I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts on some of the worlds small luxury hotel groups. I’ve written in the past about Airelles, BVLGARI, Capella, Cheval Blanc, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, etc. In this post, I’d like to take a look at Oetker Hotels (previously branded as Oetker Collection), a small group…
Continue reading: Oetker Hotels Masterpiece Collection: The World’s Most Iconic Properties?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Good write up/summary, Ben. I've been lucky enough to have stayed at several and they are special properties. Its very rare I hear a complaint about service at an Oetker property. The biggest differentiator for them I think is their villa offerings. Their products are on another level, and they have a huge catalog between all of their properties. With that said, they're also priced accordingly (go check out Villa Rock Star)...
Yes, Ben, we concur those which we have experienced are excellent.
We also favour various Oberoi and Aman Hotels too.
@ Julia -- I can see some criticism that people might have of some Oetker properties (expensive, stuffy, old world, etc.), but sterile?? That's not a way I'd describe the brand...
I was a Lanesborough regular back in the day when it was a Rosewood property; once Starwood took it over, I was done. I had a couple of stays with Starwood Lanesborough (including when my room didn't have working a/c in the month of August, and they put in a fan instead of a portable a/c and wouldn't let me change rooms), after which I made the move to the St. James's area and that's where Ive been resting my head since.
I hear amazing things about Oetker, but my travels don't really take me to other Oetker locations, though I'm sorely temped to visit a couple now... 🙂
This misses the key question for those of us that grew up with Dr. Oetker.
Do they serve pudding in their restaurants?
Palácio Tangará is my favorite hotel. Due to the exchange rate, it’s a “luxury” hotel I can afford to treat myself to when visiting São Paulo. It’s also part of Chase’s “The Edit” hotels (although I can’t seem to find any availability). The hotel and grounds are beautiful and the food fantastic.
Dear, dear John, you crawl out of the sewer when all of your other login namesakes have failed to discourage me from posting herein.
One suspects that you know even lass about worldwide exclusive hotels, than you do about world class airline travel. You poor darlink, one could feel sorry for were it not for your pathetic lack of diction.
Clearly Julia, darlink, you have absolutely no taste whatsoever. One is so reassured that we will never have to breath the same air in one of those properties.
Brenners Park is a particular favourite in which we stay on our annual visit to the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden. One is further reassured that it is highly unlikely that you would ever dream of venturing into the spa, as one has to leave one’s modesty in the mixed changing room.
You should do a post about The Coppola Hideaways hotels, it sounds like Oetker got started in a similar fashion (just years earlier)
Does Dr Oetker manage all these hotels themselves?
Do they own the buildings too??
Dr Oetker is a family-owned frozen pizza and processed foods firm that was run during World War II by Rudolf-August Oetker, a member of the Waffen SS. Oetker supported the war effort by providing pudding and other food mixes, and manufacturing howitzer shells and machine gun parts for the Nazis. He had Nazi SS tattoos, discovered while imprisoned after the war.
After hiring historians to document this relationship, the company subsequently began to investigate the provenance of its art collection. A silver goblet, for example was discovered to have been the original property of Emma Budge, a wealthy Jewish socialite, philanthropist and art-lover from Hamburg.
The company's board, which includes members of the Oetker family, commissioned the audit by historians in 2015. As of August 2017, four artworks were restored to their rightful owners, including the goblet.
Dr Oetker's researchers say it may take decades to determine how many more items in its collection were stolen from Jewish households that are due for restitution.
It's memories of their frozen pizzas when I lived in Germany that causes an involuntary negative reaction whenever I see the name mentioned. Didn't know they owned the Hotel du Cap.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Rudolf-August Oetker was an active member of the Waffen-SS of the Third Reich. The company supported the war effort by providing pudding mixes and munitions to German troops. The business used slave labour in some of its facilities. A bronze bust of Richard Kaselowsky still sits within the company headquarters in Bielefeld. Kaselowsky was killed during an air raid on Bielefeld in 1944.[2] The Oetker family is among those that have profited most from their close relations to the Nazi regime.[3]
For anyone unaware, Dr Oetker was owned by Rudolf Oetker from 1944 to 2007.
Rudolf Oetker was a volunteer member of the Waffen SS (that's the SS that had primary responsibility for implementation of the Final Solution) from 1941 to 1944. After the war, he ran the Dr Oetker business, but also founded Stille Hilfe, a relief organization to support former SS members, including helping them evade justice by smuggling to South America. And he channeled part of the profits from Dr Oetker into Stille Hilfe.
While there's no suggestion that his descendants who own Dr Oetker today have any sympathy for Nazism, the brand is undoubtedly tarnished by its history.
Woodward was sold, to Auberge. A very weird move.
An amazing hotel, with the most beautiful breakfast basket, same as Ben pictured in his review few years back. After our stay we bought the same matraces from Tempur along with positioning platform under them. Best stay of 2024.
The Woodward never was owned by Oetker, just as it is not now owned by Auberge. They only manage the hotel.