Close to people | Stories from Bethel
Her path is a real success story
Nathalie Hoppe enters the Bethel Hotel zum Weinberg with a smile. She is about to start work at the inclusive three-star superior hotel in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. She has been working in housekeeping since October 2023. Having a permanent job makes Nathalie Hoppe happy and proud. For the 26-year-old, her new job is a milestone in her professional and personal development.
Nathalie Hoppe attended a special school and worked in a workshop for disabled people (WfbM). Although she was one of the best-performing employees there, it was doubtful whether she would ever have a job that was subject to social security contributions. A situation that gnawed at her self-confidence. Nathalie Hoppe made several attempts, but at first she did not find a job that she felt was a good fit for her. "It took me a while to find the right path," she says. She found what she was looking for at an integrated workplace at the WfbM in the Bethel Hotel zum Weinberg.
"I liked working in the team here straight away," reports Nathalie Hoppe. Because she fits into this team and does her job well, the management of the Inclusion Hotel offered her a regular 75 per cent position - with the option of increasing this to 100 per cent in the future. She accepted and is now rightly proud of her remarkable and exemplary development. Thanks to her tenacity and the support of the people who accompany her, the young woman is able to stand on her own two feet despite her cognitive impairment. It also has a very positive effect on her self-esteem to bear responsibility and be a fully-fledged member of the 22-strong hotel team. Her journey is a real success story, as less than one per cent of the around 320,000 people who work in sheltered workshops across Germany make the leap into the primary labour market every year. "Nathalie showed us right from the start that she is motivated and enjoys the work, which is not always easy, and working in a team," emphasises Franz-Josef Pelzer, Inclusion Manager at the hotel. "Her performance was and is the convincing argument for hiring her."
"I'm happy here."
To make developments like Nathalie Hoppe's possible, inclusive businesses like the Bethel Hotel zum Weinberg are needed. Here, 50 per cent of employees are people with disabilities. Opened in 2022, the hotel is now also a training centre. Johanna Gies and Florian Klammer, who have been learning the profession of "catering specialist" since 1 August 2023, are the hotel's first trainees. Accompanied by Franz-Josef Pelzer and the other employees, they will spend two years working in all areas of the hotel, such as housekeeping, kitchen/service and reception.
Nathalie Hoppe makes the beds, cleans the bathrooms and carries out many other housekeeping tasks. In this way, she ensures that guests feel at home in the hotel. She feels the same way herself, she says: "I'm happy here."
Text: Philipp Kreutzer | Photos: Matthias Cremer
This story simply told
Nathalie Hoppe attended a special school. She then worked in a workshop for disabled people. She now has a job at the Bethel Hotel zum Weinberg in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. There she makes the beds and cleans the bathrooms. She is happy and proud. Nathalie Hoppe feels very much at home among her colleagues.
Would you like to find out more?
Bethel Hotel zum Weinberg
Hauptstraße 62
53474 Bad Neuenahr- Ahrweiler
The hotel is:
Inclusive: 50 per cent of employees are people with disabilities. This makes it a hotel with a special profile in the region.
Hospitable: Our hotel team works together to ensure that all guests feel at home here.
Barrier-free: For our guests as well as our employees.
