The Magdas Hotel in Vienna offers jobs and training to multilingual former asylum seekers – while making a political statement about the plight of refugees in Europe
Suitcases are artfully arranged in the hotel entrance hall … and a striking campaign poster opposite the check-in desk urges an end to migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. Receptionist Dinis knows a bit about the journey. While “not in a small boat like those coming recently”, the 29-year-old from Guinea-Bissau tells me he also came to Europe smuggled aboard a ship.
A teenage activist who exposed corruption, Dinis fled his home and is now among a team of multilingual former asylum seekers staffing the Magdas Hotel in Vienna. This former retirement home was turned into a boutique hotel with €1.5m loan from the charity Caritas and €60,000 raised through crowdfunding. With individual design touches in each of its 78 rooms, its retro style, including knitted lampshades and sassy murals, have been charming guests since it opened near the city’s Prater park in February.
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