Hotelier of the Year 2020

Hotelier of the Year

Thomas, Michael and Ann-Kathrin Mack are the eight generation of the family business, and are responsible for the biggest expansion in the 240-year business' history: the museum hotel 'Krønasår' and the new indoor water world Rulantica. The expansion of the resort, with an investment volume of approximately 200 million euros, was completed on schedule and transferred Europa-Park into a new era. In the early days of the family business from 1780, the Macks built stagecoaches. Today, Thomas and Michael Mack, together with their father Roland and their uncle Jürgen, run the business, which is the largest hotel resort in Germany (six hotels and a Camp Resort, with 5,800 beds), and the one with the highest turnover gastronomy at one location (revenue: more than 100 million euros). The length of stay is currently 1.4 nights on average.

Thomas Mack is a qualified hotelier (hotel school Luzern) and is responsible for the hotel resort, the gastronomy, Confertainment as well as for entertainment and events, among other responsibilities.

Michael Mack is a qualified business economist and, today, is mainly responsible for the in-house design and construction departments, marketing, sales & digital, operation & services as well as the subsidiaries MACK One, MACK Animation, VR Coaster and MACK Rides.

Ann-Kathrin Mack is an architect and has been with MACK Solutions, Europa-Park's design factory, since 2017. Mack Solutions creates turnkey, general concepts - both for its own and other theme parks. She was jointly responsible for the hotel project 'Krønasår'.

The jury chairman Rolf Westermann, editor-in-chief of the ahgz (general hotel and gastronomy paper), justified the decision as follows: 'With investments of around 200 million euros, the eighth generation of the Mack family has made crucial decisions for the next decades. That requires foresight and the courage to take entrepreneurial risk.'

Thomas Mack: 'For us as a family business, for my brother Michael, my sister Ann-Kathrin and myself, the Hotelier of the Year award was a dream come true. I myself have been a passionate hotelier for many years. As a team of the young generation, we have achieved success together. We are also pleased to be following the footsteps of our father Roland with the award. With our family and a great team behind us, and strong partners by our side, we want to continue the success story of Europa-Park.'

Fritz Keller emphasised in his laudation: 'The fact that more and more business people stay overnight in the hotels in Europa-Park, regardless of a park visit, and the occupancy rate of the largest hotel resort in our country, which is approaching 100 percent, once again, confirms the bravery of the Mack family. Because themed hotels existed in Las Vegas before, but certainly not in Germany. The Macks recognised the potential of these dream worlds when everyone else was still sceptical - and they made these dreams come true without further ado. The overwhelming majority of your guests are repetitive offenders and return. Once they were there as children - now they come back with their own children. This desire for new things, this irrepressible enthusiasm for innovation, has distinguished all generations of the Macks. The dream of a united Europe was already tangible in Europa-Park, before the wish had actually become a reality. Here, one could unlimitedly travel from one country to another, before the European Union was even founded; this is now possible in 15 European themed worlds. Nowhere is Europe so close together as in Rust. The Mack family brought ideas, visions and a willingness to take risks into the family business and had to overcome a lot of obstacles in the process. But they have always been guided by their dreams.'