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Healthy time” from Fichtelgebirge

By 5. December 2015December 22nd, 2020No Comments

Healthy time” from Fichtelgebirge
Frankenpost, December 2015

The flag­ship project in Weißenstadt is growing. People are sup­po­sed to reduce stress there, pro­mi­ses the concept of the ope­ra­tors. And there will be more than 100 new jobs.

Weißenstadt - On the con­s­truc­tion site near Lake Weißenstadt, there is lively acti­vi­ty. There is growing a project that is to be known well beyond the Fich­tel­ge­bir­ge: the “Siebenquell Gesundzeitresort”. Already in Sep­tem­ber 2016, it is planned to open the doors for the first guests. “A sport­ing goal,” initia­tor and mana­ging direc­tor Stephan Gesell admits. However, he does not make any doubts about the date.

The new project costs a good 60 million euros, inclu­ding a thermal spa land­scape with 1500 square meters of water area and 225 hotel beds. Just a stone’s throw from the new buil­ding is the spa center Sie­ben­stern, which has been running since 2007 – it is curr­ent­ly about 90 percent loaded. The age group is on average more than 60 years.

The company will be signi­fi­cant­ly younger than the exis­ting spa center in the Siebenquell health resort, expec­ting Gesell and his aut­ho­ri­zed repre­sen­ta­ti­ve Michael Bau­ern­feind, who are in talks with the Fran­ken­pos­t’s strategy
for the new house. Above all, people who are still in the midst of pro­fes­sio­nal life are the target group. The essen­ti­al offer is to prevent exhaus­ti­on. The word burnout does not like Gesell. The 43-year-old Mana­ging Direc­tor pro­mi­ses to his cus­to­mers “dece­le­ra­ti­on” and “de-stres­sing”.

In the same way as in the health center, Gesell is tar­ge­ting a uti­liza­ti­on rate of about 90 percent for the new house. Health tourism offers a “huge market,” says the manager. And he touches the adver­ti­sing drum. In “Weißenstadt”, “Ger­many’s most attrac­ti­ve health and spa resort” is being built. The offer is aimed exclu­si­ve­ly at self-payers; There are no bene­fits from health insu­rance funds – as in the spa center.

The concept con­ta­ins a com­pre­hen­si­ve program. The basis for the therapy offer is the suc­cessful thermal dril­ling at more than 1800 meters depth, which conveys the well 35 degrees of warm, fluo­ri­de and sulfur-con­tai­ning water to the surface. The entire range ranges from healthy diets with show cooking to meeting and seminar offers, explain society and far­mer’s foe. Apart from medical assis­tance, the guests in Weißenstadt will also be able to access the ser­vices of psy­cho­lo­gists and cler­gy­men. A week with a full board and all the trim­mings cost around 900 euros, says Gesell. The strip­ped version gives it from about 500 euros.

Where should the guests come from? From the cities of Bavaria, Saxony, Thu­rin­gia and Berlin the Wei­ßen­städ­ter are waiting for most of the cus­to­mers who book with accom­mo­da­ti­on. “We are pro­mo­ting the entire federal ter­ri­to­ry and the neigh­bor­ing Euro­pean states”, says Michael Bau­ern­feind. On the other hand, the guests are mostly recrui­ted from a radius of about 100 kilo­me­ters. Accor­ding to Stephan Gesell, “the plans are not based on wishes, but on several expert opi­ni­ons, which have been pre­ce­ded by inten­si­ve surveys”.

The Siebenquell-Gesundzeitresort will have more than 100 jobs. We are looking for a wide range of spe­cia­lists, whether in the kitchen, in the service or in the spa land­scape. From Bademeister
to the sports eco­no­mist ever­y­thing is there. “I am a pro­fes­sio­nal,” says Gesell. But it was already a “real chall­enge” to put the entire staff on their feet by Sep­tem­ber. The appli­ca­ti­on phase begins in March. Can­di­da­tes, who send their docu­ments before, have to wait until then, explains the
Mana­ging Director.

At EUR 60.2 million, Gesell esti­ma­tes net invest­ment for the new project. Of this amount, 31 million are loan capital, which is made available by a bank con­sor­ti­um con­sis­ting of savings banks, VR banks and their umbrel­la orga­niza­ti­ons. 14.7 million came as a subsidy from the Free State of Bavaria – the
the largest sum ever paid for a single project. Pre­re­qui­si­te for funding and dis­bur­se­ment by the bank con­sor­ti­um, accor­ding to Gesell, was evi­dence of equity of 14.5 million euros. This sum was essen­ti­al­ly achie­ved by the par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on of citi­zens from the region.

Two million of these EUR 14.5 million are covered by inter­me­dia­ries. At the height of these two million, there was still the pos­si­bi­li­ty of par­ti­ci­pa­ting in the project in Weißenstadt. Accor­ding to the company, the minimum invest­ment amounts to 25,000 euros, and the top is 5000 euros. By the year 2027, as long as the shares have to be held, a yield between four and eight percent is tar­ge­ted. Gesell also empha­si­zes the fact that for limited partners the loss up to the amount of their con­tri­bu­ti­on can not be excluded.

The seven-seventh-source health care center is expec­ted to earn some twelve million euros in sales in 2017. By way of com­pa­ri­son: In the Kur­zen­trum the makers plan for the current year 5.8 million, for 2016 six million euro sales. In the medium term, both inde­pen­dent com­pa­nies are thus jointly mana­ging the 20 million mark.

300 jobs
Stephan Gesell is the mana­ging direc­tor of four eco­no­mic­al­ly inde­pen­dent com­pa­nies: 90 people are curr­ent­ly working in the Kur­zen­trum Sie­ben­stern Weißenstadt, just as many are in the Kur­zen­trum Waren an der Müritz. When the Siebenquell health resort in Weißenstadt starts ope­ra­ti­ons in Sep­tem­ber 2016, more than 100 employees will be added. Finally, in the company of Gesell GmbH, besides Gesell and Michael Bau­ern­feind, aut­ho­ri­zed repre­sen­ta­ti­ve of all four com­pa­nies, a further five people work. The company is respon­si­ble for con­s­truc­tion manage­ment, project deve­lo­p­ment and finan­cing. Altog­e­ther, the four com­pa­nies have about 300 jobs.