CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Germany's Dorint Hotels group is adding two
properties in Berlin this year as part of an ambitious growth plan
that could make it the country's largest hotel operator by 2001,
with 100 locations.
Dorint currently has 77 hotels in eight European countries, the
bulk of them in Germany.
In April, Dorint cut the ribbon on the Hotel am Gendarmenmarkt
in Berlin, the newest member of its five-star Select category.
About one-third of the 92 rooms at this boutique property are
suites; it is located next to the historic Gendarmenmarkt square in
the eastern part of the city, across from the French Cathedral.
A reconstruction of the old Hotel Charlottenhof, the Hotel am
Gendarmenmarkt has a designer decor, rooms for disabled guests,
non-smoking rooms and some rooms designed especially for female
guests. Public facilities include a "wellness area" with sauna,
steam bath, meditation room and fitness center. Rates start at
about $135 single, $162 double.
Meanwhile, the company expects an August opening for the Dorint
Hotel Schweizerhof, located on Budapester Strasse near the city
zoo, the Kurfurstendamm and the Europa Center. Built on the site of
the old Schweizerhof Hotel, which was demolished, the Dorint
Schweizerhof will be a four-star convention hotel with 386 rooms
and suites, with meeting space for groups of up to 1,000. Guest
rooms will be equipped with voicemail and modem connections. Rack
rates will start at about $203 single, $231 double.
Elsewhere in Germany, Dorint's new properties include:
The former Holiday Inn Frankfurt/Main-Taunus Center will be
refurbished and reflagged as a Dorint sometime this summer.The 63-unit Dorint Suite Hotel Binz is expected to open in
mid-June as a family resort on the holiday island of Rugen.Dorint will take over the renovated Parkhotel Quellenhof in the
city of Aachen, and will reopen it in August as the Dorint
Parkhotel Quellenhof.In the fall, Dorint expects to open a three-star budget hotel
in the center of Stuttgart.A December opening is planned for another Select property, the
five-star, 16-suite Hotel Sol'ring Hof, located among the sand
dunes on the island of Sylt in the North Sea.Also expected to open in December is a franchise property, the
Dorint Budget Hotel Cologne-Junkersdorf.By year's end, the company hopes to open the 114-room Dorint
Hotel Stralsund, on the Baltic coast across from the island of
Rugen.Next year, Dorint's growth plan includes the addition of the
five-star Dorint-Messmer Hotel in Baden-Baden; the 256-room Dorint
Hotel Hamburg-City, located in the heart of town; the 120-room
Dorint Budget Hotel Hildesheim; the 186-room, four-star Dorint
Messe-Hotel Koln, at the entrance to the Cologne Fairgrounds; and a
217-room hotel in Rheinsburg, north of Berlin.
In eastern Europe, Dorint is working on expansion plans through
its Rogner Dorint Hotels unit, a partnership with Austrian hotel
company Rogner International.
Dorint (North America sales office, Coral Gables, Fla.), Phone:
(800) 650-8018, for reservations, or (305) 447-1222, Fax: (305)
447-8559.