Tom & Nadine Michelberger

WHAT DO YOU DO, AND HOW DID YOU GET HERE?

We create spaces for people to connect and experience. We host, and we serve others.

We fell in love at first sight when we met in Berlin in 2002. Berlin is a magical place, and the hotel was born in the spirit we found when we arrived. Nadine comes from a farm; I come from a family of craftsmen and entrepreneurs. The desire to be independent and do something of our own was deeply felt.

Berlin was the perfect soil for the adventurous. We had space and time to dream. We dreamt about a space that could serve as a platform for our ideas — and for the ideas of others to ignite. A shared space where everyone did their own thing, while at the same time being together under one roof. Where people came in and out.

When we shared our ideas for such a house, my roommate at the time simply said, “Why don’t you just do a hotel?” It made sense. And the more we thought about what our kind of hotel could be, the more sense it made.

MICHELBERGER BEGAN AS A HOTEL AND HAS GROWN INTO SOMETHING MUCH LARGER THAN ITS WALLS. YOUR UNIVERSE NOW SPANS THE FARM, ORA, COCONUT WATER, THE DISTILLERY, PEOPLE FESTIVAL AND SO MUCH PROGRAMMING IN BETWEEN. DO YOU STILL THINK OF YOURSELVES AS HOTELIERS? WHAT CONNECTS EVERYTHING YOU DO?

We actually never did. I feel more relation to a bricklayer or a musician, or somewhere in between. Nadine probably still feels like a farmer’s daughter.

In the simplest way, everything is connected through Nadine and myself and our life’s journey: our choices, how we grew up, what we care for, what we experience and how we respond to what life brings. Everything, in essence, has a sharing, human and analog focus to it, with the wish and the drive to create.

YOU’VE DESCRIBED SYNTROPY AT THE FARM AS DIFFERENT SPECIES WORKING TOGETHER TO CREATE SOMETHING STRONGER THAN ANY COULD ALONE AND CONNECTED THAT IDEA TO WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN PEOPLE AT THE HOTEL. HAS WORKING WITH THE LAND CHANGED THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT HOSPITALITY?

Hospitality is a complex human ecosystem. Plants are an inspiration. Seeds hit the soil; they deal with what they find, make the best of it, grow toward the sun, share, exchange with others, fight, play and seek balance. A life worth living.

MICHELBERGER HAS BECOME A BERLIN INSTITUTION WITHOUT FEELING INSTITUTIONAL. HOW DO YOU PROTECT SOMETHING FROM HARDENING INTO A FORMULA ONCE PEOPLE ALREADY KNOW AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO?

I like the word institution. Something that is its own thing; something that a lot of people are happy is here, even if they never go there. It’s a sign that we are authentic in what we do, because there has never been a formula to it. It has never been a concept.

I guess it has everything to do with energy. It already feels draining to think about a formula for what makes up what we do, because it would mean stepping outside and taking on an observing role. To us, it feels like a constant movement forward, although we keep working on the same things over and over again. And it still feels like it gets better and better, deeper and deeper, and more meaningful the longer we work on them.

YOU’VE CREATED SOMETHING ENORMOUSLY INFLUENTIAL WITHOUT FOLLOWING THE USUAL TRAJECTORY OF TURNING MICHELBERGER INTO A BIGGER HOSPITALITY BRAND. INSTEAD, YOU SEEM TO HAVE GONE DEEPER: INTO FARMING, FOOD, SPIRITS, MUSIC AND YOUR IMMEDIATE COMMUNITY. HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT SCALE, AND WHAT DOES GROWTH MEAN TO YOU?

Growth is natural. Every plant grows in size as it grows in roots. So the limit is the balance you bring to the ecosystem surrounding you. How does your growth integrate, impact and improve the overall wellbeing of the areas you affect?

