Entering the lobby of Magdas Hotel around midday, the scene is one familiar from countless trendy hotels around Vienna — the cool-yet-cozy décor and quiet music in the background, locals on lunch break slowly filling the restaurant, a gaggle of tourists checking in at the reception desk, taking in their new environment with jet-lagged excitement. A neon sign behind the reception reminds them to “stay open-minded.”

Most guests come to Magdas looking for nothing more than the good service, comfortable rooms and central location promised by online reviews. “With time they might notice that many of us working here aren’t Austrian, that many cultures are represented, and they ask what’s going on here,” says Ziad Rabeh, the head receptionist. “And then we tell them our story.”

Ten years in, Magdas has integrated over 100 refugees into the job market. It currently employs 43 people from all over the world, with around 20 languages spoken on the team. Magdas’s success offers proof that a social business doesn’t have to sacrifice its bottom line. In autumn 2022 the hotel moved from the former retirement home on the edge of Prater Park to a new central location, this one a former priest’s residence that was thoroughly renovated with an eye towards circularity and sustainability. Meanwhile, the original location will be renovated to a high environmental standard and reopened as a second Magdas Hotel in 2027, providing 42 additional training and employment opportunities.

This success and growth gives the social effort at its core an additional aura of legitimacy — there’s no question that it’s a sound business model. “Social entrepreneurs are perceived as more legitimate because they are so close to the market, especially in job market integration,” says Vandor.