BMW is no stranger to hotels as the company has owned and operated the Alpenhotel Ammerwald since the 1940s but this an entirely new concept in terms of employee perks. The Alpenhotel was rebuilt in 2009 and was designed to be a modern alpine retreat, but BMW’s new venture into hotels in Munich’s North is designed as housing for temporary or new employees. With Munich (in recent memory) the most expensive place to live in Germany and with rents continually on the rise, BMW has decided to build a hotel for its workers.

Set to open in 2015, BMW’s plan to battle the rising rents of Munich is to open a 270-room hotel for its short-term workers or new to the work force employees and trainees. This will be viewed as short term accommodations, hence the hotel naming and concept as German renters tend to remain “permanent” once they choose a place to live.

Marcus Müller, from developer Strabag Real Estate, said: “For the BMW employees that are housed in the hotel, the location could hardly be better.” BMW’s management, development and production departments are all within walking distance of the U-shaped hotel.

Thomas Hohwieler, director of Strabag, said: “The search for qualified professionals is more important today than it ever was. Factors such as attractive and uncomplicated accommodation for the workforce play a role.

With BMW looking to cut costs across the board this is an interesting development and project but attracting qualified new and foreign workers to the BMW’s research and development facility the FIZ is still a main priority.

Source: Straberg Realty