Kempinski Group Acquires Augustine Lodge Prague, Signaling the Storied Model’s Extremely-Luxe Future

Don’t knock the classics, particularly relating to lodge manufacturers. 

Kempinski Resorts, the oldest luxurious hospitality group in Europe, introduced this week the acquisition of Augustine Lodge, Prague — lengthy seen as among the finest inns within the Czech capital, presently a part of Marriott’s The Luxurious Assortment, and beforehand a part of Rocco Forte Resorts. Its subsequent chapter with Kempinski performs a significant function within the development of the historic lodge group seeking to make an ultra-luxury splash all over the world. 

The acquisition, the primary for Kempinski for the reason that funding in Lodge Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich greater than 50 years in the past, goes in opposition to a broader business “asset-light” push by main hospitality gamers like Marriott Worldwide, Hilton, Accor, and Hyatt. However it’s a technique Kempinski Group CEO Barbara Muckermann sees as key in dwelling as much as the model’s potential and world ambition. 

“Kempinski has not purchased a lodge since 1970,” Muckermann informed Luxurious Journey Advisor in an interview in Berlin forward of the announcement. “For me, this was a watershed second, completely.” 

The stakes are clear: Muckermann spent a lot of her first yr as CEO making the case, internally and publicly, that an asset-heavier mannequin was the one credible path to constructing a very curated luxurious assortment.

“That is basic as a result of, in our technique of desirous to create a extremely distinctive set of belongings, we’re by no means going to try this if [hotel management agreements] alone are the technique, as a result of then you find yourself in web unit development — house owners desirous to do what they need,” she stated. “You have to put the cash on the desk.”

The Augustine, which opened in 2009 following an intensive restoration, is a compelling first wager. 

Occupying a rigorously delineated portion of the Augustinian Monastery of St. Thomas — a dwelling, working spiritual neighborhood that dates again greater than 800 years and continues to be house to practising monks — the 101-room property sits in Prague’s historic Malá Strana, beneath Prague Fort and inside steps of Charles Bridge. The lodge’s seven historic buildings embody 20 suites, many that includes authentic vaulted ceilings and picket beams from the monks’ former dwelling quarters. Its Refectory Bar, set beneath Nineteenth-century Baroque frescoes within the monastery’s former eating corridor, and The Monastic Library, a group that spans centuries of theological and scientific thought, spherical out the amenity combine.

Below the phrases of the acquisition, Augustine will break from The Luxurious Assortment and function as a white-label luxurious lodge for the following few months. A full design-led refurbishment of all rooms and public areas is deliberate, with a Kempinski flag increase focused for late 2026. 

Is that timeline a little bit formidable for a refurb to Muckermann’s requirements?

“The bones are good,” Muckermann stated of the renovation scope. “On the finish of the day, it is furnishings, it is bogs. If we plan it nicely, we will do it.”

The design temporary for the refurbishment displays the inventive stress Muckermann sees on the coronary heart of the Kempinski model and at this property particularly. 

“The temporary is a little bit bit the monastery gone flawed,” she stated with fun. “It must be humorous, it must be attractive, it must be a little bit provocative.” 

The concept attracts on a deeper thesis she has developed about Kempinski’s founding DNA: a German model that, in opposition to the grain of Protestant austerity, gave its company permission to take pleasure in. 

“Beer is okay, however wine is best,” she stated of the unique spirit. “Wine with oysters is even higher.” 

Utilized to a Thirteenth-century monastery, the place seven monks nonetheless reside on the grounds, that stress turns into the product. That philosophy is driving the food-and-beverage programming as nicely. 

Kempinski deployed a chief heritage officer to spend months in Prague researching the monastery’s historical past earlier than a single temporary was written. The result’s an F&B idea constructed round fermentation: The monks traditionally produced beer, wine, and spirits on the premises. The lodge’s personal pear liqueur is in growth, rooted within the discovery that the pear was the unique image of St. Augustine’s conversion. An absinthe ritual is deliberate for the bar, a nod to Prague’s lengthy relationship with the spirit. 

“That is how we’re approaching the product growth,” Muckermann stated. “Deep analysis — actually deep.”

The Prague acquisition is one thread in a broader strategic recalibration underway at Kempinski.

“Alternatives to amass inns like Augustine Lodge, Prague are exceptionally uncommon,” Muckermann stated in an announcement accompanying the announcement. “This funding provided a singular and compelling alternative to safe a heritage asset in a top-tier European luxurious vacation spot whereas additionally making a grand showcase for The Good Life as the way forward for Kempinski as an ultra-luxury model.” 

The “Good Life” framing is intentional. Muckermann has recentered the model round what she describes as its founding mission, defining luxurious not as standing or formality however as generosity and pleasure. Visitor rooms at Augustine Lodge could have a “confessional feeling” by the home windows, however there may even be a Good Life nook — which Muckermann teased could be the model’s evolution of the lodge minibar. 

On the portfolio facet, the worldwide development technique is targeted on filling geographic gaps, European capitals and luxurious leisure locations chief amongst them, whereas deepening presence in areas of current power, together with Southeast Asia and the Center East.

North America, lengthy mentioned as a frontier for the model, stays firmly in view. Kempinski’s Virtuoso bookings grew 26 p.c this summer season, Muckermann famous as proof that demand for the model amongst North American vacationers is actual even and not using a home flagship. 

“We do must have a few flagships in North America,” she stated, including that the seek for the best belongings on the proper economics is ongoing. A Kempinski-branded residential growth is already underway in Miami’s Design District. 

For now, contemplate Prague the proof of idea and the opening argument.

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