Rotel Tours

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Logo Rotel Tours

Rotel Tours is a tourism company of Georg Höltl GmbH & Co. KG in Tittling . Rotel is a portmanteau of rolling stock (or English. Rolling ) and the hotel is registered as a brand name and thus refers only to vehicles of the company Rotel Tours.

All-wheel-drive bus combined, for trips far away from civilization
34-seater all-wheel-drive bus with Rotel trailer, for large expedition trips

Companies

The company offers study and expedition trips worldwide with special coaches , the size of tour groups is between 20 and 40 participants. You will spend the night in the patented red cabins. These are either housed in a separate trailer or, in the case of combined vehicles, connected to the passenger compartment. There are single and double cabins. Rotel Tours has 3400 "beds on wheels".

The resting man

The group also operates several hotels. The Rotel Inn , nicknamed Der Ruhende Mensch, is a hotel in the form of an 85 m long large sculpture in Passau directly on the banks of the Danube . It was designed by the architect Hans Hoffer from Vienna and opened in May 1993.

history

Rotel Tours is one of the pioneers in German post-war tourism. The family company was founded in 1945 by Georg Höltl . From 1950 trips were made to France , Italy , Spain and the rest of the Mediterranean . Among them were many pilgrimages . We spent the night in tents . From the beginning, the trips were marked by encounters and international understanding . For example, the pilgrimages with Pax Christi to France after the Second World War with their Franco-German meetings were carried out exclusively under the sign of reconciliation . At that time, Rotel Tours was called 'International Meeting Trips'.

With the invention of the Rolling Hotel by Georg Höltl, completely new journeys were possible, such as the first overland journey from Munich via Turkey to Jerusalem in 1959 . On the first trip to Jerusalem, 38 flat tires had to be repaired; the outward journey took ten days. In 1962, Rotel drove to India and back overland , and in 1969 a Rotel Tours bus crossed the Sahara for the first time . Since 1990 the Rolling Hotels have been driving through China , Mongolia , Laos and Vietnam, for example .

Travel with Rotel Tours

Breakfast at the Rotel trip to Switzerland in 2007

The bus driver is both a tour guide and a cook. At the beginning of the trip, each traveler receives a bag with two tea towels, boards, cups, plates and cutlery. The kitchen equipment is located in the rear of the bus. The tour price includes half board with breakfast and dinner, which can consist of sachet soups, ready-made puree or canned meals. Cooking is also done around the campfire. Tables and chairs are set up for dinner, ingredients are prepared for the meal and then the dishes are done.

If possible, the night is spent on campsites, sometimes outside city centers, where sanitary facilities of different quality are available. Depending on the trip, camping is occasionally en route or overnight stays at lodges. Where there are no campsites, vehicles are also parked on roads with truck traffic. The honeycomb-like sleeping cabins in the bus or trailer are two meters long, 80 centimeters wide and just as high. There is a mattress in it. The entrance is at the foot end, it is locked during the day. The cabins, like the buses, are generally unheated, there is neither air conditioning nor fans. The windows with a curtain are used for ventilation, the windows can be opened at night. The walls between the cabins are thin, which is why experienced Rotel Tours customers take earplugs with them. The driver sleeps in the back of the bus.

Luggage is not accessible at all times, even when staying overnight, but only every three days. In the meantime, the so-called three-day bag is available to travel participants, the contents of which are repacked.

literature

  • Chronicle 50 years of Rotel Tours
  • Otto Schneider (former President of the German Travel Agency Association): Die Ferien-Macher - A thorough and fundamental consideration of the century of tourism. (P. 96)

Web links

Commons : Rotel Tours  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Kratzer: With 38 punctures to Jerusalem. In: sueddeutsche.de , October 18, 2016, accessed on October 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ Volker Wartmann: "Hardly bigger than a coffin". In: taz.de , August 25, 2007, accessed on October 19, 2018.
  3. ↑ Martina Lenzen-Schulte: Not without my earplugs. In: faz.net , May 11, 2017, accessed October 19, 2018.
  4. ↑ Norbert Regitnig-Tillisn: Rolling through Africa. In: kurier.at , March 7, 2016, accessed on October 19, 2018.
  5. ↑ Martina Lenzen-Schulte: Not without my earplugs. In: faz.net , May 11, 2017, accessed October 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ Volker Wartmann: "Hardly bigger than a coffin". In: taz.de , August 25, 2007, accessed on October 19, 2018.
  7. ^ Hans Kratzer: With 38 punctures to Jerusalem. In: sueddeutsche.de , October 18, 2016, accessed on October 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Katarina Jelicic: From Africa to the USA and Oman. In: kleinezeitung.at , 23 September 2018, accessed on 19 October 2018.
  9. ↑ Martina Lenzen-Schulte: Not without my earplugs. In: faz.net , May 11, 2017, accessed October 19, 2018.