Germany’s port city of Hamburg will soon lose one of its five-star hotels.

In pre-Covid times the Sofitel’s Alter Wall hotel would be busy with corporate travellers.

Now Hamburg’s hotels face an overcapacity crisis. Hence the 241-room property will be closing its doors on June 30.

Hamburger Abendblatt reports the Sofitel will be demolished, and the area where the property is located will be redeveloped. It is unclear what will happen to the site.

Sofitel took control of this property in 2007. It had previously been operated by Dorint Hotels. Details of the hotel here.

This news has been further reported by reisetopia.de, which quotes Accor spokesperson Anne Wahl-Pozeg as saying, “We are currently holding intensive discussions with all parties involved and can therefore not provide information at this point in time.”

Niklaus Kaiser von Rosenburg, acting president of DEHOGA (Germany’s Hotel and Restaurant Association) commented, “It is unfortunate that this five star hotel is closing. I don’t see a new hotel at this location yet. Tourism in Hamburg has collapsed due to Corona. That’s why we currently have an oversupply in all categories.”

Germany’s hotels have suffered with the decline in corporate travel, the trade fair disruption, the lack of overseas visitors and so on.

Germany’s hotels might have looked forward to an Easter boost. However the nation’s latest lockdown means vacations are prohibited within Germany itself.

Conversely its citizens are free to travel overseas to Mallorca for their Easter holidays.

“Work that [one] out” tweets Mallorca-based Roman Townsend, communications manager for the B2B travel industry.

all.accor.com