Choice Hotels Launches Upscale Ascend Hotel Collection Brand in Germany

LONDON. 09 MAY 2017 Boutique hotel brand Ascend Hotel Collection, which has been expanding since 2008, is to open its first German property in 2018. It will be part of the new MOTORWORLD Koeln-Rheinland, an event and classic car centre that will open in Spring 2018 and host the private collection of seven times Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.

The property will be named V8 Hotel Koeln @Motorworld and located on the site of MOTORWORLD, housed in an old airport building. The property showcases the theme “movement on land and air” and not only offers 110 rooms and one suite but five car lofts as well. The car lofts all have a special highlight in common: You can park your car directly beside your room. Ten rooms are designed with a special car theme. The 4-star hotel will offer guests breakfast and will be run under a franchise agreement with fortuna hospitality GmbH & Co. KG and fidelis hospitality GmbH. Catering and meeting rooms are managed by MOTORWORLD.

Start of the soft brand at an economically dynamic site

Georg Schlegel, Managing Director of Choice Hotels Germany and Central Europe, is convinced of the new location of the soft-brand Ascend Hotel Collection: "The Ascend properties stand out with their individual charm and character. That’s why the V8 Hotel Koeln @Motorworld, which has been designed to support the overall theme of MOTORWORLD, fits ideally into the boutique portfolio of the Ascend brand. The Ascend Hotel Collection enables independent hotels to emphasise their individual identity and originality while benefitting from Choice’s industry leading technology, rapidly expanding guest loyalty programme and the support of an international brand.”

The Ascend Hotel Collection brand was founded in 2008 and has grown to more than 170 properties in highly frequented business and leisure destinations such as New York, Miami, Napa Valley, Sydney and Stockholm. Ascend now has more hotels open than its top three competitors combined. During the past year additional properties were opened in Edinburgh, France and Turkey for the first time, where we started on the peninsula Cesme located on Alacati Beach. Two more are being planned in Ayvalik, Cunda Island, and in Mazi south of Bodrum.

Event-, Media- and Meeting focus

The V8 Hotel Koeln @Motorworld is located on the former Butzweilerhof airport in the Ossendorf district, north west of Cologne. Alongside major media centers another 400 branches of various companies are situated here. The hotel also features a breakfast room with a terrace, a lobby bar, a board room for meetings as well as a library.

Part of MOTORWORLD Koeln-Rheinland, and with its display of automobile rarities, old and new as well as supercars, the hotel is expected to attract car fanatics, Michael Schumacher fans, car dealers, garage owners and others in the car services sector. All of whom will enjoy a boutique hotel experience and a meetings and events offering should they need it.

Marc Baumueller, CEO of MOTORWORLD, added: “Our highlight will be the private car collection of seven times Formula 1 World champion Michael Schumacher, which will permanently display many of his racing cars alongside his trophies and souvenirs free of charge to visitors.”

Choice Hotels, one of the world’s biggest hotel chains, is currently expanding its brands Comfort, Quality and Clarion as well as its co-brand with Star Inn Hotels in its domestic markets of Germany, Austria and Hungary.