The Deimann five-star hotel complex entrusts its laundry to efficient Miele technology

With the refurbishment of his laundry around a year ago, hotelier Theo Deimann killed several birds with one stone. Now, all the laundry in the five-star hotel complex in Schmallenberg in Germany's Sauerland region is fresh and clean within 24 hours – including around 1000 Turkish towels produced daily by pool and spa. At the same time, energy costs were more than halved within five years.

The laundry is an important part of the hotel's logistics operations. Maria Mertens is a regular employee here, supported by colleagues who join her in the mornings for room cleaning work. Housekeeping staff loads washer-extractors and tumble dryers and help along at the flatwork ironer. A working day lasts from 7h00 until 23h00, when the night porter stands in. The towelling from the previous day is finished by early morning.

Mutual help and cooperation has a long tradition at the 200-bed hotel now run in the third generation by the senior manager. Black-and-white photos on the walls recount the many extensions and refurbishments since its inauguration in 1917. The 3700 m² pool and wellness area alone is unrivalled far and wide. Yet still, the hotel is a family-run business where many of the 160 staff know each other and stand in for each other when there's a bottleneck.

'That's the way I got to know the ropes', says Deimann, who bought his mother her first commercial washing machine back in the Sixties – a Miele of course. 'I, too, have been working with machines from Miele Professional for 27 years', Maria Mertens chimes in. Today, there are two washing machines, each with a capacity of 24 kg and one each for loads of 30, 20 and 8 kg, complemented by three tumble dryers with load capacities of 40 kg. The flatwork ironer, which is in operation the entire day at least twice a week, is capable of ironing up to 115 kg of laundry per hour.

The new premises for the laundry were planned by Miele Professional and Horst Plag and his plumbing and kitchen technology company in Schwalmstadt and geared to the machines installed, including liquid dispensing, connection to a peak-load management system and gas and power utilities. All this is part of Theo Deimann's plans to cut his energy costs. 'Five years ago, energy costs amounted to almost 7% of overall turnover', he recollects. The objective he set himself at the time has now been achieved. 'We aimed to halve costs and have now been brought down to less than 3% of turnover'.

This has been achieved for example using two combined heat and power plants which together produce more than 1.1 m kWh of heat and 800,000 kWh of electricity annually. The pre-heated water is used for the pool and for the electrically heated washer-extractors. As tumble drying and ironing is particularly power-hungry, these are run much more cheaply on gas. 'So we wash our entire laundry weighing around 7 tonnes a week incredibly cheaply', says Theo Deimann. Maria Mertens adds: 'From down-filled pillows and duvets to kitchen laundry and curtains.'

Contracting out the laundry has never been a serious consideration. Nothing can compete with an on-premise laundry when it comes to quality, says Deimann: 'Our towels have bounce and a pleasant fragrance. Serviettes remain soft to the touch as we use starch sparingly. Just right for wiping your mouth after a good meal'. Faced with having to process the quantities his hotel needs, outsourcing would pose serious logistical problems. 'Yesterday alone, we ironed 2000 serviettes and 250 bed sheets, together weighing around 500 kg. How is it supposed to work if you have to wait for deliveries from an outside laundry over Christmas or Easter?' It would simply mean having an inventory of replacement laundry and building an extension to house it!

But, that said, there will be no lack of construction projects at the Hotel Deimann in future. But the senior manager prefers to invest in ideas which guests remember and cherish.

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Company profile: Miele is the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floor care products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washer-extractors and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The Miele company, founded in 1899, has 8 production plants in Germany as well as one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. 2014/15 turnover amounted to approx. EUR 3.5 bn with sales outside Germany accounting for around 70%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. The Miele company, now in the fourth generation of family ownership, employs a workforce of around 17,740, 10,350 thereof in Germany. The company headquarters are located in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.