Sie once again placed a mouse in the middle of the foyer. Kléopatre, the house cat of the “Brenners Park-Hotel” in Baden-Baden, was successful last night hunting in the adjacent spa garden and wants to let her hotel family participate. “Fortunately, the rodent was no longer alive,” says receptionist Maximilian Busch, who removed the corpus deliciti with the dustpan. It’s not the first token of love that he’s had to discreetly remove. Kléo, as everyone here calls her, is often on the prowl and guests don’t want to stumble upon her gifts to the staff.
Huntress Kléo, meanwhile, who has a white vest per se due to her light fur, sits under the large, red canopy in the entrance area of the hotel and brushes her whiskers. Locals and tourists stand in awe of the beautiful animal. She scrutinizes everyone with her sky-blue eyes and then, unimpressed, continues to care for her body.
“Many of our guests hope to see Kléo during their stay and are happy when she shows up,” says Bärbel Göhner, Head of Communications at “Brenner”. “Children write letters to her, one regular guest even wanted to be greeted first by her and then by the hotel manager.” The animal has no place in the dining rooms or hotel rooms, explains Göhner in a stern voice. Sometimes, if the cat is caught in an unauthorized part of the hotel, an attendant will carry it back to the lobby in a bag.
The elegance of the cat suits the luxury hotel
Other first-class hotels also rely on animal ambassadors, as they make the luxurious atmosphere much more approachable. Occasionally, dogs greet guests; For example, in the western Canadian “Fairmont Hotel Vancouver” Labrador Elly and Golden Retriever mix Ella. Or in the Newfoundland “Fogo Island Inn” the huge Newfoundland dog Break. “He likes it when you pet him behind the ears and on his stomach,” an Instagram post reveals to prospective visitors. Or terrier lady Tinka, who is the tail-wagging mascot at The Westin Leipzig.
Even French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated the birth of Socrate, the tomcat of the Paris five-star superior hotel “Le Bristol”.
Which: The Bristol
But it’s mostly cats whose silent elegance fits perfectly with the cultivated flair of posh hostels. With their sovereignty and innate affinity for maximum comfort, these animals, already deified in ancient Egypt, stand for the demands of the discerning – just think of Choupette, the prominent cat of the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
When Socrate, the tomcat of Paris’ five-star superior hotel Le Bristol, was born last year, it was a momentous event. Even France’s head of state wrote his congratulations, as a hotel employee explains: “We sent President Emmanuel Macron Socrates’ birth announcement and he kindly congratulated us on the new arrival.” The postman did not have to go far: the Élysée Palace is like “Le Bristol” on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
Lilibet, hotel cat at The Lanesborough in London, poses in front of flowers
Quelle: The Lanesborough
There is also a posh hotel with an Aristocat in Great Britain: Hotel cat Lilibet has been residing in London’s “The Lanesborough” since 2019, within sight of Buckingham Palace, the new official residence of King Charles III. The representative of the Siberian cat breed always wears a collar with a gold plaque stamped with the hotel address. Should she get lost on the royal estate, palace officials could safely escort her back – or Charles himself, who is a self-confessed animal lover.
How Cléopatre came to Baden-Baden from Paris
Back to the “Brenners” in Baden-Baden. For more than 150 years, the wealthy and famous, including nobles and politicians, have stayed here. The English King Edward VII, an ancestor of Charles III, stayed here at the end of the 19th century, as did King Chulalongkorn of Siam and the industrialist Henry Ford. Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle prepared the Franco-German friendship treaty here in 1962, Barack Obama met Angela Merkel at the 2009 NATO summit. And since 2017, at the personal invitation of the hotel manager, the one who has been the uncrowned queen of Baden-Baden since then has been staying here: Kléo.
The fluffy fur is deceptive – Kléo’s diet is made to ensure that it does not accumulate fat
Source: Brenners
She is now strutting through the elegant ambience of her hotel, past oil paintings, period furniture and opulent floral arrangements, directly towards the elevators. Receptionist Busch immediately rushes over. He claims, “She wants to go to the fifth floor.” Busch pushes the button, and when the lift arrives, Kléo graciously allows them to go up five floors together. On her favorite floor, a window is open in the hallway, offering a magnificent view of the Black Forest. You can hear birds chirping, the cat looks interested.
Busch knows the exact background that led to Kléo moving into the “Brenners”: The cat lady has had an unhappy love story in Paris. Like Lagerfeld’s Choupette, Kléopatre is a Burmese saint. This cat breed is traditionally bred in France. Kléo was also born in the Grande Nation in 2014.
She moved into the already mentioned hotel “Le Bristol” in Paris, where, probably also for reasons of offspring, there was hope for a liaison between her and the Birman house cat Fa-Raon. Now retired, he had a reputation for being a women’s darling. Singer Mireille Mathieu let him sit on her lap while she gave interviews in the hotel. However, Kléo and Fa-Raon didn’t seem to get along at all, “he didn’t accept the poor thing, and is said to have given one or the other paw slap,” says Busch.
Sometimes Kléo is also carried around the hotel in a bag
Source: Brenners
When Frank Marrenbach, the director of “Brenner” at the time, was visiting “Le Bristol”, he heard about Kléo’s fate with love scamp Fa-Raon and offered her a new start in the form of a permanent residence in his home in Baden. Both houses belong to the same luxury hotel chain, the Oetker Collection. The move was decided and properly organized: when Cléopatre arrived in the spa town, the 260-strong staff lined up in a trellis, inspected the premises, found them befitting their rank and settled down.
Taken to the hotel in a limousine
Since then, the Parisian has been dearly loved in her new home. When she got lost in the extensive grounds of the Baden-Baden Kurpark in her early days, the excitement was great. But fortunately there had already been reports in the local press about the pedigree cat. This was remembered at the shelter where Kléo ended up and reported to the hotel. The concierge insisted on personally picking her up in a hotel limousine.
If Kléo is driven, then of course in the hotel limousine
Source: Brenners
As a permanent guest, Kléo has a permanent home: her basket is in a quiet alcove. However, the French woman takes her afternoon nap at her favorite place with the employees, in a basket with waste paper in the office. Her food bowl is also there, because she likes to eat in company. When feeding her – a balanced diet of organic wet and dry food – care is taken to ensure that she does not gain any fat. After all, she should continue to resemble the plush Kléopatres that the hotel shop sells as a souvenir for her many fans when they have to say goodbye to her when they leave.
This is what will become of Choupette
Besides fashion, Karl Lagerfeld had a great love: his cat Choupette. The cat is said to have built up a small fortune with advertising contracts and can continue to live well without her master.