Funding Traunsee Escape

Executive Summary

• The €50k savings contribution solves the numeric equity test. It equals 41.9% of the current €119.4k investment budget, comfortably above the 25% minimum, provided it is documented as permanent equity in Renner Interaktiv GmbH.
• The Target now separates ventilation from temperature control. It carries €17.5k for hall-to-room fresh-air ventilation and €17.5k for five-zone multi-split heating/cooling; both remain unquoted and authority/heat-load dependent.
• A 50/50 spouse split is possible only if both spouses qualify. The current guideline allows one or more qualifying founders to hold the required majority together, but the husband's Airbnb history makes his status uncertain.
• Use wife 51% / husband 49% as the provisional application structure. This is the smallest departure from equality and lets the wife satisfy the majority test alone if OeHT accepts her qualifications, actual management role and future-livelihood plan; 60/40 is a fallback, not a larger grant.
• Keep deployed funding at €200k: €50k equity plus €150k borrowed directly by Renner Interaktiv GmbH. The illustrative split facility preserves €27.5k minimum cash before any grant, but a months 25–36 livelihood bridge is still required.

The couple can share ownership, but the qualifying majority must be robust

The March 2026 guideline now allows one or more qualifying founders to hold more than 50% together. That means 50/50 is not automatically excluded if both spouses pass the founder-history, management, qualification and livelihood tests.

The husband's wholly owned IT company has offered an Airbnb. OeHT's test is economic self-employment in tourism or leisure during the preceding three years, which is broader than simply asking whether a separate tourism trade licence existed. Tourist accommodation can remain an economic activity even when it falls outside the Gewerbeordnung, so this is a real eligibility risk rather than a technicality.

The wife has no current employment, cooking-school education and accounting experience. Those are favorable facts, but she must actually lead a substantial part of Renner Interaktiv GmbH and exercise the company-law and trade-law management. If she owns 51% with ordinary voting rights, her eligibility can stand independently of the husband's Airbnb ruling.

Building services now have two controlled budgets

The former combined HVAC allowance has been replaced by €15kSource for €15kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md–€20kSource for €20kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md net for fresh-air ventilation and CO₂ controls plus €15kSource for €15kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md–€20kSource for €20kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md net for multi-split heating and cooling. The Target uses €17.5kSource for €17.5kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md for each; Base uses €20kSource for €20kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md for each; Downside uses €25kSource for €25kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md for each. This lowers Target capex by €5kSource for €5kSource: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md while making the scope testable against separate contractor quotes.

The air concept is outside → high-window hall supply → acoustically attenuated room transfers → balanced extract outdoors, carrying 700Source for 700Source: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md–800 m³/h for the three core rooms and 1,050Source for 1,050Source: Traunsee Escape heating, cooling and ventilation planFile: docs/07-operations/heating-cooling-and-ventilation.md–1,200 m³/h with the party room. Two multi-split outdoor systems serve five indoor guest-area zones. Neither concept is approved or quoted yet.

Lower leverage plus subsidised debt can preserve the reserve

The operating Target case reaches a €32.3k minimum cash balance before debt service. The comparison keeps deployed funding at €200k and limits initially drawn debt to €150k. The first five rows test a 5.5% ordinary loan; the final row combines the current 1.875% erp founder rate with a smaller 5.5% working-capital tranche.

So what: immediate amortisation still fails the reserve test, while 12 or 24 months of principal grace now passes it. The split erp/working-capital package with 24 months of principal grace leaves about €27.5k minimum cash and €45.7k at month 24. The grant is upside rather than the mechanism needed to survive the trough.

Public support has a realistic €15k–€19k core case

If the young-founder and financing conditions are met, the combined federal and Upper Austrian grant is the main non-repayable prize: roughly €15.0k–€15.9k on the current preliminary eligible-cost base. NeuFöG and small WKO advisory grants could add roughly €1.8k–€3.3k.

