NEW YORK – In 1984, the company now known as Althoff Hotels was founded with the acquisition of the Hotel Regent International in Cologne by Thomas H. Althoff and his wife, Elke Diefenbach-Althoff. Now, in 2024, Althoff Hotels is celebrating four decades of success, achieved through a commitment to respect, appreciation, style and a determination to do things just a little bit better.
“We are proud and moved to reach this 40th-birthday milestone for our company,” explained Thomas H. Althoff. “We have met challenges with respect and hard work; and, over the past four decades, we have created something that makes us incredibly proud.”
“A family business such as this is a great commitment,” say the Althoffs, “and we are pleased to be taking the tradition into the future with our friend and co-partner Frank Marrenbach.”
Eighteen hotels in four countries
The Althoff Hotels in Germany, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are part of three discrete Althoff brands – the Althoff Collection, the Ameron Collection and Urban Loft – committed to outstanding hospitality, excellent cuisine and stylish design. It was the Althoffs’ ambition and insistence on perfection that played a pivotal role in creating the Althoff Collection, one of the finest luxury hotel brands in Europe, with five 5-star hotels in Bavaria, Cologne, London, St. Tropez, and Saxony. Bavaria’s Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt is one of only six hotels in Germany to receive Michelin’s coveted “Three Keys” grading.
The Althoff Collection will grow to seven hotels in 2025 with the renaissance of two of Germany’s most iconic “grand hotels.” First opened in 1840, Cologne’s Dom Hotel sits adjacent to the city’s iconic cathedral. Says Cologne mayor Henriette, “our city is warm, cosmopolitan and produces outstanding hosts; Thomas Althoff and his wife Elke have shaped this city in an impressive way and the warmth of their employees cannot be surpassed. Cologne’s transformation is in full swing, and the rebirth of the Althoff Dom Hotel Cologne is central to this transformation.”
Also slated to open in 2025 in Frankfurt’s leafy Sachsenhausen quarter, The Florentin will be the city’s most prestigious hotel once the 24-month transformation of the city’s former Villa Kennedy is completed.
Since 2009, the Ameron Collection, a group of nine charming 4-star hotels, has been offering the premium lifestyle experience. In 2020, the young lifestyle brand Urban Loft was introduced in Berlin and Cologne, its credo a mix of art, culture, cuisine and creativity.
“The three pillars of ‘architecture, art & design,’ ‘outstanding service,’ and ‘quality gastronomy’ are what for 40 years have united all the hotels in the Althoff group,” says Marrenbach.
Tags: Thomas H. Althoff, Althoff Hotels