If you are solely extracting for the sake of growing, it’s not sustainable and has no value. It’s scaling on autopilot, just because some strange mechanics of capital program it that way. As an entrepreneur, it is key to actively decide on your idea of growth and what fuels it. Does it come from a strength within, or are you pumping it up with external energy and desires?

PEOPLE FESTIVAL RETURNS THIS OCTOBER AFTER EIGHT YEARS. WHY NOW AND WHAT FEELS DIFFERENT ABOUT BRINGING IT BACK IN 2026?

It literally feels like we have a chance to jump timelines. We live in a different world from 2018, and in a lot of ways, things were better back then. We can actively create the world we would like to live in.

PEOPLE has been a dream we made real twice. It is a way forward, something we hear a calling to bring together again. It’s ambitious, it’s crazy; there is a chance for transformation into something better for everyone taking part.

Read our full review of Michelberger Hotel, Michelberger Farm, our reflections on why the hotel’s Hideout rooms are Berlin most thoughtful playgrounds and find tickets to PEOPLE festival.

WHEN SOMETHING DOESN’T EXIST IN QUITE THE WAY YOU IMAGINE IT, YOUR INSTINCT SEEMS TO BE TO MAKE IT YOURSELVES—WHETHER THAT’S A HOTEL, A FARM, A DRINK OR A FESTIVAL. PEOPLE MIGHT BE THE CLEAREST EXPRESSION OF THAT INSTINCT: NO ANNOUNCED LINE-UP, NO HIERARCHY, NO PREDETERMINED PERFORMANCES, JUST THE CONDITIONS FOR SOMETHING NEW TO EMERGE. WHERE DOES THAT IMPULSE TO CREATE YOUR OWN SYSTEMS — AND WORK AGAINST THE GRAIN — COME FROM?

I don’t know. Maybe recognizing patterns, daring to dream, feeling a strong love for everyone, perhaps, and gratitude for the time we are given to create something on this planet. There is no reason to remain stuck in systems that only serve a few. Everything can be thought and done differently.

The problem is that, over centuries, we seem to have been trained into fulfilling our roles in whatever segment of the system we are born into. Ask any entrepreneur who has done one project successfully: all you see are opportunities to make things better and create new things. And the wondrous thing is, it’s not hard. Dare to take that first step.

Maybe it’s like traveling on your own. Those insecurities and fears quickly drop away after a few days because you realize the universe is friendly, that you are supported, that you are not alone—nowhere, wherever you are. Then all you do is travel on your own for a while. And you always know you can go back to that place, or just drop into the unknown. Not for the sake of adventure, but for the joy this freedom holds and creates.

SO MUCH OF HOSPITALITY TODAY IS ABOUT CONTROLLING EVERY DETAIL OF THE GUEST EXPERIENCE. MICHELBERGER HAS ALWAYS SEEMED MORE INTERESTED IN CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN. HOW MUCH DO YOU DESIGN AN EXPERIENCE, AND HOW MUCH DO YOU DELIBERATELY LEAVE OPEN?

The frame needs to be set—to a place where the values, direction and idea are clear. The canvas we leave as wide open as possible, for guests and team equally to take their space and express themselves. You cannot control people, but you can build a frame so that, in good moments, everything falls perfectly into place.

HOSPITALITY HAS BECOME A MUCH BROADER CULTURAL TERRITORY SINCE YOU OPENED MICHELBERGER IN 2009. WHAT DO YOU THINK HOSPITALITY CAN DO TODAY THAT PERHAPS YOU DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU STARTED?

Opening your door to strangers, sharing a meal and providing a bed is at the core of what makes us human.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE A FAVORITE HOTEL IN THE WORLD THAT ISN’T MICHELBERGER, WHICH ONE WOULD IT BE—AND WHY?

We seek that Michelberger in every place we visit: independent, one-off, locally grown and ideally run by a couple or family. Gateways into a unique experience in a foreign place. Destinations on their own.

Areias do Seixo in Portugal and Le Hameau de Saparale in Corsica, to name two of our recent favorites.