Kensington hotel plans crumble for Kempinski

German luxury hotel group Kempinski has finally abandoned its plan to open the London hotel it had earmarked as its first in the UK.

Kempinski's admission that it will not be opening in Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, comes after months of delays to a hotel that was supposed to be open by last Christmas.

The delays were previously described by Kempinski as a "building and development issue", although this week it was refusing to elaborate on the decision to pull out completely. A spokeswoman said the group could not say more for legal reasons.

One of the first signs that something was seriously wrong came when it was revealed in January that the hotel's first general manager, Carsten Rath, had quit, partly in disappointment at the delay (Caterer, 13 January, page 7). Rath moved to work for the Ritz-Carlton group.

But although Kempinski has abandoned its plans for the Harrington Gardens hotel, it still wants a London property.

Reto Wittwer, Kempinski president and chief executive officer, said: "The group is disappointed that our arrival in London has had to be postponed. However, as the project evolved we came to the conclusion that it no longer suited the Kempinski brand development strategy."

He added: "We remain determined to have a presence in London and we have renewed our efforts to find the right property in this important market."

Kempinski has 30 hotels worldwide including the Adlon in Berlin, Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg and the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul.

by David Harris