History and host

The present-day hotel “Am Rosenhügel” has its roots only a couple of hundred meters away on the Uferstraße in Cochem/Cond. Here you can find the childhood home of Hildegard Rupp, the hotel “Haus Sonn´schein”. It was built by the parents Marlis and Erich Goebel in 1952 right after their wedding. Father Erich was wine-grower and since 1956 the family ran a small “Straußwirtschaft”, a little restaurant, where the home-grown wine was served with small meals which were prepared by mother Marlis. In 1958, the “Straußwirtschaft” grew into a café and later was turned into a restaurant. Here, mother Marlis spoiled the guests with regional delicacies and homemade cakes. Of course, the home-grown wine was still served and sold. At the same time the house was expanded and turned into the hotel “Haus Sonn´schein”. In 1954, the oldest daughter Marie-Luise was born, in 1957 followed son Hans-Peter and in 1961 daughter Hildegard. The children grew up in the hotel and learned all about the Moselle-typical hospitality. When they got old enough they started to help their parents in the hotel. Both daughters decided to study gastronomic occupations. Marie-Luise studied at the college of hotel management at the Tegernsee and became a master of gastronomic business.

 She was the first of the three children to start working at the hotel. After getting married in 1976 she took over the family business together with her husband. Hildegard took up a gastronomic profession, too and worked in her parents’ hotel between 1977 and 1984. Because of the growing tourism in the region, father Erich decided to build a new hotel away from the flood endangered Uferstraße. In 1976, the present-day hotel “Am Rosenhügel” was opened. It owes its name to the viticulture “Conder Rosenberg” on which the hotel was built. In the beginning the “Rosenhügel” was run by Marlis and Erich while Marie-Luise and her husband still managed “Haus Sonn´schein”. In 1988, “Haus Sonn´schein” was sold. As Marlis had to give up work due to medical reasons, father Erich continued the business with his daughter Marie-Luise and his son in law. Additional to her work in the hotel Marie-Luise took further education and became a teacher for chefs and hoteliers at the vocational school in Cochem.

Due to changing expectations of tourists in a modern hotel, the family decided to break new ground. Originally planned and used only as a B&B the concept of the “Rosenhügel” was changed by building a new kitchen and offering the guests the possibility to have dinner in an in-house restaurant. As another part of the modernisations a conservatory was built. As part of the restaurant the winter garden offers the guest an amazing view of the Moselle and the Reichsburg Cochem. In 1996, the hotel “Am Rosenhügel” became a member of the “Flair Kooperation”. 

This cooperation ensures a high quality for the guests by keeping the hoteliers up-to-date about gastronomic trends and news. After getting married to Josef Rupp in 1985, Hildegard, the youngest child of Marlis and Erich had moved to Schwalbach in the Saarland, where her husband worked as a mine mechanician. In Schwalbach their daughters Petra (1986) and Monika (1988) were born. In 1998 Hildegard returned to her family in Cochem. She took over the lead in the kitchen while her husband, who was still working in the Saarland, started to take care of the hotel’s technical tasks and the outdoor area. He built an outdoor pool, a sunbathing area and turned the hotel’s outdoor area into a beautiful place to relax and unwind. Since 2001, when Erich retired from the hotel management, the two sisters Marie-Luise and Hildegard were managing the hotel together. Until he was 94 years old, Erich still helped his daughters in the hotel and greeted the many regular guests (some of them have been guests and friends for decades) every morning. The third generation of the hotel is in safe hands with Monika, Hildegard’s daughter. In 2004 Monika studied at the college of hotel management in Bad Reichenhall. Between 2005 and 2009 she trained to be a chef in the hotel “Steigenberger” in Bad Pyrmont and worked in several renowned restaurants like “Bareiss” in Bayersbronn.

In 2010, she took classes at the vocational school in Cochem and got her vocational diploma the same year. At school she got to know her future husband Andy Neyer. In October 2010 Monika travelled to Australia for half a year on a work and travel visa. In Apollo Bay at the Great Ocean road she worked in a Lodge and a popular fish restaurant.