Norbert Freudenstein

"I could perhaps have enjoyed life even more. I was always too thrifty and actually always put all my money and all my energy into the business - including, of course, my children and my family.

On the other hand, I was satisfied. Why then buy fat cars or other things that give me nothing. So on the whole, I have already done a lot right and would not really do anything differently.

I've always said to my friends that yes, it's kind of in the family name: do everything with joy and capture it in stone!"

"We have really had a lot of fun with guests. Especially at the wine festivals. For example, guests came from North Rhine-Westphalia, where people normally drink beer rather than wine. And then they thought they could let the wine run down like beer. I still remember a lady wandering around in her panties in the hallway late at night and probably couldn't find her room.

I asked: 'Do you live in our house? She: 'I don't know'. When I found out her last name, I also found out her room number. I told her: 'I'll take you to the door of your room. Are you alone in the room'. She said, 'No, no, my Anton is there too.' So far so good.

Halfway there, she turned to me and asked who I was. Then she 'remembered': 'Oh, I'm on a ship'. Not wanting to confuse her further, I said, 'That's right, and I'm the captain. I'll take her to your bunk now.'

And then I took her to her room. Her Anton was lying in bed stark naked and drunk as a skunk and she said: 'Yes, there's my Anton'. I wished her a good night and said goodbye. The next morning I asked her if she was well again. But she didn't know anything, of course."

"I had a grandma Pauline. At some point I said to her, 'If I ever go into business for myself, your living room will come to my restaurant.' At that time she still said, 'You've got a bird.' When we opened the Immenhof, I had this living room built in.

We built a roof over it, where we let water run over it. That provided a cooling effect and the guests told others about it. Later, I added the sounds of rain and thunderstorms. It was something very special for me.

Today, a few pieces of this living room are still in the hotel, for example, one of the cabinets stands in the entrance area. Many of our regular guests still remember the water roof."

"The lived closeness to the guest has also often opened hearts. There have already been a few stories from guests that really got to me. They were about failed existences and sad fates. Sometimes I had to nibble on them for a few days. That's part of being a host. But in the end, the positive things always outweighed them."

"When problems arise, that you talk about them sensibly. My wife and I have been married since 1977. And when you run a hotel together, you're together 24 hours a day. You have to be able to talk to each other. Especially when the differences have nothing to do with private matters. But we have very good family cohesion. At the end of the day, everyone is there for everyone else. As the owner, by the way, that also includes recognizing at some point that it's the next generation's turn."

"It's generally nice. We enjoy a lot of time on our boat and often sail up and down the Rhine. And of course there are our 7 grandchildren. That's unique, to do things with them, to show them things - for example, the witch's cottage in the Palatinate Forest - and to tell them stories. We enjoy that tremendously."

"I think we were quite a good role model. For example, they learned that the hotel business is not just work, but that it's also really fun. Today, my children simply put a lot of heart and soul into the business. But what I find most amazing is that they always take a lot of time for the family. That makes us very proud."