Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Althoff Collection

Althoff Collection hotels

Historic European houses make fine dining central, from a baroque hunting lodge to lakeside estates.

Althoff Collection brings together European hotels with substantial histories and distinct personalities, from a baroque hunting lodge near Bergisch Gladbach to a manor in Celle and a retreat on Lake Tegernsee. The family company began with Thomas H. Althoff and Elke Diefenbach-Althoff’s Hotel Regent International in 1984, and its collection still finds its character in the individual house.

7 Althoff Collection hotels in 3 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas (1 not open yet), each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned by Thomas H. Althoff and Elke Diefenbach-Althoff
• Worldwide: The public atlas files 7 Collection hotels, in Germany, France, and London
• On the atlas: 4 Grand Luxury, 2 High Luxury, 1 Core Luxury

History

Schloss Bensberg still looks toward Cologne Cathedral along the axis planned by Alberti, roughly fourteen kilometres away. The building served as a military hospital, a cadet school, and a boarding school before its hotel restoration. It opened to guests in spring 2000, with Vendôme becoming part of the house’s new culinary history.

Timeline

• 1670 — The Celle manor later called Fürstenhof is built for the Venetian courtier Francesco Maria Cappellini, known as Stechinelli.
• 1703 — Matteo Alberti begins the Bensberg hunting lodge for Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II and Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici. Work runs to about 1711.
• 1873 — Josef Höß opens Gasthof zur Überfahrt on Lake Tegernsee, named for the ferry crossing.
• 1892 — Gentlemen's chambers go up at 7-8 Park Place, London, the buildings that become St. James's Hotel & Club.
• 1901 — The von Speyer family builds the Gothic-Renaissance mansion in Sachsenhausen that will be Villa Kennedy, then The Florentin.
• 1984 — Thomas and Elke Althoff open the Hotel Regent International in Cologne.
• 1997 — Thomas Althoff builds and opens Villa Belrose above Gassin. An insurance group buys Schloss Bensberg and begins the restoration that opens it as a hotel in 2000.
• 2005 — The Celle hotel, a hotel since 1970, joins the Althoff Collection in February.
• 2008 — St. James's Hotel and Club reopens on Park Place after renovation.
• 2009 — AMERON is introduced as a four-star sister brand.
• 2020 — Frank Marrenbach becomes CEO. Thomas stays chairman and majority shareholder.
• 2024 — The company marks its 40th year in Cologne. Villa Belrose joins Leading Hotels of the World. William Drabble opens Francatelli at St. James's on 29 February.
• 2025 — Villa Belrose completes a full renovation. The Florentin reopens in late 2025 in the former Villa Kennedy, 147 rooms. Seehotel Überfahrt holds three Michelin Keys. Chef Cornelia Fischer has been in that kitchen since September 2024.
• 2026 — The Dom Hotel beside Cologne Cathedral is scheduled to reopen as a 130-room Althoff house. An opening day has not been confirmed.

The houses to know

1. Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt, Rottach-Egern, Germany — The Tegernsee house with three Michelin Keys, a ferry dock, and a kitchen that held three stars for a decade.
2. Althoff Villa Belrose, Saint-Tropez, France — Thomas Althoff's 1997 villa above Gassin, 40 rooms, renovated in 2025, looking over the gulf.
3. Althoff Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany — Matteo Alberti's baroque hunting lodge, open as a hotel since 2000, lined up with Cologne Cathedral.
4. Althoff St. James's Hotel & Club, London, United Kingdom — Twenty rooms in 1892 Park Place chambers, AA Five Red Stars, and Francatelli in the old Seven Park Place dining room.
5. The Florentin, Althoff Collection, Frankfurt, Germany — The 1901 von Speyer mansion in Sachsenhausen, Rocco Forte's Villa Kennedy for eighteen years, reopened by Althoff in late 2025.
6. Althoff Hotel Fürstenhof Celle, Celle, Germany — The town's intact baroque manor, built about 1670 for Stechinelli, a hotel since 1970 and an Althoff house since 2005.

Newest openings

• The Florentin, Frankfurt, reopened in late 2025 as an Althoff Collection hotel and a Leading Hotels of the World member. One hundred forty-seven rooms, 49 of them suites, in the 1901 von Speyer mansion on Kennedyallee in Sachsenhausen. It had been Rocco Forte's Villa Kennedy from 2005 until 2023.

Opening next

• Althoff Dom Hotel Cologne, on the Domplatte beside the cathedral, is scheduled to reopen in 2026 as a 130-room Althoff house. The historic Dom Hotel had been closed for a long renovation. An opening day has not been confirmed.

Every Althoff Collection hotel on the atlas

Germany

• Althoff Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg — Bergisch Gladbach · Grand Luxury
• Althoff Seehotel Überfahrt — Rottach-Egern · Grand Luxury
• Althoff Hotel Fürstenhof Celle — Celle · High Luxury
• The Florentin, Althoff Collection — Frankfurt · High Luxury
• Althoff Dom Hotel Cologne — Cologne · Core Luxury · Opening soon

France

• Althoff Villa Belrose — Saint-Tropez · Grand Luxury

United Kingdom

• Althoff St. James's Hotel & Club — London · Grand Luxury

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Every house in The Maison

How the six LHA Tiers work