History

Bright, lively and full of energy - this is how Heimathafen® Hotels has been sweeping through the hotel world for almost a decade. Do you remember our beginnings? How it all began, from beach motels to the Bretterbude to new horizons? To mark this year's anniversary, we have rummaged through our box of memories - a treasure chest full of brilliant moments, milestones and great emotions. Fancy a fast-paced journey through time? Then join us!

Once upon a time, a long time ago. That's how most fairy tales begin. And the success story of Heimathafen® Hotels can also be described as a fairy tale. Except that it is not a fairy tale, but the result of hard and tireless work.

In the beginning, more than ten years ago, there was an idea - we need a place for all these open-air artists to stay. A cool hotel that conveys exactly what we see here in St. Peter-Ording every day: Life is good, life is a beach!

An idea that Jens Sroka, managing owner and creative mind behind all the visions, had. As a true local in SPO, he sensed the vibe early on and had the desire to open a hotel of a different kind.
With the necessary expertise and a great deal of courage, he took the plunge and, after a few hurdles, opened the BEACH MOTEL ST. PETER-ORDING in March 2013.
A hip feel-good place for anyone who wants to live life in a relaxed and casual way instead of conforming to any constraints. Relaxed, approachable, just put your feet up - that's the motto. With this new lightness of touch, we are also saying goodbye to the formal "you" and opting for the familiar "you" for everyone - an approach that many people, including our crew, have had to get used to. Incidentally, we didn't have much time to get used to it. The hotel made waves straight away and we were delighted with the response, even from guests who weren't even on our radar. Right from the start, the relaxed beach style also won over holidaymakers who wanted to live the casual lifestyle - but didn't want to miss out on the right amount of quality.

So far, everything has been tip-top - because more than one hotel was not planned. So let's sit back and relax. But as things always turn out differently than planned, we didn't sit back, but continued at full throttle. This time at the Baltic Sea, in Heiligenhafen.

Originally, we applied for the smaller of two available plots. The plan: a second beach motel. But when the investors next door backed out, we spontaneously changed our plans, pulled something else out of our hat and snapped up both plots. Our idea: the BRETTERBUDE! A hotel for the young and young at heart. Small, affordable rooms, fresh and cheeky, just for real Halunk:innen.
With this decision, we put all our eggs in one basket! And we made a precision landing.

Ahoy, in August 2016 the time had come and the BRETTERBUDE HEILIGENHAFEN celebrated its opening! An exciting event during which we learnt a lot. For example, our self-service system in the beach shed didn't work at all. We quickly realised: you want to be served by us. So, we changed the catering principle. If you don't have much going wrong in your life, then you don't have much going on in your life. Oh well.

But that wasn't enough, because we still had a second, much larger plot of land that we wanted to build on. Due to the size of the second plot, we not only planned the BEACH MOTEL HEILIGENHAFEN, which opened in 2016, but also took the whole thing one step further. May we introduce: the BEACHAPARTMENTS. These celebrated their opening one year later, in 2017. We stayed true to our philosophy and created an atmosphere that is just as stylish and cosy as the Beach Motel, but with an extra dose of privacy. Thanks to our experience from SPO, we already knew that we were on the right track to fulfil your expectations. But of course we didn't want it to be a copycat, so we made everything a little more spacious, for example. After all, there was more than enough space.

With three houses at different locations, the organisational effort has really increased enormously, so we looked for and found an efficient solution.
A centralised reservation system! Where? In the centre - the beautiful Hanseatic city of Hamburg - logical, right?
But that didn't solve all the problems, because there was still no real unity.
The houses fit together, but somehow they don't really belong together yet. So we needed "proof". And what could be better than a website on which all the hotels could be found under one name: HEIMATHAFEN ® HOTELS. Not as an umbrella brand, but much more as a connection that makes all the hotels strong. That was the idea of the creative mind, Jens Sroka, of the whole thing.

2017 was already an exciting year and now would actually be the time to take a breath.

But once the ball starts rolling, you can't stop it and so 2019 saw the opening of the FLIEGERDEICH HOTEL & RESTAURANT in Wilhelmshaven, a boutique hotel with 13 rooms, a first-class restaurant and a direct waterfront location.

As we were in such a good flow and you have to seize opportunities when they arise, we opened another new hotel in 2019. The LIGHTHOUSE HOTEL & SPA in Büsum, where we were able to perfectly realise our vision of a chic hotel designed like a small harbour town on the site of the former Kurmittelhaus. The lighthouse was naturally a fitting element in the planning.

This is where our passion for unique concepts becomes more than clear.

But Büsum immediately appealed to us and it quickly became clear that we still had a lot planned here.

The years 2022 and 2023 brought us another BRETTERBUDE and further BEACH APARTMENTS.

Our customised concepts should actively contribute to the further positive development of the location and emphasise its individual character. The Bretterbude and the Beach Apartments in the North Sea Edition are a perfect fit for Büsum.

We have successfully conquered the North and East? So a new challenge was needed.

Of course, a city hotel. But not just any hotel. As standard is not our thing, it became a hotel in the centre of Hamburg's historic Münzviertel district. But much more than a hotel, it is a place of togetherness. A circus of the future and - above all - a house that builds fountains. This fact is not least due to our partner Viva con Agua. Known for its social commitment, the VILLA VIVA, which we were able to open at the end of 2023, also places charity at the top of its agenda.

Well, what now... It looks like we're setting sail for Wilhelmshaven again.

You know us, it won't be boring. Stay tuned!