The History of the Selection of German Luxury Hotels

The culture of hospitality

In 1987 three German grand hotels created the Selection of German Luxury Hotels as a marketing community: the Nassauer Hof in Wiesbaden, the Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg and the Breidenbacher Hof in Düsseldorf. This was because the renowned private hotels were also beginning to feel the pressure of international competition.

Today's ten members of the Selection of German Luxury Hotels are all oases of luxury and hospitality with a worldwide reputation. In recent years and decades, with their individually implemented and highly developed awareness of quality, they have decisively shaped the global image of the German hospitality industry at its top level. The most recent members are the Grand Hotel Heiligendamm and Breidenbacher Hof, a Capella Hotel, which is in fact a founding member that reopened in May 2008 after the completion of new building work and restructuring measures.

The union of fine hotels has been supplemented by exclusive premium partners: the Peter Deilmann shipping line with its 5-star superior "Dream Ship" MS DEUTSCHLAND has been part of the organization for a number of years, and since 2008 Mercedes-Benz has been the "sixth star" in the Selection of German Luxury Hotels.

Working together as partners, the members of the Selection of German Luxury Hotels do more than take advantage of synergy effects in the field of marketing. They also join together in devising programmes of training and instruction in the knowledge that apprenticeships have an outstanding tradition in Germany and therefore require a contemporary design. "Those who start their professional life in one of our houses can be assured of ascending the career ladder in the international hospitality industry," explains Karl Nüser.

In May 2009, Ingo C. Peters, Managing Director and Regional Vice President Europe of the Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, took over as Chairman of the Selection of German Luxury Hotels, replacing his colleague and friend Karl Nüser, Managing Director of the Nassauer Hof Wiesbaden. Ingo C. Peters sees his future tasks as particularly lying in recruiting new premium partners from the luxury goods segment into the association and increasing awareness of the brand.