From luxury hotels to thermal spas and exclusive clinics, you design one high-profile building after another, while also developing groundbreaking products and receiving a steady stream of awards. What are you currently working on?
We are currently realizing buildings on Lake Chiemsee, Lake Starnberg and Lake Tegernsee. All of these projects focus on physical and mental health - fasting, simple, healthy nutrition and self-discovery are the focal points. The patient becomes the guest.

The pandemic has also had a major impact on the hotel and tourism sector. What are the biggest changes you have noticed?
The winner is health tourism. Conscious design is now replacing one-sided eco and sustainability concepts. Currently, it is about a mix of hygiene and beauty, function and cleanliness, High-tech and sensitivity.

What does that mean in concrete terms?
This means, for example, touch-free, modular furniture and thermal scanners. Infrastructures must be flexible and suitable for seniors- as well as for rehabilitation. For me, post-Corona also means goodbye greenwashing, goodbye conference hotels; goodbye breakfast and dining rooms. I see it as my task to make a simpler, better, healthier life possible, in all price categories.

Capri is one of Matteo Thun's all-time favorite places. © TravelGuide

Where do you personally prefer to travel to?
The most beautiful weekend strolls are those in Venice: aimlessly from one church to the next, that's what I love; from Tintoretto to Veronese. Even more beautiful is only a sunrise on Monte Solaro on Capri.

One trip in particular that stuck in your mind?
During Easter 20 years ago, we made a trip to the Skeleton Coast in Namibia and flew over the beautiful hinterland in a single-engine plane. The climate-conscious life of the African Himba people fascinates me to this day.

Unique: the shipwrecks on the Skeleton Coast in Namibia. © Andrew SVK

Text: Marion Genetti