Ante Zelck

Ante Zelck (born December 23, 1963 in Celle , Lower Saxony , actually Andreas) is a German entrepreneur and hostel pioneer .

Life

Ante Zelck grew up in Celle . There he completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith after finishing secondary school. In 1988 he went to Berlin and made up his Abitur on a second educational path. During this time he lived in various squats in Berlin-Mitte and Kreuzberg . He then studied social pedagogy at the 1st State Technical School for Social Pedagogy in Berlin and graduated in 1996.

Zelck is the father of one child.

After graduating, he worked as a social worker in the youth welfare facility Waschhaus and as a street worker for the outreach project in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg .

While still a student in 1994, he opened Berlin's first hostel. It was called The Backpacker and was on the fourth floor of Köthener Straße 44 in Berlin-Kreuzberg .

In May 1997 he and his business partner Olaf Juhl opened the Mittes Backpackers Hostel (now Ballhaus Berlin Hostel ) at Chausseestrasse 102 in Berlin-Mitte and gave up his job as a social worker to devote himself entirely to the hostel. In 2000 the two opened the first hostel in Berlin-Kreuzberg, the baxpax Kreuzberg Hostel. In 2006, Zelck and Juhl opened their third hotel, the baxpax downtown Hostel Hotel, at 28 Ziegelstrasse. The bar Cosmo-Lounge and the Optica-Club are also located there. All three houses as well as the lounge and club are still operated by the two of them today.

Art and hostel culture

From the beginning, Zelck pursued the idea of ​​giving the hostels an artistic direction and thus created the first Design and Art hostel concept. He consistently implemented this for the first time in 2011 with the complete renovation of the "baxpax Mitte Hostel". Since then, this has officially been known as an Art-Hostel.

Time and again, Zelck brought art to his hostels. In 2006 he had a VW Beetle converted into a hostel bed. In the same year he set up what he claims to be the largest hostel bed in Germany in the courtyard of the baxpax downtown hostel hotel with a length of over 5 meters. A five-meter tall superman statue that is upside down in the ground was also a guest at the baxpax downtown Hostel Hotel in 2007 . All hostels are regularly used as venues for exhibitions, art and cultural events.

criticism

With his provocative advertising campaigns, Zelck drew the resentment of the Berlin hostel industry several times. In 1998, for example, he had postcards made showing the Park Inn Hotel with the inscription "baxpax Hostels Hotels". The card was titled “Only those who have visions will grow.” That is why various quarters accused him of megalomania.

In the years 2010/11, Zelck repeatedly interfered in the discussion about the tourist flows in Berlin-Kreuzberg . He gave interviews and always defended the individual tourists. As a result, he drew the resentment of the local residents.

literature

• Ante Zelck is considered to be the hostel pioneer in Berlin . In: Berliner Morgenpost , May 28, 2009

Web links

• baxpax.de
• Berlin's hostel pioneer Zelck focuses on individuality . World-online

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The smell of coffee and lounge music. Mittes Backpacker: The first Berlin hostel is 15 years old . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 10, 2009.
2. ↑ Commercial Register Berlin: 76450 Managing Director Baccos GmbH A. Zelck & O. Juhl.
3. ↑ Corporate website of baxpax Hostels Hotels ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ What did you think, Mr. Zelck? In: Der Spiegel . No. 23 , 2001 ( online ).
5. ↑ Jacky Asadolahzadeh: Sleep and dance. When the backpackers check out on Sundays in Berlin's first club hostel, the party guests arrive . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 20, 2006.
6. ↑ Video Kreuzberg mobilizes against tourists  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on January 25, 2014. (offline)
7. ↑ Report at Spiegel-TV Magazin Video on Spiegel Online