Hotel Neptune
The Hotel Neptun is a 5-star hotel in the Baltic Sea resort of Warnemünde , located directly on the beach on the Baltic Sea , which began operations in 1971. At a height of 64 meters, the hotel building is Rostock's second-tallest building after the 77-meter-high Wiro tower .
To DDR -times almost all upscale hotels were interhotels that Neptune as HO - Hotel was so far an exception. The hotel with 19 floors and 338 rooms received the first certified thalassotherapy center in Germany after 1990 and offers a sea water swimming pool on the fourth floor with a direct view of the Baltic Sea. As a “wellness hotel”, it belongs to the DSR Hotel Holding , a subsidiary of the Deutsche Seereederei Rostock (DSR).
After 1990, extensive renovation work was carried out on the building. The hotel operates three restaurants, a Weineck, a panorama café, a sky bar on the 19th floor, two indoor bars, a beach bar and the Da Capo disco . As of 2018, there are more than 300 employees, including around 70 trainees in the hotel.
history
The housing association and the Swedish company SIAB erected the 68 meter (newly measured) "concrete block" between 1969 and 1971, which was opened in spring 1971. The architects planned the building in such a way that all of the approximately 350 rooms have at least a lateral sea view. Jo Jastram took care of the artistic design . A slate structural wall adorns the hotel.
Initially, the hotel was only intended for foreign tourists, the non- residents . After the 8th party congress of the SED and the change in power from Walter Ulbricht to Erich Honecker , around 80 percent of the approximately 700 beds at that time were kept free for local guests as part of the so-called unity of economic policy and social policy . According to the motto “everyone lives the same”, most of the rooms were occupied by the FDGB holiday service . These hotel places were awarded for 310 marks for twelve days of full board via the holiday commissions of the companies, which selected the holidaymakers according to "socialist" criteria. Nevertheless, the hotel had the highest price category in the GDR with the price level "S + 200" , which was reflected above all in the catering facilities that were not available as part of the full board.
The hotel had a restaurant complex in the nearby Schillerstrasse, where various international restaurants were located. Noteworthy for a GDR hotel from the 1970s was a seawater swimming pool directly on the second floor of the hotel, an adjoining seawater swimming pool with a wave system and the sky bar on the 19th floor. Here the roof can be opened at night for the "dance under the stars". The GDR's first discotheque was located in the basement of Neptun - today the DaCapo. The "Grillstube Broiler" restaurant as a roast chicken is one of the few that still has this typical GDR word in its name. There is also the hotel restaurant "Dünenfein", the fish restaurant "Genusshafen" and the restaurant "Weineck". In the lobby, next to the reception, there is the hotel's own shop "Neptun Welt", two clothing stores and the lobby bar with live piano music.
In addition to the local holidaymakers, business people from the West also liked to stay in the prestige property. In addition, there were state guests such as Fidel Castro , but also West German politicians such as Uwe Barschel and Willy Brandt . It was a good opportunity for the State Security of the GDR to gather information. It is therefore not surprising that the Neptune was popularly known as the “Stasi Hotel”. In the foyer of the SKY bar there is a photo wall with many celebrities who were in Neptune .
The inevitable contacts between East and West citizens resulted in black market trading , which was curbed by the introduction of a separate currency. It was mandatory for every guest to exchange their own national currency for Neptune money . However, the supply of the hotel, for example with high-quality food, could often only be ensured by means of barter transactions. Fits to had alexander schalck-golodkowski , the "foreign exchange buyer" for the commercial coordination even a permanent suite at the hotel.
Until 1990 the Neptun was a "publicly owned retail business" (VE EHB Hotel Neptun) of the trade organization and not, like all other upscale hotels Interhotel , after which it changed hands five times. The hotel manager, however, remained Klaus Wenzel from the time it opened until his retirement in autumn 2007. Wenzel's successor is Guido Zöllick .
