New hotels Hotel chains have discovered Bonn is a good place
Bonn · The two hotels currently being built in the city belong to Motel One. The hotel and restaurant association Dehoga fears for the existence of long-established businesses.
More hotels than in a long time are currently being built or planned in Bonn. The Bonn Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) assumes that a total of around 2000 beds will be added. It is mainly hotel chains that have discovered Bonn is a good location for guests. However, Michael Schlößer, the head of Dehoga Bonn, is convinced this will put the existence of smaller, family-run hotels in Bonn at risk.
The round of new hotels with bed numbers in three figures started in 2009 with the 218 bed Kameha Grand Bonn at the Bonner Bogen on the site of the former cement factory. This was followed in April 2012 by the opening of the Inter-City Hotel at the main station on Quantiusstraße, which is classified as a four star business hotel and has around 160 beds.
The Marriott World Conference Hotel at the WCCB Congress Centre was opened in spring 2016 after lengthy wrangling about the extension building. There is to be a three-star hotel with up to 200 beds on Baunscheidtstraße/Oscar-Romero-Allee at the edge of the former federal quarter. The council passed a project-related development plan last year.
Two hotels from the Motel One chain will soon offer guests accommodation in buildings with more than 200 beds. The Motel One at Berliner Freiheit is nearing completion. A second Motel One with 230 beds will be build on the Nordfeld at the station, where only a few weeks ago the foundation stone for the 100 million Euro project “Urban Soul – a triad for Bonn” was laid. The hotel is a cornerstone of the project that the developer is building alongside the planned office building “Lifestyle House” opposite the Maximilian Center, which is also currently under construction.
A hotel with more than 200 beds is also planned on the site of the former student residence at Erzbergufer. The land was once reserved for a Bonn Festival Hall, but, as is well-known, the plans have fallen through. The residence at the site, which the city has long used as refugee accommodation, is to be demolished. The new hotel is also to be in the three star sector, ie the so-called economy price sector, because the city, unlike Dehoga, sees further demand for it.
According to Schlößer, the awarding of stars, which only Dehoga is allowed to give to hotels, is declining, especially for large hotels. By contrast, guest ratings on internet portals are becoming increasingly relevant. After all, people like to cheat here and there with hotel stars: since 2016, Dehoga has caught more than 2000 hotels nationwide that advertised stars without valid certification. “There was not a single Bonn hotel among them,” say Schlößer, pleased.
(Original text: lis / Translation: kc)