If the young-founder route fails, the separate Upper Austrian 5% programme may be worth about €5.0k–€5.3k, but the project's accepted costs sit close to its €100k minimum. Used assets, small invoices and non-activated founder-build costs can push the application below that line. The 5% and 15% tourism grants should be treated as alternatives, not stacked on the same costs.

A €50k / €150k package is the strongest structure to test

Contribute the full €50k as permanent equity in Renner Interaktiv GmbH, then seek €100k–€106k of erp-tourism credit for accepted activated investment and €44k–€50k of working-capital credit, both borrowed directly by Renner Interaktiv GmbH. Both tranches should target 24 months without principal repayment.

The current 2026 erp founder terms are unusually attractive: 1.875% fixed, one or two years without principal repayment, financing up to 100% of accepted investment cost, and a 0.5% drawdown fee. The potential €15k–€15.9k grant is paid after completion accounting and paid invoices, so it should rebuild the reserve or reduce the expensive tranche rather than finance construction.

The application also needs a credible year-three livelihood

The guideline defines a qualifying founder as someone intending eventually to live from the new business and flags businesses that are not full-time or cannot cover the founder's livelihood. Household income from the IT company makes two unpaid years feasible, but it does not replace this test.

At the month-24 Target run-rate, cash EBITDA is €1.7kSource for €1.7kSource: Traunsee Escape 24-month financial modelFile: analysis/escape_house_financial_model.py per month. The illustrative split facility's payment after principal grace is €1.4kSource for €1.4kSource: Traunsee Escape 24-month financial modelFile: analysis/escape_house_financial_model.py per month, leaving only about €0.3kSource for €0.3kSource: Traunsee Escape 24-month financial modelFile: analysis/escape_house_financial_model.py before owner pay, social insurance and income tax. The current 24Source for 24Source: Traunsee Escape 24-month financial modelFile: analysis/escape_house_financial_model.py-month model therefore proves startup liquidity, not yet the qualifying founder's future livelihood.

Recommended next steps

1. Ask OeHT for a written founder pre-check before any order: disclose the IT company and Airbnb facts; ask whether both spouses qualify at 50/50, whether wife 51% / husband 49% qualifies if only she is the young entrepreneur, and whether both may be company directors while she exercises the trade-law role.
2. Ask the bank whether the €200k facility can be partially drawn: target €150k initially, split between €100k–€106k erp investment credit and €44k–€50k working capital, both with 24 months without principal.
3. Add a months 25–36 livelihood bridge: set the wife's target owner pay and prove it after post-grace debt service while preserving the €20k reserve.
4. Draft the company documents only after the pre-check: use a genuine 51/49 voting split without side agreements that neutralise the wife's majority; use 60/40 only if OeHT or counsel wants a wider control margin.
5. Keep grant accounting ring-fenced and do not pre-spend the grant: use eventual proceeds to rebuild the reserve or reduce the expensive tranche.

Further questions

• Is the wife willing to be an actual company-law managing director and the trade-law responsible manager, with a substantial operating role?
• What were the Airbnb's exact operating dates, property setup, services, booking frequency, revenue, tourism-tax treatment and registered business activity?
• What owner pay should the business support from month 25: a cash draw, managing-director remuneration or an employment salary?
• Can the bank's €200k facility be partially drawn, and what are its commitment fee, rate, collateral and grace terms?
• Would the couple keep a genuine 51/49 split through the support retention period if OeHT accepts that structure?

Caveats and assumptions

The spouse-ownership assessment applies the federal guideline in its 31 March 2026 version, but OeHT has not ruled on this family or the Airbnb facts. The WKO accommodation guidance helps show why the activity is risky; it does not decide OeHT's separate economic-self-employment test. Continuing the IT company is not expressly prohibited where it is outside tourism, but the wife-led plan must still be full-time and credibly support her future livelihood.

The 5.5% ordinary rate is a planning sensitivity, not a loan quote. The erp row assumes the current 1.875% founder rate remains available at approval, €106k is accepted, and both facilities allow 24 months without principal. Grant values use a preliminary €100k–€106k accepted-cost range. Equity form, spouse governance, management authority, personal collateral and tax effects require Austrian legal and tax advice.