Bethel - The housekeeper at the Bethel-Hotel Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

She has just been talking to tradesmen in the lobby. Now Jana Seifert is carrying chairs that have just been delivered into the building. And she will soon be available to the photographer for portraits for this story. The housekeeper at the Bethel Hotel zum Weinberg in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler has many tasks on this working day shortly before the hotel opens at the beginning of February 2022 - and she does them all with a smile on her face. Of course, if you work in service like her, a friendly demeanour is a professional must. But anyone who gets to know Jana Seifert quickly realises that she really is like that.

There are other explanations for her positive charisma besides her cheerful nature. For example, her successful job change. After 29 years at a renowned hotel chain in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, the now 46-year-old mother of two grown-up children wanted to try something new professionally. She found out about Bethel's plans to open an inclusive hotel in the Rhineland-Palatinate town from the Protestant parish in which she is active as a presbyter. "I started by googling," she recalls: "What is Bethel? And what is an inclusion hotel?"

The answers convinced Jana Seifert. "Bethel's church connection is very important to me," she emphasises, "because I'm very religious." She also likes the concept of an inclusive home. "It allows me to combine my church and social commitment with my job," she says: "I like helping, listening and accompanying people. And I have no fear of contact with people with disabilities." Around 40 per cent of the hotel's staff are employees with disabilities.

As a housekeeper, who is responsible for the hygiene and cleanliness of the hotel and the cleaning staff, there was initially nothing for Jana Seifert to do when she started at the beginning of August 2021. The building was still under construction at the time and Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler had been devastated by flooding shortly beforehand. The hotel was spared and served as a supply point for flood victims. Jana Seifert lent a hand in her first few weeks of work there and in the coffee and laundry tents in front of the hotel. And in the church community too.