The refugee crisis has dominated the headlines for months now. Europe is currently being overrun by people fleeing war and desperate circumstances in hopes of a better life. But they are not always welcome.

Many locals resent their presence. Most refugees struggle to gain a foothold in their new homelands after being granted refugee status – whether because they don’t speak the local language well enough, because their qualifications are not recognised, or because the terrors they have suffered have left them deeply traumatized. Refugees with few marketable skills find it especially hard to enter the job market in Europe. Overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, many European countries have no idea what to do with these new arrivals and, for lack of a better plan, simply entrust them to the social system without providing any opportunities for efficient integration. 

For a few months now, a model project has been underway designed to provide jobs for poorly qualified refugees in Austria. A hotel run almost exclusively by refugees opened its doors in the centre of Vienna this past February. This completely unique concept has drawn quite a lot of attention from the media. 

The Magdas Hotel is operated by the Magdas Society, part of the Caritas Archdiocese Vienna. The association runs a number of social business in the city that serve disadvantaged Austrians – the handicapped, long-term unemployed, or people recently released from prison. 

A hotel run almost exclusively by refugees opened its doors in Vienna this February. 

The hotel is the only project specifically designed to serve refugees. It targets those who so often get the short end of the stick: people with few or no qualifications. They learn all there is to know about a hotel from the ground floor up: the reception, the kitchen and the laundry. The hotel’s goal is not just to help refugees put a roof over their heads and food on the table; it also seeks to provide marketable skills.

Overcoming all the obstacles
Any project that works with refugees is bound to run into resentment and opposition. Hotel employees live scattered throughout over Vienna, but the building complex also houses 25 young refugees. Caritas cares for these unaccompanied minors, children who arrived in Austria without a parent or sibling. Perhaps surprisingly, agitation against these children did not come from local residents, as is happening in parts of Germany, but from the ranks of politicians. The nationalist, conservative and at times populist party, the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) submitted a request to the Vienna District Council asking that the youths be investigated to determine whether they were intimately involved with the drug scene, creating a drug trafficking hotspot, raising the level of criminality and organising gangs. The Magdas responded to these accusations by organizing informational events. They talked to local residents, explaining that the hotel only accepted refugees who had already been granted asylum, that there was no danger of the young people being drawn into a life of crime, and that some would be given jobs at the hotel to offer them a chance to improve their marketable skills. This counter-campaign was successful, and pulled the rug out from under the FPÖ’s attempts to whip up resentment among local residents. 

Overall things are going rather well for the hotel. It were 64% booked in August, which is quite impressive. A lot of guests have come to satisfy their curiosity, to get to know the project and support it by booking a room. The price is also very attractive, particularly for young people. It’s hard to find reasonable accommodations in the heart of Vienna. 

Sebastiaan attributes the hotel’s popularity to the concept behind the Magdas: “We have come up with a solution to an existing problem and taken a unique approach – on an international level. The media hype is still overwhelming. We recently had a visit from the BBC and Al Jazeera. There seems to be very widespread need for new approaches and ways of dealing with the refugee crisis.”