Hotel in Bad Wörishofen: from spa hotel to South Tyrolean treasure
Perhaps you are wondering what brings a South Tyrolean to a hotel in Bad Wörishofen in Allgäu? The answer is simple: love. Love for this extraordinary place. When I, Luis Hillebrand, entered Das Parkhotel for the first time, I was sold. “I want to stay here and make something special out of it,” was my first thought. I had a vision of breathing South Tyrolean life into the former spa hotel and returning it to its glory days, the days when people from all over the world came to this special place of power.
All beginnings are small.
The history of the hotel and today’s day spa in Bad Wörishofen is closely linked to Father Sebastian Kneipp and dates back to 1897. The foundation stone for our hotel was laid by Olga Weiss, who opened the small inn with a Kneipp water therapy area in the centre of Bad Wörishofen at the end of the 19th century. After marrying Dr Wilhelm Sproll, she expanded the inn and called it the “Kurhotel Sproll”. In 1908, Baroness Leoprechting had the Villa Gisela built next to the hotel in Bad Wörishofen. The attractive building was surrounded by a large garden where a small private chapel was built, which was consecrated by Father Kneipp. Over the years, the two buildings grew together to form a complete complex.
A meeting place for the elite
The spa hotel was converted into a military hospital during World War I and II. However, after the end of the world wars, today’s gourmet hotel in Allgäu quickly returned to its former glory. Influential entrepreneurs were among the guests, as well as high nobility – including Soraya, the former Empress of Persia. In around 1975, Wilhelm Sproll sold the hotel in Bad Wörishofen to the town. In 1981, the Lutz family bought the property and expanded it in the following years to become the first five-star superior hotel in Allgäu. It became a meeting place for the rich and famous. Entrepreneurial families such as the Siemens, Krupps, and Thyssens met in the classy hotel in Bad Wörishofen along with international jet setters. And now? Today, guests from near and far can look forward to a hotel with a pool, the highest level of enjoyment, and pure South Tyrolean joie de vivre.
