Thoughts from HUBERTUS Host Karl Traubel

THE TOOTH OF TIME
It’s true—our HUBERTUS is truly an extraordinary place. It has evolved over many decades, transforming from a small mountain inn into what it is today. It’s a building with nooks and crannies, featuring floors that are sometimes uneven and crooked, with steps, varying ceiling heights, and different levels.

God knows, this isn’t a hotel that was designed on a drawing board. Every now and then, when I take interested hotel guests on my weekly tour of the hotel, I tell them about its beginnings and how it’s evolved into what it is today. I feel a connection to every nook and cranny, every room and every parlor; I hear voices and feel the emotions within me that they evoke, as they tell me their stories.

Why am I writing this to you? Why, indeed? Because time and again, on the relevant review platforms, I’m confronted with the idea that something needs to be improved simply because it falls outside the “norm.” Our senses are constantly conditioned to rate things—from good to mediocre to bad. From beautiful to “wüscht” (a dialect word from the Allgäu/Bregenzerwald region meaning “unsightly”). In the culinary realm, from excellent to “not my taste”! And so on.

A building where, day in and day out, many guests come and go—this constant foot traffic leaves its “marks” in every nook and cranny: Our staff always works diligently to keep everything spotless and well-maintained. However, the ravages of time take their toll—even on me, when I look at my gray hair. Take, for example, the two sinks in our public restrooms. Every day, I can see that they’re no longer “the youngest.” This is also due to the material they’re made of. Wood, as we know, begins to darken over the years, and in a public sink that’s in constant use, does it become darker and less attractive? For me, this is fine, but for some, it’s a source of contention: “That needs to be replaced…” It still serves its purpose; it “merely” shows signs of age. The same is true for us humans in our various roles—as hosts, guests, or coworkers. I’ve been friends with many of them for countless years and decades, and the “ravages of time” are taking their toll on them, just as they are on me. Does that mean we, too, should be replaced, discarded, or beautified? Vast sums are invested in cosmetic procedures and medical treatments in pursuit of the ideal of eternal beauty. Nevertheless, we are and remain mortal beings. A regular guest, a doctor by profession, once told me during a lecture here: “In principle, we’re just perishable goods worth only a few euros…”

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
That’s how it will be here at our house, too—beauty lies solely in the eye of the beholder. Originally, I wanted to present a comparison here in pictures—a highly cultivated, modern apple versus an apple from a mixed orchard that doesn’t conform to the norm.

Well, you see what one of these looks like every day in the displays at grocery stores—it loses its special appeal, doesn't it?

I hope you have a wonderful summer and enjoy yourselves!
Yours, Karl Traubel