Prague - 7
Girlahead returned to The Augustine, which has been Luxury Collection for some years. Now it's operating white-labeled for, come early 2027, it emerges as a glorious refurbished and renovated Kempinski. Yes, it's now owned by Kempinski. The company bought it from Azimut owner Alexander Klyachin, working in partnership with Erste Group Bank AG EGB as GledenInvest.
Augustine is also still a 100% working Augustine monastery, with six resident monks - you can see where they live, in the background of the photo above. Shown standing are the hotel’s interim GM, Russia-born Alexei Jarichin on the left, and Frenchman Sebastien Mariette, the important Kempinski overseer, who parachuted in from his Bahrain base to coincide with Girlahead (there were, by the way, lots of tourists staying during this no-brand time).
Wide undecorated cream corridors and natural wood doors are a continuous reminder that this is a totally holy place. It’s almost as if you hold your breath waiting for the Gregorian chants, or at least Augustinian chants to begin. Will it be bread and water, and silence, again for dinner?
In fact, dinner in the courtyard was a very pleasant, relaxing occasion. The courtyard is bordered on one side by the all-glass walls and ceiling of an extension to the inside dining room. This extension was up before new planning rules prohibited any alteration to a protected building. These glass walls have therefore to stay in the extensive renovation that will be done in the next few months. There were probably twelve tables outside, and it was pleasant. Some birds flew over. Tables were set with white linens white SchörhuberFranchi (sic) china, and Hepp cutlery. The starter everyone chose was a variety of red, yellow, Greek tomatoes and quark. Nice, healthy and good-looking plate. Individual platters had already come with potato brioche and a dipping sauce and butter. They followed by triangles of wholemeal bread, some Czech chefs, schnitzel into what looks like a mini tower, where the kitchen here presented it in the usual way, flattened with a kind of tarpaulin over it, covering, keeping it grounded, so to speak, in case it tried to fly away.
There was no sign of the monks, and you didn't hear neighboring tables’ talk. The conversation at Girlahead's table ranged from frog and the future to what's happening in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia, and where which hoteliers are now. The networking amongst the industry gets more and more important as life generally becomes more fractured. And several people now say: Your network is your net worth. And those who have not yet entered the hospitality industry don't realize what a great group of international friends they're going to acquire for the rest of their lives.
Hotel suite #224 is a challenging space, 35 old steps up from the lobby level, is quite a room. There's not much they can do with it other than make it into a suite, because it is such a l-o-n-g space, jutting out from the main building. Therefore, the space for a dining room with round table for six, with a half bath leading off it. There's a kitchenette, through a walk-in closet, through the sitting room with two big four-seat sofas, then bedroom, bathroom. The whole space has 12 windows.It’s comfortable and it works – cosy is not part of this brand’s DNA. Actually thre's a beautifully wrapped copy of Kempinski: The Good Life by Paul Theroux. Foreword by Barbara Markham: he’s a darned good writer and this tome will stand out from the deluge of. Mature masters of hotel keeping currently, and somewhat surprisingly, hitting the shelves right now.
And so, says Girlahead, The Augustine is Prague’s wild-card hotel. What will it look like after its renovation? What is certain is that the American monk, Father William, 90, and his five partners will continue as always to wave their magic wand of beatitude.
