I never actually intended to open a hotel. Better something musical like an opera singer. I guess that says a lot.
Instead of the classical hotel education I preferred to study. During my bachelor at the IU Bad Reichenhall I was part of an exchange year programm at the Northern Arizona University in Arizona and finally gained my master of science in Business-Psychology at the FOM Munich. Travelling and new challenges are my passion, right after my dogs or animals in general. I love animals.
Besides, of course I supported my parents at their hotel– but that counted as free time. Anyway it is always about the business – no matter if Christmas or birthday. Luckily I had the chance to experience work at other hotels too, among them the A-Loft, Königshof, Bayerischer Hof in Munich as well as the Ritz Carlton in Barcelona, until I enevntually opened the AWA Hotel, still being an average student at the time. This overlap was a tough time for sure, but in the end, I had to take the opportunity and I would deeply regret if I had not taken it. You can always study later- and in the end- even I made it, hotel aside. And I am defintiely not done yet, cause AWA hotel sounds like an international hotel chain to me.
The idea of my own hotel developed mainly through my father. He always apreciated his work in the hotel or on the ship, loved the flair and the atmosphere when you stroll through the corridors and the contact with people from different countries. He sent his first applications to the Munich luxury hotels and was then allowed to start training in the Vier Jahreszeiten Hotel. He quickly infected me with his euphoria, but would probably not have accepted an alternative. Joking aside.
My family owes it to him that we have 2 hotels today – and that was by no means easy. First he had to face a financial challenge that nobody else wanted to face. And without the hard-working wife and mother, Marina Wandinger, who has managed the Condor Hotel in Munich independently since 1993, this would not have worked either. The house didn’t even have toilets when my mother took it over. She is definitely my greatest role model when I think of my career. Even today I call her when I need some advice, and she tells me in a relaxed way, “oh, just do it that way”. She really always has a solution ready.
By the way, AWA originally stood for Anton Wandinger, because this was his breakthrough. Today’s AWA concept was somehow born along the way. And without his good name, I could never have taken out the loan I urgently needed to build the hotel. So at this point I would like to thank Marina and Tony for their support.
