Excelsior Hotel Ernst joins Cologne's Cathedral Christmas market for the first time

Cologne, November 23nd 2013: Next Monday, November 25th, marks the beginning of the atmospheric advent-time for many of us. Traditionally, Cologne's Christmas markets will open their doors to welcome visitors from all over the world into their homely atmosphere. The smell of spices, the flavor of roasted almonds and mulled wine invites visitors to stroll and browse around the festively decorated Christmas market. One of this year's Christmas markets is located on Roncalliplatz right by the Dome cathedral and offers a special highlight: The Excelsior Hotel Ernst is represented with its own booth for the first time. Visitors have the opportunity to purchase the hotel's legendary “Excelsior-Stollen”. The traditional recipe for the Stollen is closely guarded and has been locked up in the hotel’s safe for several decades. On one of the days, the total revenue of the Stollen-sale will be donated to the children's hospital on Amsterdamer Strasse. Besides the legendary pastry, visitors can also purchase ideal Christmas presents such as gift-certificates for the two hotel-restaurants “Hanse Stube” and “taku” as well as gift-certificates for the popular traditional “Afternoon Tea” in the hotel's newly designed lobby.

“I'm very excited that this is the first year in which we can offer our legendary Stollen at our own festively-decorated booth. By doing so, we hope to introduce our traditional hotel with 150 years of history and service philosophy to all Christmas market visitors”, states Managing Director Henning Matthiesen. 

This very special Cologne Cathedral Christmas market is one of the most popular ones in Germany. With 150 booths the market attracts approximately five million visitors every year, which guarantees its top ranking in national attendance statistics. It is the unique location at Cologne's Dome Cathedral, the festive atmosphere and all the local artisans that make this Christmas market so special.

About the Excelsior Hotel Ernst: The traditional hotel has a total of 142 rooms and suites, some of which offer an excellent view of the Dome Cathedral. Additionally, the hotel's noble facilities include twelve conference- and event facilities with natural daylight, a well-equipped gym- and sauna-area as well as two restaurants: Guests of “taku”, which has recently been honored again with a Michelin-Star, can look forward to Eastern-Asian cuisine. The other restaurant, the “Hanse Stube”, is commonly known as “Cologne's luxury living room” and has been awarded for its excellent cuisine several times. Not only people from Cologne but also from all over the world travel to the “Hanse Stube” to enjoy the innovative French cuisine topped off with the finest influence of Cologne's regional cuisine.

Since the hotel has been founded in 1863, it has been family-owned. Thus, one of the most respected and most famous Grand Hotels in Germany has an impressive history to look upon: 150 years ago, the former royal restaurateur Carl Ernst first opened the hotel's gates. Up until today, carefully recruited experts assure that the hotel's tradition blends with today's innovations.

The Excelsior Hotel Ernst is Cologne's only member of the cooperation “The Leading Hotels of the World” and also belongs to the Selection of German Luxury Hotels. Like all hotels in the Selection, the Excelsior Hotel Ernst offers personal service with Henning Matthiesen in charge of the hotel's management. He is known to be very empathetic of his highly-motivated team and to lead them aiming to continue the hotel's valuable tradition.

More information about the Excelsior Hotel Ernst can be found here: www.excelsiorhotelernst.com

Details about the Selection of German Luxury Hotels can be found here: www.selektion-deutscher-luxushotels.com