are only covered to 90 percent and an entrepreneur’s wages are not provided.
Urgent application for opening
Last spring, Lehmann tried unsuccessfully to sue the court to open up his company. He wants to try again now. The Easter holidays start at the end of March and all houses are fully booked. “If there is still a ban on accommodation at Easter, it will be extremely damaging for us,” says Jan Lehmann. When asked what he will do if it should come this way, he shrugs his shoulders and gives a short, bitter laugh. He doesn’t want to think about that.
The lack of planning security makes many problems
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The hotel owner Manuela Baier is already one step further. “We will still be closed at Easter,” she is convinced. Baier and her husband have been running the Kallbach conference and wellness hotel in the Eifel village of Simonskall, a good half hour drive from Gemünd, for six years. “I can do arithmetic,” says Baier, who was on the board of a large fashion company before starting her own business with the hotel. “If the schools open and then we wait two weeks to see how the new infections develop and then maybe the trade can reopen and wait again, then it is almost Easter.”
The Landhotel Kallbach in Simonskall
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Hotels are at the very back in the opening perspective
The 54-year-old tells of an evening in early February when she saw a TV interview with the Chancellor. Angela Merkel talked about opening perspectives, talked about schools, universities, private contacts, cinemas, theaters and sports clubs. At the very end, she named accommodation providers: “… and one day the hotels too,” said the Chancellor.
The temporary extension on the Manuela Baier terrace cost 35,000 euros in rent
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“I turned off the television and since then I’ve been dreaming of the sentence at night,” says Manuela Baier, who is currently betting that she will be allowed to reopen in May. Financially it will be a feat. Your 21 employees are on short-time work, but the hotel costs money even when it is idle: heating, electricity, insurance. “If I let the house deteriorate for months, everything will go moldy.” Twice a week alone, all water pipes in the 52 rooms have to be flushed to prevent an infestation with legionella, dangerous bacteria that settle in the water.
Everything in the wellness area is drained
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Work ten years longer for your retirement
Even Baier does not have enough state aid to make ends meet. The hotel has hardly any reserves because the profits have been invested over and over again. Be it renovating the rooms or expanding the wellness area. “I haven’t had a salary since October, but I pay 700 euros a month for my health insurance alone,” complains the entrepreneur. She lives from her private reserves, which were actually intended for old-age security. “I already know that I’ll have to work ten years longer than planned.”
The mini golf course next to the hotel is also empty
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The “orangery” that Baier had set up on the restaurant terrace in October is currently being dismantled in order to be able to guarantee the distance between the guests in the winter months. The rent for the temporary extension cost her 35,000 euros, and the electrician who had to lay 350 meters of power cable for the lighting and radiant heaters received 8,000 euros. “I hesitated again and again to dismantle it because I trusted the lockdown periods mentioned by politicians,” says Baier.
“Politics lost me”
No planning security, no reliability, too many disappointments – Manuela Baier added that too and changed her, as she says. “This constant consolation robs you of your strength. Politics has lost me.” She did everything that was asked of her: met all hygiene requirements, meticulously adhered to the regulations. “I don’t see what we could do better.”
The Eifel: mountains, valleys, lakes and lots of forest
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The country hotel is located on a path that leads into the hiking area. For weeks, Baier has had to watch as hundreds of people walk past her house, especially on the weekends. Many of them use the empty hotel parking lot to take a break and have a picnic. “Do you know how much it hurts to watch it?” Asks Baier, resigned.
Mayor with two hearts in his chest
Bernd Goffart, the mayor of Simmerath, one of the larger Eifel communities, can understand the hotel owner very well. “Every bed that is now unoccupied is lost. What you do not generate now, you can no longer make up.” The same applies to the restaurants and the other tourist facilities, which are closed.
Bernd Goffart, Mayor of Simmerath
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But the onslaught of day tourists is also causing Goffart stomach ache in the current situation. “Everything is closed and people come anyway.” Far too many people would meet on the weekends, especially on the well-known hiking trails, to be tolerated in the corona pandemic. “Two hearts then beat in my chest: I’m usually happy about every guest, but no longer when we are overrun.”
The pandemic as an opportunity for the Eifel
Plans are underway in the community to better direct traffic. Beyond the tourist centers, there are still many areas that are virtually deserted. In the medium and long term, the mayor sees the pandemic as an opportunity for the Eifel. “Many people who vacationed here for the first time last year saw how beautiful it is here.” When Corona is over, his region can only benefit.
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