On a typical day in December, visitors arrive at Smartel, one of the bigger hotels in Ahaus, a town of 40,000 inhabitants in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Pulling their rolling suitcases and with mobile phones in hand, guests are ready to scan a QR code on a terminal screen at the entrance.

Rather than being greeted by a receptionist, arriving guests must use their smartphones to navigate the hotel. These devices not only open doors but also control room heating and lighting as there are no switches.

In the hallway and lobby, cleaning robots are quietly humming. The only humans you may occasionally encounter are the kitchen staff replenishing the breakfast buffet.

Peter Sommer explains that the Smartel was formerly named the Ratshotel Residenz, which used to be the largest hotel in town. Sommer, a travel guide from Smart City Ahaus, says the building's glorious past came to an end in the early 2000s.

After struggling to find a new owner, Ahaus-based digitization company Tobit decided in 2017 to turn the hotel's fortunes around by modernizing the building and equipping its 44 rooms with the latest smart-home technology that one of its subsidiaries, Chayns, develops.

QR-Codes galore in the 'smartest town'

What's striking in this medium-sized German town is the huge number of blue-and-white circular stickers with QR codes attached to virtually everything. Bearing the Chayns logo, they can be found on restaurant tables, hotel doors and riverboats, as well as rent-out bicycles, supermarket shelves, and even on the games cabinet in the town park. They provide an easy way to digitally book, pay for and unlock many amenities.

At the end of 2024, Ahaus was crowned the smartest rural municipality in Germany following the nationwide "Digital Places 2024" contest organized by the Deutschland — Land der Ideen (Germany — Land of Ideas) initiative.

The government-sponsored campaign is intended to enhance Germany's international visibility as a hub of ideas and innovation and is supported by business and civil society. 

Prize-winning Ahaus was commended for integrating multiple applications into a single platform that is easy to access with an app that requires one-time registration with contact and banking data.

Digitization to halt urban decline in Germany

For Margarete, a caregiver from nearby Velen, the Ahaus experience provides a glimpse of what the future in her hometown could look like. She has joined us on the guided tour and laments that in Velen you will no longer even find a local supermarket. If she wants to go out for dinner, she has to make a reservation days in advance.

So-called urban decline is a problem for many smaller towns in Germany due to population loss, economic stagnation and lack of investment. Small shops and cinemas are disappearing, while hospitality businesses are struggling to find staff and customers. Could massive investment in digitization stem the silent death of these communities?

In Ahaus, finding enough people to work at tourist attractions, for instance, is no longer an issue. Humans are no longer required at the boat rental service situated near the town's baroque water castle.

Bikes and umbrellas can also be rented digitally, just like meals at the local TKWY diner. There, a video screen shows who's next to pick up their food after being ordered on the Chayns app.

Margarete finds this "a bit impersonal," and says she would miss the casual chatting with the waiters. "But efficient," counters our tour guide, Peter, arguing that staff can now focus on the cooking. Knowledge of the German language also "doesn't matter," he contends, because the food can be ordered in different languages.

Cashless and free of conflict

In the bars and pubs of Ahaus, staffing needs are also minimal as bartenders and waiters only serve what guests have prepaid online, eliminating disputes over bills and age verification. Users' data is stored in their Chayns account.

According to Tobit, almost 80% of all hospitality businesses in Ahaus use the Chayns app, whose service has grown to include farmers, sports clubs, and other service providers. They use Tobit's digital network to sell products or grant cashless access to facilities around the clock.

At a pub named The Unbrexit, waiter Sven Klawikowski still brings drinks and meals to the tables. But he no longer needs to take orders, process payments, or check in with customers to see what else they need. With ten tables to look after, this saves enough time to equal the workload of an entire shift, he says. Moreover, he can afford to work just four days a week, while still receiving a full week's wage.

The Wallstreet Bar, close by, is one of the formerly empty properties in Ahaus that were purchased by Tobit to test out its technology. Inside the bar, a stock market ticker continuously scrolls across a huge screen.

While having a drink, customers can invest in stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, or commodities. But this offer is just for fun as it's only a virtual reality game without real money.

"We can test new technologies and make them accessible to other cities," says Sommer.

Local currency to keep money in town

Benedikt Hommöle, head of Ahaus Marketing & Tourism, thinks tech companies like Tobit find it easier to pilot their beta-phase projects in the town because the municipality and its residents are on board. "We embrace the living lab concept. We're the guinea pigs, but in return, we have things here that others don't," he told DW.

One frequently replicated digital concept is the so-called city voucher, a local digital currency that, according to Tobit, has been emulated by more than 70 municipalities.

In Ahaus, the vouchers are used as welcome gifts to new residents and the winners of the weekly online quiz. Employers also use city vouchers to distribute monthly subsidies to workers. They are also popular as presents or pocket money.

However, the money can only be spent in the town and must be used within a limited timeframe. "You can use it to buy dog food, bread rolls, or new tires," says Hommöle, adding that vouchers worth close to €800,000 ($816,000) are now circulating each year.

As Ahaus is situated close to Germany's border with the Netherlands, the town is popular with Dutch tourists. At the end of our tour, Peter Sommer recalls a recent visit by mayors of 10 Dutch towns and cities, which are known for being more open to all things digital than Germany.

Sommer says that for Germans, Ahaus feels like pure science fiction. The Dutch visitors merely stated, "Not bad for Germany."

This article was originally written in German.