The praline called "Joeline"

Made from the finest Belgian chocolate, Joeline impressed all visitors of our hotel ARCOTEL Allegra Zagreb. With the opening of our patisserie 4 years ago we decided to make the products from the finest ingredients. Cakes, pies and all kinds of desserts at the restaurant Radicchio and Joe's Bar are therefore very popular among tourists and locals. But a specialty for us and our customers is our unique chocolate! Since it is served with the coffee at the Joe's Bar, we simply named it Joeline! Made from the finest Belgian chocolate, its taste impresses the guests from all around the world! Various flavors make a unique taste. We cannot tell you our secret recipe, but the place where the chocolate is to buy we surely can! At the sweet shelves at Joe's Bar you can buy Joeline individually or in a nice package such as presents for friends and family!

CAMINO STORM AHEAD.... AND THEY SCORE!

1^st place in the football Hotel Cup 2012 in Stuttgart

Sunday 18th March, 4pm. Not a particularly sunny day, in fact quite cool weather with a hint of drizzle in the air … luckily that didn’t matter because the football Hotel Cup 2012 in Stuttgart was to be held indoors and what an atmosphere there was inside the "Soccer Olymp" in Fellbach! When Assistant General Manager Peter Leidig first suggested the idea of a "Hotelcup" a few weeks ago to colleagues at the ARCOTEL Camino, everyone immediately got really excited and it wasn’t long before a team was selected. As everybody knows, football is more than just a sport – it’s all about passion for the game and that passion was evident across all departments. The team was made up of a real mix of colleagues, with representatives from housekeeping, reception, the kitchen, serving staff and management, but all had one thing in common – the drive and the team spirit necessary to ‘get the ball rolling’ and ultimately go on and win the trophy for the ARCOTEL Camino. And without any yellow or red cards either! There was a lot of hard training to be done in the days leading up to the final, however. After all, preparing for the Hotel Match of the Year is a very serious matter!

So the big day arrived and the teams put forward by all the individual Stuttgart hotels came face to face. Sporting striking red ARCOTEL Hotels jerseys, our team not only looked the part but they also impressed everybody with their outstanding performance on the field. After beating the "NH Hotel" 1-0 in their opening match, they faced the "Mercure Hotel Stuttgart City Center". After going two goals down, they were able to turn the game around to win 3-2. Our team suffered just one defeat in the qualifying rounds, losing 2-3 to the “Maritim Hotel". Then, in the last match of the qualifiers against the "Mövenpick Hotel Stuttgart Airport", our lads pulled off a very convincing 6-0 victory. In the semi-final against the "Dormero Hotel Stuttgart" our players clearly dominated the proceedings, going on to win a decisive 4-1 victory, taking them through to the Final. "What really set us apart from the other eight teams taking part was our ability to work well as a team, our sheer determination and the fact that we were enjoying ourselves. In the Final we managed to trounce our opponents the "Maritim Hotel", with a very convincing 5-1 win – sweet revenge for our defeat at their hands in the qualifiers!", says Assistant General Manager Peter Leidig proudly.

We would like to offer warm congratulations to our colleagues for their incredible and thoroughly well-deserved win in the 2012 Hotel Cup in Stuttgart and our fingers are now crossed that the team will do well in the all-Germany Final in Cologne! Hotel Cup ‘Man of the Match’ was awarded to our very own footballing legend, striker Bilal Ghazi, who not only scored an amazing 11 goals, but also demonstrated that a receptionist can be ‘on the ball’ on the field as well as at his desk.

The Hotel Cup has been the competition of the hotel sector since 2009 and every year more and more people take part. Even after this year’s very first tournament, held in Hamburg, more teams have registered to take part than last year. There are Hotel Cup tournaments in several German cities and the two winning teams from each city go through to represent their area in the all-Germany final.

You can see the final match on youtube:

Eastern time is opera time !

For the Berlin State Opera, this is true in a special way, because Easter is here also FESTTAGE time.
Since 1996, when Daniel Barenboim has invented the FESTTAGE, they offer outstanding musical theater and world-class concerts with international stars, for an international audience.

