How does it feel to be a Pioneer of Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry, Stephan Bode?

We met Stephan Bode, owner of the SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA, shortly after he presented his interior design concept in a competition. He says he is pleased with himself this time, laughing, and adds that this is really rare. There is always room for improvement.

This creed also determines how he has developed the wellness and conference hotel SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA into one of the most sustainable hotels in Germany over the past decade. Continuous development is a fundamental principle. We talked to him about the new Circular Living room concept, which has won Bode and his team numerous awards in recent months. But it is not only the awards that the hotelier and mastermind behind Circular Living is proud of.

Green Pearls®: Hi Stephan! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today! You have been on a kind of „award tour” and have won quite a few awards with the Circular Living Concept. But before we get into that, I’d like to know: which of the new rooms would you choose to live in?

Stephan: *laughs* AI think they’re all great. But I have two favorites: the Waldklangroom, which smells like a forest thanks to the real moss elements and bark. And the Freigeist rooms. They have so much space, a free-floating canopy bed, and just the energy that comes from the three-foot-tall „Flower of Life” on the wall creates a really unique atmosphere. It’s just a very open, clear design that lets your spirit breathe. If I were a guest, I would probably always book these two rooms in sequence.

The third room design, Falkenstein, is just as beautiful but in a different way. You have two walls where the plaster makes you feel like you could climb them like a boulder. They represent the real Falkenstein rock in Bad Herrenalb, a place of power and a landmark of the region.

Green Pearls®: How are guests responding to the new room concept? Do they share your excitement?

Stephan: Very good! The guests feel directly how the elemental forces inspire them and know through our communication channels that there is a literal future in the rooms. We’re also seeing their excitement in the added value that we’re selling the rooms for. If we can keep this up, the new rooms will have paid for themselves in four to five years.

Green Pearls®: How did you come up with the idea for each topic?

Stephan: The inspiration came relatively quickly. The main goal was to make the Black Forest tangible without making it a typical “rustic-style” Black Forest room. Instead, it isthe real forest now.

Then regionality came into play: The Falkenstein rocks are inseparable from Bad Herrenalb. Freigeist simply stands for one’s peace, one’s actions, and also my personal philosophy. The quote from Gandhi „Be the change you want to see in the world”, which hangs in the room, is something like my motto. That’s how I live my life and that’s how I run my company.

Circular Economy and its Challenges

Green Pearls®: The concept of “Circular Living” is based on the idea of a circular economy. This is already a term in sustainability circles but implementing it in reality and in full is often another story. What inspired you to turn the renovation of the space into a circular economy project?

Stephan: Sustainability has been a heartfelt concern for me since 2005. At that time, I transformed the 307-bed hotel where I worked into a 100% organic hotel. That was truly pioneering work. As a result, I developed a consistent environmental awareness. And if you look at the two highest quality organic associations, Demeter and Bioland, you quickly realize that their farmers already think and act in closed cycles to a large extent.

In 2008, I met Professor Braungart. He is one of the founders of the cradle-to-cradle design concept. Something I will never forget: How he was already wearing sneakers at that time, of which he said that their individual parts could be returned to the cycle once the sneaker was worn out.

I have internalized this circular thinking over the past decades. When I asked myself if and how I wanted to renovate my rooms, I couldn’t just give up this mentality.

«I have internalized this circular thinking over the last few decades.»

Green Pearls®: When you develop something new, you automatically encounter resistance from people and practical hurdles. What was the biggest challenge for you in developing the Circular Living Rooms?

Stephan: I’ll start with the biggest relief, at least for me. I would go from booth to booth at different trade fairs in our industry, where hotel outfitters and furnishers are specifically represented, and ask whether they offer Cradle to Cradle. And 99.9 percent of them didn’t even know what it was. That helped me a lot. Normally you’re on the road for 9 hours, your feet are burning and you don’t feel like you’ve achieved anything worthwhile. My trade fair visits only lasted 1 hour and in the end, I knew that nobody had anything to show. Not having to choose between numerous providers and similar offers, as is usually the case, opened up a whole new perspective on how to approach things.