The history of the hotel

Thursday 26. may 1955, after ten years of energetic work, Svendborg could finally open the first Marshall-hotel outside of copenhagen.   Shortly after the occupation, a group af citizens with consul and ship owner A. E. Sørensen, consul Baagøe-Riber, solicitor Tranberg-Jensen, first vice mayor and later mayor, factory owner E. Halberg, managing director P. M. Pedersen, mayor Ferdinand Jensen and justice ministerA. C. H. Elmquist led the way with the preparations.   At the end of 1945, a first general meeting of the new hotel board of directors was held.

An amount of DKK 700.000 was taken out in shares for the new international hotel. This was made possible through the gift of one million kroners worth of Marshall help.

The hotel was to be situated between Gerritsgade and Tinghusgade, which involved the local authorities buying up property with demolition in mind.

In the autumn of 1954, a topping-out ceremony was held, and in May 1955, the first guests stayed at Hotel Svendborg, which sat in lonesome state on the great square. The cinema adjacent to the four-story building had to hand over the rental income in support of the hotel, and in this way the local authorities supported the great local enterprice.

For about 25 years, Hotel Svendborg was the leading hotel of the town, but then problems arose. The earnings decreased, and there was not sufficient mony for renovations at a time whwn other facilities were in demand. Factory owner, Jørgen Halberg, who together with his father, factory owner, E Halberg, had presented the hotel with a beautiful visitor's bool, then bought the hotel for DKK 3.5 million and invested in a new decade with a total renovation andextension of the room wing and the meeting rooms, Damsbo and Mullerup, which were opened in 1985.

Then Kedelsmedestræde 12 ("the small yellow house") was bought, renovated and laid out with the small court yard and set up as the managing director's home..

Since then many projects have been under way - renovations and extensions, which have made the hotel what it is today: a four-star hotel of international standards..

In 1994, when Svendborg hosted the large DGI sports meeting, the hotel, which had originally been whit, was painted different shades of red. The corner section towards Tinghusgade was incorporated - here an oddice for the managing director was built, and the outdoor glass elevator was installed - amidst great attention from the town's citizens

In order to expand futher, in time with the town's needs and the demand of the time for hotel rooms and conference facilities, a "bazar" building containing an electrisiab's shop, a hair dresser and a sewing shop and a tree-storey building in Kedelsmedstræde were bought in 1999 and torn down in the summer of 2000.

In July 2001, the addition in Tinghusgade and Kedelsmedestræde was opened containing 16 double rooms, one bridal suite, one business suite, an atrium yard, ten meeting rooms and two large conference rooms, Broholm 1 and Broholm 2 contaning all the latest in technical aids - and two shops on the ground floor towards Tinghusgade were rented out to a hair dresser and the real estate agency HOME.

In connection with this extension, the hotel parking lot was also enlarged, and below the new extension an undercover parking lot was established with room for 25 cars.

Futher plans of extending at the other end of the hotel towards the public swimming poll were halted by the position of the cinema, Scala. But as it also needed urgent renovations and extensions of auditoriums, Hotel Svendborg bought the "air space" above Scalafrom Svendborg Kommune which entitled them to build there - if/when Scala renovated - but within two year - and with an extra reinforced site cinstruction, which could support the superstructure of Hotel Svendborg.

Scala renovated i 2001, and 1. August Hotel Svendborg started building the superstructure.

In March 2002, the last wing, which is three storys above the Scala Cinema, was opened containing 30 bouble rooms, of which 16 are connected, so they can be used as apartments.

Thus, Hotel Svendborg has 133 rooms, all with bath and toilet, TV, Pay-TV and minibar.