Both the opening bars and final notes of the festival will be played by renowned pianist Maurizio Pollini with Berlin’s Philharmonic. He’ll be combining Beethoven sonatas with contemporary 21st century music in an interesting way.

The focus of the programme is Alban Berg’s exceptional work Lulu, directed by Andrea Breth. This will be accompanied by two Richard Wagner operas, Rheingold and The Valkyrie. There will also be a another star of the stage to admire at the FESTTAGE; René Pape, a veteran of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden ensemble. Known as a singer of Mozart, Verdi and Wagner, Pape will perform interpretations by the three “classic” composers of 19th century Lieder - Wolf, Schumann & Schubert.

You can enjoy the exceptional sounds of the Staatsoper at the Schillertheater from 30th March to 9th of April. And speaking of sounds, why not round off your evening with the clink of glasses over drinks at the elegant TOWN BAR at the ARCOTEL John F Berlin.

For tickets and further information please visit the website.

Pictures: Thomas Bartilla, Monika Rittershaus

32nd Vattenfall Berlin Half Marathon

The 32nd Vattenfall Berlin half marathon will be run on 1st April this year, not far from the ARCOTEL Velvet in the midst of Berlin’s art and culture scene.

But Berlin’s Vattenfall half marathon does more than just make sporting hearts beat faster: the 21.0975 km route also provides an impressive sightseeing tour through Germany’s beautiful capital.

The starting gun for the famous marathon goes off in the Karl-Marx-Allee, close to the Berlin Cathedral and just 20 minutes and away from the ARCOTEL Velvet on foot. The athletes then run through the Brandenburg Gate, past the famous “Berliner Linden” to Charlottenburg Palace, along the Ku'Damm, past the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche and finally over the Potsdamer Platz to cross the finishing line at the Red City Hall.

The Vattenfall Berlin half marathon is the largest German marathon of its type and is now a set fixture in Berlin’s programme of running events. Every year the half marathon attracts runners, walkers, skaters and spectators to Berlin from all over the world.
In 2011, 28,869 athletes from 102 countries took up the marathon challenge. This was also a record year with more than 20,000 of the participants crossing the finishing line for the first time in the marathon’s history.

This fascinating sporting event in the heart of Berlin makes a wonderful start to spring. Enjoy coming together to run, walk or saunter through Berlin's bustling streets, or linger in the city’s parks which are now bursting into bloom.

New menu at Restaurant Radicchio

It has become a tradition that the restaurant Radicchio is presenting a new menu four times a year. For this spring Chef Marko Blažek serves traditional Croatian cuisine with a wide variety of aditionally culinary surprises. Chef and his team have spoiled us so at the beginning of every season we are waiting for new culinary surprises in the form of a new menu. Since the winter and low temperatures are behind us, we look forward to the new spring creations. According to Chef, he prepared a new selection of traditional specialties of Croatian cuisine. Once again, the specialties are prepared with fresh, carefully selected ingredients which guarantee excellent taste of all dishes. The chef announced many more surprises in the form of monthly, weekly or daily special offers.

Seminars & Conferences at the ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser Vienna

The ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser perfectly blends into the new impressive Viennese skyline along the Danube River opposite the Vienna International Center and the UNO City. Due to its position and well-designed ambience, it combines parallel worlds, such as nature and city, and provides a symbiosis of business and relaxation. You can feel this special atmosphere already when you enter the hotel: 282 rooms, suites, apartments and theme rooms as well as exclusive business suites are awaiting you. Some of the suites and apartments have a balcony or terrace.

Exclusive Highlights: The Executive Floor with its own reception and lounge, and direct access to the green recreational area of the "Alte Donau" - with beach! Seven seminar rooms with a total of 350n sym provide meeting capacity for up to 280 persons. In some rooms, large glass fronts provide a refreshing view of the park and "Alte Donau". Moreover, a separate 50 sqm room is available as a board room or VIP restaurant.

