“The 101 best hotels in Germany 2025” award ceremony at the “Das Achental” resort

Michael Stich, Daniel Hope, Nina Meise and numerous VIPs from the top hotel industry celebrated the best hotels! The hotel room is the second home of the stars. When Carsten K. Rath invites guests to the “101 Best Hotels in Germany” awards ceremony, it is not only a summit meeting of the top hotel industry, but also a gathering of numerous celebrities from showbiz and business. The glamorous award ceremony took place for the sixth time this year, for the first time in the fantastically located 5-star resort “Das Achental ” in Grassau on Lake Chiemsee.

Carsten K. Rath, the founder and organiser of the award, and his son David, who is co-founder, welcomed numerous celebrities from showbiz and business to the “101 Grande Soirée ” alongside more than 270 top hoteliers from Germany and around the world, including tennis legend Michael Stich, star violinist Daniel Hope, fashion expert Jeannette Graf and model and presenter Nina Meise. Guests from the hotel industry included Frank Marrenbach (CEO of Althoff Hotels), Christian Harisch (including “Lanserhof”) and Innegrit Volkhardt (“Bayerischer Hof München”). A guest from the world of music in Chiemgau was German-Irish star violinist Daniel Hope, who is at home on the world’s great stages. He came to Bavaria especially to present the award to this year’s main winner: “101 Hotel of the Year” was Hotel “Schloss Elmau”, where the G7 summit was held for the second time in 2022. “Not only the location is unique, but also the vision behind it. Schloss Elmau is a magical place where music, nature and inspiration merge in a unique way. For us musicians, Schloss Elmau is like a home. It is not only a place where we can perform, but also a place where we can recharge our batteries. Elmau, you are a masterpiece, like a perfect piece of music,” said Daniel Hope in his laudatory speech. He presented the prize to Dietmar Müller-Elmau, who was honoured to receive the award. An important prize for him: “A wonderful honour for us and the entire team, because you are never finished, you always have to keep going.” When he checks into another hotel, what does he look for first? Dietmar Müller-Elmau: “The location, the architecture and the people. Authenticity is important.”

Carsten K. Rath founded the “101 Best Hotels in Germany” ranking in 2019 together with his son David Rath. “It provides readers and guests with guidance in the increasingly confusing world of hotels and resorts,” says Carsten K. Rath, who then announced the other winners. Cyrus Heydarian, the Managing Director and operator of the “Breidenbacher Hof ” in Düsseldorf, was honoured as “101 Icon Hotelier of the Year “. Marc Epper, the new General Manager of the “Mandarin Oriental, Munich ” was delighted to receive the “Luxury City Hotel of the Year” award. Korbinian Kohler’s ” Spa & Resort Bachmair Weissach ” on Lake Tegernsee was honoured as “Luxury Family Resort of the Year “, as in the previous year: “This event here has developed into an industry radar, and at breakneck speed,” praised Kohler. What makes a top hotel for him? “It has to touch me. If it doesn’t, then you can leave it alone.” The Hamburg hotel “Vier Jahreszeiten ” was named the first “101 Icon Hotel “. Under the management of Ingo C. Peters, the renowned hotel on Hamburg’s Inner Alster Lake had already won numerous trophies in the prestigious ranking in previous years. “This award is extremely important for our industry and has now become firmly established. The who’s who of the hotel industry is represented,” says Peters. What would he personally give a hotel an award for? “It’s important that the employees are smiling and happy. You can’t win an award with hardware alone.”

The award in the “Grand Hotel of the Year ” category went to the “Breidenbacher Hof ” in Düsseldorf, while the “Sonnenalp Resort” run by Dr Anna-Maria and Michael Fässler was named best “Luxury Hideaway “. Hannes Bareiss received the “Luxury Culinary Hotel of the Year ” award for his hotel “Bareiss”, while “Severin’s Resort & Spa Sylt”was honoured as the best “Luxury Spa & Health Resort”. “Newcomer of the Year ” went to the “Rosewood Munich”, with General Manager Roland Duerr accepting the award. The “Luxury Golf Resort” was the “Budersand Hotel – Golf & Spa ” on Sylt, and the best “Luxury Design Hotel ” was “The Fontenay” in Hamburg. The “Luxury City Palais of the Year” award went to the “Excelsior Ernst” “Excelsior Ernst” in Cologne. The “Europäische Hof Heidelberg”was named best “Luxury Hotel in historical Architecture”. The “Achental Resort” was honoured as “Rising Star of the Year”. The owners and this year’s hosts Dieter Müller and Ursula Schelle-Müller, who also own the Motel One hotel group, were delighted with the award and the event at their hotel: “It was a fantastic event and we are very proud to host Germany’s top hoteliers.” The most moving moment of the evening was the presentation of the “101 Icon Hotelier of the World – Lifetime Achievement Award” to the world-famous hotelier and entrepreneur Horst H. Schulze. The 85-year-old entrepreneur started his career as a waiter in Bad Neuenahr before climbing the Olympus of the top hotel industry: he was COO and President of the “Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company”, for which he designed the legendary service standards, and with his philosophy “We are Ladies & Gentlemen serving Ladies & Gentlemen” he was far ahead of his time. “He changed the world of the hotel industry, virtually invented service excellence and established it in all areas of his hotels worldwide. To this day, he continues to inspire the entire industry and it is no exaggeration to say that he is a worthy successor to César Ritz: the king of all hoteliers and the hotelier of kings,” said Carsten K. Rath. The grand gala was preceded in the morning by the “101 Executive Summit powered by global office”. Leading designers met to talk about the future of hotel design, including Colin Finnegan (“FG Stijl”), Clint Nagata (“Blink Design Group”), Tina Norden (“Conran and Partners”), Daniel Schneider (“Monoplan”), Peter Silling (“Peter Silling & Associates Hotel Interior Design”) as well as Dietmar Müller-Elmau and Ursula Schelle-Müller, who is responsible for the interior concept of her own hotel brand “Motel One”. Text: Andrea Vodermayr Photos: “Agency People Image for “The 101 Best Hotels” and Michaela & Bodo Etzel, JETSET-MEDIA & JETSET-HOTELS Overall ranking: https: //die-101-besten.de See detailed report on www.jetset-media.de: https://www.jetset-media.de/verleihung-die-101-besten-hotels-deutschlands-2025-im-resort-das-achental/