Company History

In 1982, by the initiative of Hans R. Müller, a group of hotels was brought together, in order to profit from centralised sales activities & reservations, under the umbrella of a hotel consortia.

International reservations by then were handled through UTELL INTERNATIONAL and various partners throughout Europe.
TOP International Hotels was established with a partnership of an existing group, named Welcome Chic Hotels in Switzerland, and in the year 1986 a separate operation under the name of TOP became active in Switzerland as well. Personal Service, highest knowledge of the international markets, long term partnerships and training/information, were the guide-lines of TOP from the beginning on, until today.

The continuing expansion of the company within Europe resulted in more than 200 hotel members in the home countries of Germany and Switzerland, and in all major countries & destinations in Europe. Offices were operated in Düsseldorf and Zürich, as well as in Oslo, Prague, Beirut, and Milan.

During the years 1995 until 1998 the company introduced their own reservation system TOP REZ, with an excellent partnership with Pegasus Solutions and UTELL INTERNATIONAL (for voice bookings), and introduced and promoted their own private label under the code: "TP".

Following this in 1998, TOP International Hotels in Switzerland merged with the former partner group: Welcome Chic Hotels, which resulted in the largest and leading hotel chain in Switzerland with over 80 Hotels.

Continuing growth and the request of the market situation and member hotels, made it essential to increase the services of the company, which at this time still offered the structure of a hotel consortia only. Following this a decision was taken to enlarge the existing services into the segments of hotel franchise & management.

Negotiations with other chains, finalized in a joint-venture with GOLDEN TULIP HOTELS, INNS & RESORTS in the year 2002. Keeping and expanding both brands: TOP INTERNATIONAL Hotels for consortia and GOLDEN TULIP HOTELS, INNS & RESORTS for franchising, brought the two groups together under the new company name: Golden Tulip Top - Hospitality Group -.

Beginning year 2004 the TOP-consortia Hotels rates 150 properties in Europe, whilst Golden Tulip-franchise Hotels quote 250 in Europe and around the world.

The new brand TOP City&CountryLine (TOP CCL) was created in 2003 and represents the TOP exclusive line. It lists "Private First Class & Luxury Hotels" in Germany and neighbouring Europe.

After 3 month of preperation TOP welcomes the new joint venture partner FAMILOTEL in 2006. The company represents 50 hotels in the three and four star cate­gory throughout 5 countries in Euro­pe. They are mainly based in beautiful and attractive leisure destinations. The concept is focused on holiday stays for parents with children in especially family friendly qualified hotels.

Furthermore in 2006 TOP INTERNATIONAL finalized in a joint-venture with VCH-Verband Christlicher Hoteliers e.V. which has been operating on the hotel market for over 100 years. The 3- and 4-star establishments and monasteries offers a wide spectrum for guests and this is a motivation for this partnership.

Beginning of the year 2009 Golden Tulip encountered financial problems and was offered on the market for sale. Even though TOP INTERNATIONAL was also bidding for the buy of Golden Tulip, Starwood Capital won the bid. With the new owners of Golden Tulip no synergies coulkd be found and with this the Joint Venture agreement between both parties has been ended in good faith by 2009 years end.

Starting in a new decade the com company´s portfolio is covering 250 hotels in Europe. The FAMILOTEL AG leaves the group of Corpoarte Partners and is replaced by the Austrian hotel group FALKENSTEINER Hotels & Residences, based in Vienna. This partnership is furthermore growing.

In the first half of 2011 the TOP own reservation system TOPREZ by PegasusSolutions will be upgraded to "next-generation" and with this guarantees to offer its members again the newest technology in reservation systems worldwide.
Market leader in the wellness segment is wellnessfinder.com. TOP INTERNATIONAL takes over the ownership of this portal in June 2011 and increases its portfolio, due to the hotels under this umbrella agreement, to the total number of 400.