Our "Executive Floor" with matching "Executive Lounge" is an exclusive highlight in terms of meetings and conferences:

A perfect environment for successful meetings. On the Executive floor (5th floor), five air-conditioned business suites offer the ideal setting for private meetings in an extraordinary atmosphere. These suites are 42 sqm to 108 sqm in size and are provided with internet access via WLAN, Flatscreen TV and DVD/CD player. As an exclusive highlight, some of the business suites surprise you with a spacious terrace overlooking the Kaiserwasser lake, an open fireplace or a whirlpool. In such a perfect, professional environment, your meeting is bound to be successful.
Please do not hesitate to contact our banquet sales team for further information:

Banquet Team ARCOTEL Kaiserwasser Vienna
Wagramer Straße 8
1220 Vienna

T +43 1 224 24-806 or +43 1 224 24-703
F +43 1 224 24-710
bankett.kaiserwasser@arcotelhotels.com

The history of the ARCOTEL Moser Verdino - part 2

As already mentioned in the first part of this blog, Georg Struggl's son Martin married Maria Josefa, the daughter of an iron ore mine and nail forge operator, in 1723. In this part of the story, you will find out whether their relationship persisted over the years and how the Moser family came into play.

Fate had it hat Maria Josefa lost her husband quite ealry into their marriage which forced her to run the business all on her own. When a second big fire hit Klagenfurt, large parts of the city including the hotel were severely damaged. The neighbou's son, Josef Moser helped Maria Josefa with the comprehensive reconstruction works, during which they fell in love with each other. After only a short while, Maria Josefa got pregnant with the first of their altogether eight children. They spent a wonderful 18 years together but then Josef Moser died and Maria Josefa was once again left to fight for herself. Unwilling to give in to her fate, she held her ground and invested all her strength into the family business and the upbringing of her children. Over the years, Maria Josefa became a much loved and respected landlady thus laying the foundations for the hotel's excellent reputation.

The Moser family

Maria Josefa's grandson, Johann Nepomuk Moser supported his family as best as he could. Being a passionate host, he was widely known for his excellent social skills, his determination, reliability and kindness. Married to Katharina, the beautiful daughter of Klagenfurt's town magistrate Jesse, Johann Nepomuk lived a long and fulfilled life. At the age of 78, he retired and handed over the business to his children.


His youngest son viktor took much after his father. He renovated the hotel in 1860 by enlarging it and tiling the roof with red brick tiles, which were rather rare in Klagenfurt at the time. Having lost her husband early into their marriage, Viktor Moser's daughter-in-law Henriette took up the challenge and ran the by then well-established Moser Hotel on her own. However, when Viktor also died on 29 January 1897, she sold the hotel for 75,000 gulden to Julius Verdino.

This was the family history of the Mosers! Look out for our next blog entry, in which we will tell you more about the Verdinos and the subsequent history of the ARCOTEL Moser Verdino.

It’s not only the steadily increasing temperatures which promise a pleasant March. We’ve summarised our highlights for the month and hope you’ll enjoy them!

In March a constant stream of stars will again be performing at Hamburg’s O2 World. This month will see Udo Lindenberg, Dieter Nuhr, Scooter, Roger Cicero & Band, Atze Schröder and the crazy Hamburg Hip Hop and Electro band Deichkind making the hall rock. The St. Pauli theatre, the city’s oldest private theatre and one of Germany’s oldest theatres, will be staging the Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman. The premiere of the major classic Sonny Boy is on 31st March and tells the tale of the comic duo Willie and Al.

The International Week Against Racism runs from 16th to 24th March, setting a clear sign against intolerance and xenophobia thanks to the active support of many well-known figures during concerts, readings and workshops.

Another event not to be missed is the three-way “battle of the arts” at the Schauspielhaus on 25th March, where the two Slam giants Julius Fischer and Sebastian 23 will face off against each other in the disciplines text, film and song. Equally to be recommended is a visit to this year’s spring fair at the Hamburger Dom which opens its gates to visitors on 23rd March.