On a typical day in December, travelers arrive at the Smartl, one of the larger hotels in Ahaus, a town of 40,000 people in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Guests pull their suitcases, mobile phones in hand, ready to scan the QR code on the terminal screen at the entrance.
Arriving guests are not greeted by a receptionist, but must use their smartphones to navigate the hotel. These devices not only open the door, but also control the heating and lighting in the room since there is no switch.
Cleaning robots make quiet noises in the hallways and lobby. The only humans you encounter from time to time are the kitchen staff replenishing the breakfast buffet.
Peter Sommer said the Smartel was formerly known as Rathotel Residenz and was once the largest hotel in town. Smart City Ahaus travel guide Sommer says the building’s glorious past ended in the early 2000s.
After struggling to find a new owner, the Ahaus-based digitalization company Torvit modernized the building in 2017, equipping 44 rooms with the latest smart home technology developed by one of its subsidiaries, Chains. The decision was made to turn the hotel’s fortunes around.
The “smartest city” is full of QR codes
One thing that stands out in this medium-sized German town is the abundance of circular blue and white stickers with QR codes attached to almost everything. These bikes with the Chayns logo can be found on restaurant tables, hotel doors, and riverboats, as well as bike rentals, supermarket shelves, and even game racks at town parks. These offer an easy way to digitally reserve, pay and unlock many amenities.
At the end of 2024, Ahaus was named Germany’s smartest municipality in the nationwide “Digital Place 2024” competition organized by the Deutschland — Land der Ideen (Germany — Land of Ideas) initiative.
The government-sponsored campaign aims to raise Germany’s international profile as a center of ideas and innovation and is supported by business and civil society.
Award-winning Ahaus was recognized for integrating multiple applications into one platform and providing easy access to apps that require one-time registration of contact and banking data.
Digitization halts Germany’s urban decline
For Margarete, a caregiver from nearby Velen, her experience at Ahaus offers a glimpse of what the future holds for her hometown. She is on our guided tour and laments that she can no longer even find a local supermarket in Velen. If she wants to go out for dinner, she has to make a reservation a few days in advance.
Many small towns in Germany are suffering from so-called urban decline due to population decline, economic stagnation and lack of investment. Small stores and movie theaters are disappearing, while hospitality businesses are struggling to retain staff and customers. Can major investments in digitalization stop the silent death of these communities?
At Ahaus, for example, finding enough people to work at tourist attractions is no longer a problem. With the boat rental service near the town’s baroque water castle, humans are no longer needed.
Bikes and umbrellas can also be rented digitally, as can meals at the local TKWY diner. There, a video screen shows who will be next to pick up their food after ordering on the Chayns app.
Margarete says she feels this is “a little impersonal” and misses casual conversations with waiters. “But it’s efficient,” counters tour guide Peter, insisting that the staff can concentrate on cooking. Knowledge of German is also “not important”, he claims, since food can be ordered in different languages.
Cashless and conflict-free
At Ahaus bars and pubs, bartenders and waiters only serve what guests prepay online, minimizing staffing needs and eliminating disputes over bills and age verification. Your data is stored in your Chayns account.
Tobit said nearly 80% of all Ahaus hospitality businesses use the Chayns app, and the service has grown to include farmers, sports clubs and other service providers. They use Tobit’s digital network to sell their products and provide cashless access to their facilities 24 hours a day.
At the pub, called The Unbrexit, waiter Sven Krakowski still brings drinks and food to your table. But you no longer need to accept orders, process payments, or contact customers to find out what else they need. With 10 tables to manage, he says he saves time equivalent to an entire shift’s workload. Additionally, he only works four days a week and still receives a week’s wages.
The nearby Wall Street Bar is one of the previously vacant properties in Ahaus that Tobit purchased to test the technology. Inside the bar, stock market tickers scroll continuously on a giant screen.
Customers can invest in stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and commodities while sipping a drink. But this is just a virtual reality game without real money, so this offer is just for fun.
“We can test new technology and make it available to other cities,” Sommer said.
Local currency for storing money in the city
Benedikt Homle, head of Ahaus Marketing & Tourism, believes that cooperation between the municipality and its residents makes it easier for technology companies like Tobit to pilot beta-stage projects in the town. . “We embrace the living lab concept. We are the guinea pigs, but in return we have something here that others don’t have,” he told DW.
One frequently replicated digital concept is the so-called city voucher, a regional digital currency that has been imitated in more than 70 municipalities, according to Torbit.
At Ahaus, vouchers are used as welcome gifts to new residents and weekly online quiz winners. Employers can also use city vouchers to distribute monthly subsidies to workers. It is also popular as a gift or pocket money.
However, the money can only be spent within the town and must be spent within the deadline. “You can use it to buy dog food, bread rolls and new tires,” Homle said, adding that there are now 800,000 euros (about $816,000) worth of vouchers in circulation each year.
Ahaus is a popular town for Dutch tourists as it is located near the German-Dutch border. At the end of our tour, Peter Sommer recalls a recent visit by the mayors of 10 Dutch towns and cities, which are known to be more tolerant of all things digital than Germany.
Sommer says that for Germans, Ahaus feels like pure science fiction. The Dutch visitors said only that it was “not bad for Germany.”
