Kempinski

Kempinski Hotels S.A. is an international hotel chain founded as the Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft in Berlin, Germany, in 1897, which makes it Europe's oldest luxury hotel group. The Corporate Office is located in Geneva, Switzerland. Thailand's Crown Property Bureau (CPB Equity Co. Ltd) has the majority holding in the group. Kempinski Hotels currently operates 75 five-star hotels in 30 countries. Kempinski is a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotels.

History

M. Kempinski & Co.

Kempinski Hotels is Europe's oldest luxury hotel group. In 1862 the Jewish merchant Berthold Kempinski from Raschkow, Posen joined the wine store company of his brother Moritz in Breslau. Ten years later he moved to Berlin and opened a subsidiary of M. Kempinski & Co. on Friedrichstraße, together with a wine bar which soon grew in popularity as an inexpensive gourmet restaurant. In 1889 he inaugurated Kempinski's around the corner on Leipziger Straße, then the largest restaurant in the German capital.