Electrifying cooperation in the tourism sector

In a pioneering initiative to promote electromobility in the Austrian tourism sector, VERKEHRSBUERO HOSPITALITY, a leading domestic hotel group, has teamed up with VERBUND, Austria’s leading energy company and one of the biggest generators of electricity from hydropower in Europe, and sealed a location-based partnership for e-mobility charging infrastructure for tourism companies. The grand opening of the first location took place on 3 April in the car park of the Austria Trend Hotel Schloss Wilhelminenberg.

The new charging infrastructure at Schloss Wilhelminenberg has a total of 10 AC charging points (11 kW), which have been in operation since January 2024. Following the successful initial operation of the first location at Wilhelminenberg, the partners are planning to equip the car parks and garages at a further eleven hotels across Austria with a total of 66 charging points by the end of 2024. The charging points are being installed by the VERBUND subsidiary SMATRICS, Austria’s leading e-mobility provider.

A simple solution for convenient charging

The innovative business model involves hotel operators providing the necessary areas while VERBUND takes on the installation and operation of the charging infrastructure. Hotel guests charge their vehicles with their charging cards at SMATRICS rates or the rates of their charging card issuer. Billing is therefore carried out directly via the users’ charging cards, with ad-hoc payment by credit card also a possibility.

As all charging points are also available for public charging, hotel operators also benefit from a share of charging turnover in addition to the service they provide their visitors.

“With the opening of what is perhaps Vienna’s most beautiful public electric charging point at the Austria Trend Hotel Schloss Wilhelminenberg, we have fired the starting shot for our new location partnership with VERBUND, which in future will provide e-charging infrastructure across Austria at a total of eleven locations of VERKEHRSBUERO HOSPITALITY. This makes us the first hotel group in Austria to take this pioneering step towards future-orientated mobility solutions in the domestic tourism sector and to strengthen the industry’s commitment to resource-efficient and sustainable travel,” explains Martin Winkler, CEO of VERKEHRSBUERO HOSPITALITY.

Michael Kröger, managing director of VERKEHRSBUERO HOSPITALITY, adds: “By expanding the e-charging infrastructure, we are able to offer our guests sustainable mobility solutions and the highest levels of convenience during their stay, as well on their inbound and outbound journeys. I am especially pleased that all charging points are also available for public use and therefore also available to people living near our hotels.

“We are pleased to have a strong partner for the expansion of electric charging infrastructure in the domestic tourism sector on board with us in the form of VERKEHRSBUERO HOSPITALITY and its Austria Trend and BASSENA hotels. Together, we share the vision of a nationwide charging infrastructure and are thus paving way for electromobility in the tourism sector. With such location partnerships and our Coop-Charging product, we are taking another important steps towards advancing the mobility transition and with it the energy transition,” emphasises Martin Wagner, managing director of VERBUND Energy4Business GmbH.