Onwards and upwards with WELCOME Group expansion plans

18-storey business hotel to open in 2011 in Cologne

From 2011 WELCOME HOTELS will have a hotel in the city centre of Cologne. With a flourish of a pen joint Managing Directors Carsten Kritz and Mario Pick set the seal on this latest addition to the group. Start of construction of this 4-star hotel that will have 229 rooms and suites is planned for January 2010 with the hotel due to open in the spring of 2011. This 16th member of the group will be 18 storeys high. This somewhat unusual height is due to the existing tower block at Perlengraben 2 just above the Severinsbrücke that formerly housed offices. Comprehensive renovation and reconstruction works involving the complete gutting of the building require an investment of some 30 million euros that have been provided by Kommunalprojekt AG. WELCOME HOTELS is investing a further 2.7 million euros in furnishings, fittings and equipment.

A sky bar on the 17th floor where guests can enjoy cocktails, snacks and stunning views of the city centre and the cathedral is just one of the highlights of this new business hotel that will also offer a range of attractive fitness and relaxation facilities in the soft-wellness centre on the top floor affording even further-reaching views over the surrounding cityscape. Lower floors are to house a spacious conference centre. Some 670 square metres including the foyer will offer three rooms of up to 320 square metres for seminars, conferences and presentations. In addition to being close to the nearby motorway the hotel will also have 73 car parking spaces providing ease of access. The hotel’s proximity to the city centre, public transport, event venues and the trade fair halls will make this new WELCOME HOTEL attractive to business travelers and conference delegates as well as to tourists who will undoubtedly enjoy the “you are welcome“ hospitality for which WELCOME hotels are so well know.

This rapidly expanding hotel group has long set its sights set on the cathedral city of Cologne. Following in the footsteps of the new group hotel in Frankfurt/Main (opening autumn 2010) Cologne will be the second of Germany’s major cities to be added to the Welcome portfolio. The hotel is to be constructed by Kommunalprojekt PPP AG, Bielefeld, the company with which WELCOME group has long-term leases on the hotels in Bamberg, Darmstadt and Paderborn.