CHRONOLOGY OF A ROMANTIK IDEA
Over 30 years of ROMANTIK HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
At the beginning of the seventies, Jens Diekmann, a business adviser in the hospitality sector, came up with the idea of establishing a quality concept for historical hotels and restaurants, under the “Romantik Hotels” brand, as an alternative to the big hotel chains.
Together with Alfred Mäder, he laid the foundations for the Romantik Hotels & Restaurants International at the end of 1971.
In the first year of its existence alone, 15 hotels became Romantik Hotels; they included such well regarded establishments as “Katzenbergers Adler” in Rastatt – managed by Rudolf Katzenberger, a father figure for a number of German chefs. Among the first pioneers are some well known family businesses which are still associated with the “Romantik idea” today: Herrmann’s Posthotel & Restaurant in Wirsberg, the Weinhaus Messerschmitt in Bamberg, the Hof zur Linde in Münster, the Gasthaus Rottner in Nuremberg, the Stern in Bad Hersfeld and the Waldhorn in Ravensburg, just to name a few.
How successful the romantic idea was, and still is, became clear over the following years and decades. Today, the hotel cooperation numbers 200 members in 11 European countries.
Chronology of the Romantik Cooperation:
1971
Jens Diekmann and Alfred Mäder lay the foundations for the Romantik Hotels & Restaurants hotel cooperation.
1972
The business is first registered. Another 15 establishments join.
1975
Austria is the first international country group to join.
1977 - 1979
The “Romantik idea” becomes European: hotels in Switzerland and the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain and Sweden are accepted.
1981
First establishments in the USA.
1985
Hotel owners in France and Luxembourg join.
1989
Jens Diekmann leaves. The organisation assumes a new legal form: all hoteliers are equal-ranking partners of Romantik Hotels & Restaurants GmbH & Co. KG.
1991
Belgium completes the list of Benelux countries.
1992
The cooperation reaches its 20th birthday.
1995
Romantik Hotels expand their presence: Portugal joins.
1997 - 1998
“Romantik” heads east: New partners join in the Czech Republic and Hungary.
2002
Romantik Hotels & Restaurants celebrates its 30th anniversary.
2004
The hotel cooperation is the first to introduce its own international, clearly defined wellness ratings for its member hotels.
2007
35 years Romantik Hotels & Restaurants.