The hotel is certified by the Association of German Thalasso Centers . The “Neptun Spa” wellness facility with the sea swimming pool was significantly expanded and expanded after the fall of the Wall. The hotel is the official partner hotel of the Warnemünde golf course near Elmenhorst, which opened in 2009. The former top athlete Grit Breuer-Springstein works as a "golf coach" .
Representation in the media
Since the fall of the Wall , Neptune has appeared several times in the German media landscape. Finally, in 2006, two documentaries were broadcast for the first time by different ARD state broadcasters, just over two months apart . The MDR report from July 2006 was largely benevolent towards Neptune and its employees. Towards the end of the film it is stated: “The Neptune - always in the haze of the MfS. Many wanted to prove it, so far nobody has dared to ask the right ex-employees. "The critical NDR documentary from September 2006 already addressed this topic in the title: Hotel der Spione - Das" Neptune "on the Baltic Sea beach. The Stasi work of top Neptune personnel was shown, including the names of the IM decks, such as General Manager Klaus Wenzel (IM "Wimpel" ) and the former receptionist Thomas Klippstein (IM "Benjamin" ). Since the latter had meanwhile become director of the Hotel Adlon in Berlin , there was a lot of media coverage, and Klippstein finally resigned from his post.
Prominent guests
Well-known actors, musicians, politicians, etc. a. who have already stayed at the Hotel Neptun are:
Uwe Barschel , Fidel Castro , Armin Mueller-Stahl , Sigmund Jähn , Erwin Geschonneck , Helmut Schmidt , Friede Springer , Christine Neubauer , Jürgen von der Lippe , Udo Lindenberg , Gisela May , Hanna Schygulla , Till Lindemann , Katrin Sass , Bettina Böttinger , Natalia Wörner , Don King , Max Herre , Reiner Calmund , Guido Westerwelle , Angela Merkel , Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Nina Hagen
Awards
With U. a. The Hotel Neptun has received the following seals and awards over the years:
- DEHOGA : Classification as a 5-star hotel
- Association of German Thalasso Centers: Seal of approval as the first original Thalasso center in Germany
- German Wellness Association: since 2002 quality certificate "EXCELLENT"
- IHK : "TOP training company" since 2007
- TÜV Rheinland : since 2008 the highest quality certificate "PREMIUM Wellness-Hotel & Spa"
- Company award 2009 for General Manager Guido Zöllick and the Neptun team
- DEHOGA: "ServiceQ Germany" quality seal 2009
- " TUI Holly 2010" for one of the 100 most popular holiday hotels worldwide
- "Prize of Health Tourism 2011" from "Touristik & Caravaning International" Leipzig
- DEHOGA: Quality seal "ServiceQualität Deutschland Level II" 2014
Illustrations
Picture from 1988
Hotel Neptun in the background on the Warnemünde beach promenade
Side view of the hotel photographed from the beach
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Hotel-Neptun.de , overview of facts
- ↑ Gastronomy in the Hotel Neptun , accessed on January 7, 2014
- ↑ MDR.DE: Warnemünde - Five Stars for the People ( Memento from June 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) , July 18, 2006.
- ^ Nicolaus Schröder: Luxus für Alle , episode 6 of the WDR5 radio production Back then in the GDR , September 18, 2005
- ↑ Tomas Niederberghaus: How Germans go on vacation In: DIE ZEIT No. 15, March 1, 2004 (accessed on October 15, 2016)
- ↑ https://www.hotel-neptun.de/golf.html Homepage of the hotel
- ↑ Steffen Schneider: Warnemünde - five stars for the people. MDR, first broadcast on July 18, 2006
- ^ Hotel der Spione - The "Neptune" on the Baltic Sea beach. NDR, first broadcast on September 25, 2006
TV reports
- Hotel of Spies - The "Neptune" on the Baltic Sea beach. NDR, first broadcast on September 25, 2006.
- Steffen Schneider: Warnemünde - five stars for the people. MDR, first broadcast on July 18, 2006.
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 10 ′ 44 ″ N , 12 ° 4 ′ 40 ″ E