The glittering futuristic property "The Squaire" at Frankfurt Airport is 660 metres long. The Hilton group opened not just one but two hotels there at the end of 2011 – the Hilton Frankfurt Airport and the neighbouring Hilton Garden Inn.
From the hotel a pedestrian bridge leads directly to Terminal 1 at the airport; in the lobby monitors hooked up directly to the airport system deliver full flight information to guests in real time. The name of the 140,000 square metre property, for which the words square and air have been combined, sounds rather futuristic. 2,000 panes of glass enclose this masterpiece of statics and construction engineering. Since the long-distance railway station at Frankfurt Airport is located underground, The Squaire could only be built nine stories high.
The main advantage of most airport hotels is that guests can depart from them again as quickly as possible. The building at Frankfurt Airport, in which the Hilton group has ensconced two hotels at once, also looks like a gigantic monument to mobility. Everyone can get there and leave again at any time – by car, by long-distance rail, by air, by bus, by metropolitan rail. Hotel supremo Charles Muller points to the many cars, trains and planes that can be seen arriving. "No, noise is not a problem." And indeed, you can hear hardly anything at all. Here, in the eye of the traffic flows, it is surprisingly calm.
The Hilton Frankfurt Airport boasts 249 guest rooms costing between EUR 199 and 499. At the neighbouring 334-room Hilton Garden Inn rates range between EUR 119 and 329. The Hilton is geared more to a first-class clientele, for whom it provides a huge ballroom that replicates the shape and silvery glitter of The Squaire on a smaller scale, like a building within a building, and holds almost 600 people. Business Class guests stop over at the Garden Inn. This has no porters, and instead of a minibar there is a mini market in the lobby.
The Hilton's "Rise" restaurant focuses strongly on bread – something of a rather exotic theme in up-market gastronomy. But in all nine countries he has worked in so far, Dutch-born Muller insists, German bread signalled the upper end of the scale. For Germans it speaks strongly of home, for all other diners it is something typically German.
All bedrooms, both in the Hilton and the Garden Inn, have sockets into which American, British and EU-standard electrical equipment fits. Guests can adjust the firmness of the mattresses to suit their personal requirements.
Two brand names from the Hilton Worldwide portfolio in the same location is something quite unique in Europe. Muller speaks in this context of a "cluster". "We see it as a model for the future that makes sense from a cost aspect and for guests too. Clients are always happier when they have more choice."
Also housed in the huge silver bullet reminiscent of a space ship – alongside the two hotels as The Squaire's main tenants – are offices of management consultants KPMG and Lufthansa. Once all the tenants have taken up residence some 7,000 people will have their place of employment in 'New Work City'.
Like many other major construction projects, the building has of course not been completed on time and has considerably overrun its budget. First of all the general contractor had to be replaced, then substandard steel and faulty escalators from China. Consequently The Squaire will finally be finished almost two years later than scheduled. And instead of the EUR 660 million originally pencilled in, it will cost more than a billion.
Hilton man Muller hopes that the superb location will also drum up extra demand. Particularly in the winter, being situated at an airport gives an hotelier a special advantage – at least when the weather is bad. "Delayed flights and missed connections constantly offer airport hotels sales openings, because people have to spend the night somewhere."
