Kempinski Hotels presents itself as Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group, with a history of 120 years. Nowadays present in four continents, the group has grown through numerous acquisitions. With its particular vision of luxury, Kempinski can rely on a very strong brand and solid financial assets. Its latest developements have seen it both reinforce itself in its European strongholds and growin further countries.
Key figures
The history of this traditional company with its head office in Geneva began in 1897 with the foundation of the ‘Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft’ in Berlin. The first comfortable hotels were already appearing at the time in the biggest German cities, many of which belonging to what would become ’Kempinksi Hotels’. A parallel development was that of M. Kempinski & Co, founded by Berthold Kempinski, which was acquired by the ‘Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft’ in 1953.
The company, changing its name to Kempinksi Hotelbetriebs- Aktiengesellschaft in 1970, while introducing a long lasting partnership with Lufthansa, continued to grow until it acquired its fourth hotel in Germany, in 1977. Following important investments from Lufthansa, the group was able to multiply its portfolio in subsequent years, when Kempinski Hotels S.A. was finally implanted. In 2004, a major investment from the Thailand Crown Property Bureau allowed the group to develop even more. The majority of shares of Kempinksi now belong to a Bahreini.
A founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), an independant hotel alliance, Kempinksi mainly manages hotels, some of them extremely famous worldwide. As it celebrates its 120th anniversary in 2017, the group appears stronger than ever, reaching over four continents, with more than 20 000 rooms worldwide as of January 1st 2017.
