Waggonhotel as vacancy utilisation

Short description

After a 120-year-old company car of the legendary Salzkammergut-Lokalbahn had already been successfully converted into the first wagon hotel in 2014, an old baggage and mail car as well as a discarded crew car are now being converted. In this way, the first wagon hotel suite in Europe is an unusual overnight accommodation in the eastern Styrian town Markt Anger near Weiz. The wagons are supplied by a hotel, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the old railway station. The transformation of the historic wagons into a hotel suite, whos rooms represent the individual wagons, aims at reviving the abandoned railway station area and repositioning the old summer-recreation town of Anger for tourism.

Point of departure

There is an attractive historical building substance of the industrial epoch of rural regions, which is endangered by a lack of utilization, but which tourists like to visit and choose as a photo motif. In addition, there is a tourist trend that describes a demand for unusual places, accommodation and local curiosities, as new visitor groups reject sightseeing of the traditional kind. Operators of unconventional accommodations have high demand and booking rates throughout Europe. The project tries to address exactly these target groups.

Targets and target groups

The unused station areas of the East Styrian Feistritztal Railway in the town of Markt Anger represent an example of valuable empty buildings. Possible new uses were sought. A creative and participative process provided the idea of an unusual overnight accommodation. The so-called Waggonhotel Anger is developing into a curious and lively attraction. A local hotel company involved can increase its profile on an international level. The target group is mainly railway nostalgics and families with children. This project pursues the idea of a wagon hotel suite: each additional room is to be created from a newly adapted wagon from the discarded fleet. This pursues two goals simultaneously: the wagon material, which is no longer needed but historically interesting, is given a new function and at the same time represents a special tourist attraction. One success criterion is the historical assessment of the various and sometimes curious periods of operation of the wagons (e.g. as a sales shop or sausage stand) and the detailed craftsmanship by local craftsmen.

Project implementation and measures

Work package 1: Tourism potential analysis
A touristic target group analysis represents the basic information for the further interior planning of the wagons.

Work package 2: Wagon space planning (and reconstruction in follow-up project 2)
The result of the demand analysis shows the functional differentiation between caravans with self-catering facilities and hotel rooms with service.

Work package 3: Purchase and construction of a testing-draisine for a pilot bicycle-draisine operation in the area of the wagon hotel, in order to offer the guests activities thematically close to railways.