Lifts in the castle

A superior 5-star luxury hotel demands perfection for its guests, even in lifts. Schloss Elmau – Luxury Spa & Cultural Hideaway is one of Germany’s noblest hotels, its name internationally well established.

So naturally, when it comes to expansion, the second house, Schloss Elmau Retreat – Luxury Suites & Spa clearly mirrors the main house’s integrity, including superb lifts – with products emerging from Schaefer GmbH, Sigmaringen.

Enchanting Alpine scenery

Built in 1914, today Schloss Elmau is among the best German hotels, an illustrious "Leading Hotels of the World” aristocrat. The superior 5-star luxury hotel encompasses two resorts, Schloss Elmau – Luxury Spa & Cultural Hideaway and Schloss Elmau Retreat – Luxury Suites & Spa, located 150 meters westward. The hideaway and retreat offer guests enchanting Alpine scenery 100 km south of Munich and 20 km southeast of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Nestled between Wamberg and the Wetterstein wall at 1,000 meters, hotel guests have an incomparable view of the Wetterstein Mountains. As early as the late fifties, the hotel was a catchword among musicians, artists, politicians and scientists, including none other than the German humourist Loriot, who often visited Schloss Elmau, writing many of his sketches there. In 2015, Schloss Elmau made political headlines as host of the G7 Summit, accommodating country and government leaders from the USA, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada, Japan and Germany.

Completely reconstructed and refurbished

In 2005, a fire destroyed two thirds of the rooms in the heritage-protected edifice. Subsequently, the proprietor, Dietmar Müller-Elmau, decided to completely reconstruct and refurbish the entire hotel. Thus, Schloss Elmau – Luxury Spa & Cultural Hideaway was born. After 14 months of construction, the hotel opening was quickly followed by international acclaim as one of the best wellness and vacation hotels in the world.

As restoration had reduced the number of rooms, Müller-Elmau decided to build an additional facility 150 meters further west. Spring 2015 saw the completion of Schloss Elmau Retreat – Luxury Suites & Spa, perfectly timed to welcome the G7 Summit in June of the same year.

Schaefer Products in Schloss Elmau

Thanks to their three mirrored walls, the four lifts which transport guests between the six floors of the hotel have a spacious, bright and friendly appearance. The premium material used for the impressive door frame as well as the floor tiles can also be found inside the lift car and harmonizes perfectly with the interior. Just like the brass-coloured luminaires at the entrance do with the TiN-coated faceplates of the landing and car fixtures.

Having classy but at the same time modern and functional lifts was the aim. Thanks to the flexible Lift Information System (LIS) from Schaefer, almost no conventional buttons needed to be employed. LIS is a multi-functional, audio-visual communication and guidance system, especially configured to fulfil the demands for the rough environment of lifts.

Vicinity of the resort

The system made up from high-quality industrial components is designed for permanent operation and as such endures vibrations or hard shocks like e. g. during brake tests without damage. Floor selection is realized via a 24” touch screen offering enough space for detailed floor information. Furthermore, a presentation of large-format photos of the hotel and the vicinity of the resort visualizes the unique place to guests. So even during rainy days or when arriving after sunset, the visitor can still enjoy the beauty of the site.

For position indication and the presentation of lift data a separate 7” TFT display (TFT 800 H) was placed on top of the Lift Information System screen. This display also shows additional floor-related photos. For the functions door open, door close and as emergency call button conventional buttons type RT 42 from SCHAEFER are employed. These can also be found, in combination with luminous arrows, in the landing fixtures – of course also in brass-coloured finish.

www.ws-schaefer.de