Top 5 hotels in Hamburg

The Louis C. Jacob hotel on the Elbe River looks back on a 225-year luxury hotel history. Basically everything began with a big bang. The confectioner Nikolaus Paridom Burmester had a passion for welcoming all vessels with salutes from a homemade canon until one too hefty load of gunpowder sent him up in smoke! On his demise, his widow wed the French landscaper gardener Daniel Louis Jacques. In 1791, Jacques opened the first wine restaurant on the Elbchaussee and created the famous Lime Tree Terrace, which is now known beyond Hamburg thanks to Max Liebermann. 

Today, 143 staff cater to guests in 85 rooms and suites, restaurants and six event rooms overlooking the Elbe. Jost Deitmar has been director of the hotel for 19 years. This year is particularly busy. Since March, the MS Jacob has been added to the hotel’s fleet and offers events on the high seas as well as a shuttle service to the Elbphilharmonie next year. The Jacobs Restaurant (two Michelin stars, 17 Gault Millau points) has been resplendent in a new fresh look. There, Thomas Martin, Chef de Cusinie, cooks in the fashion of “simplicity on the highest level” as a counterpoint to outrageous culinary trends. The Jacobs Stüberl, a rustic wooden house, will open in the garden of the Weinwirtschaft Kleines Jacob“ on October 7th, 2016. 

The Fairmont Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten started out with just eleven rooms and three bathrooms on the west side of the Inner Alster. Friedrich Haerlin bought the small, inconspicuous building during an auction in 1897. Meanwhile,13 extensions have been added and the hotel underwent extensive renovations in 2014 and 2015, supervised by Ingo C. Peters, the director of the hotel, and at a cost of over EUR 20 million. The hotel is now resplendent in a new look. During the past decade, the Haerlin hotel restaurant has received 19 Gault Millau points and since 2010, under the management of Christoph Rüffer, has won two Michelin stars. A new rooftop terrace has been added and the hotel also has a 1,000 square metre spa and fitness area. 

From autumn 2016, the NIKKEI NINE will offer Japanese cuisine with features from Peru and Brazilian – a tradition brought to South America by Japanese emigrants. After renovating all five floors including 156 elegant rooms and luxurious suites, the traditional grand hotel now presents itself in an exciting new style. No two rooms resemble each other nor do the floors. Ralph Lauren has designed one of the exclusive suites and guests there are welcomed with a bouquet of fresh red roses or a bowl of M&Ms. 

Hamburg’s Hotel Atlantic was opened in 1909 thanks to Albert Ballin, who sought to secure accommodation for first-class passengers on the Hamburg-America Line. That has led to a personal welcome, a page service and all-round care by the hotel concierge team who arrange anything from concert tickets to babysitters. Since 1957, it has belonged to the Kempinski chain of hotels. In 1997, some scenes in the James Bond movie “Tomorrow Never Dies” were filmed in the hotel.

Renovations on all 221 rooms and suites concluded in late 2012 at a cost of EUR 25 million. Preparations for renovating the foyer and bar are now underway. Alexander Djolai, 26, Chef de Cuisine since March 2016, caters to guests in the gourmet restaurant. Franco Esposito, 53, took up his position as hotel director just two months previously. 

Opened in 2001, Hotel SIDE is Hamburg’s only five-star design hotel and has 178 rooms and suites. Its location opposite the Hamburger Staatsoper offers an outstanding flair. Designed by the famous Hamburg-based architect, Jan Störner, the hotel has eight floors combining glass and natural stone. The core of the SIDE is a 28-metre high atrium with a computer-guided light installation by Robert Wilson that turns the area into a beautiful experience. 

The culinary theme is along the lines of “meat, meet and eat in der (m)eatery”. Tim Pinaß, Chef de Cusine, offers Hamburg’s best steak using a glass Dry Aging Box. Alex Obertop, who hails from the Netherlands, has been hotel director since 2014. 

Karlhheinz Hauser, 49, is a passionate, award-winning chef and has already won two Michelin Stars for his Seven Seas restaurant in Süllberg, Hamburg-Blankenese. Now he is both chef de cuisine and director of Hotel Süllberg. 

From 1999-2002, the Wilhelmine buildings underwent extensive renovations and the ballroom was reinvigorated faithful to art nouveau design. The luxurious hotel complex includes the Deck 7 Market Restaurant, the Seaside Lounge, and a Hamburg Biergarten with spectacular views of the Elbe in summer and winter. The Sülllberger Almhütte reopens in early November.

Hamburg’s top hotels attract many international, solvent customers. This has a positive impact on revenue from cultural events, catering and trade. It also secures and creates jobs, noted Sascha Albertsen, spokesperson for Hamburg Tourismus GmbH. Tourism also creates vibrancy and quality of life for the people of Hamburg. “The example of HafenCity shows that tourist offers such as leisure facilities or hotels revive entire suburbs. Exhibitions, musicals, theaters and restaurants all profit from guest frequency. The wealth of languages heard on Jungfernstieg or Mönckebergstrasse enhances the flair of an international city.”
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