A hotel with a rich history
To tell our story from its very beginning, we must return to the early 19th century. At the site of today's City Hotel, there once stood the renowned restaurant "Pri Bitencu", where the greatest Slovenian poet France Prešeren was a regular customer. In 1899, the restaurant was torn down and replaced by the family-owned Hotel Štrukelj in 1903. The hotel itself soon became an important landmark of Ljubljana.
The Štrukelj family didn't have any children, so the hotel was inherited by a nephew, Jernej Černe, who took over and expanded the hotel's operations. Jernej Černe and his wife Frančiška had four children: Marija Ana (Marjanca), Meta, Jernej Janez (John) and Marko, each of whom was to play a role in the workings of the hotel. During World War II, the neighbouring Grand Hotel Union came under Italian occupation, compelling one of its permanent guests, Nikolaj Krajc (Niko), a lumber trader from Grahovo, to take up residence at hotel Štrukelj. He fell in love with Marjanca and married her in May of 1945. But their carefree days of romance didn't last. During the political turbulence that followed, hotel Štrukelj closed down in 1946 and the family was forced to leave the country.
In 1949, the hotel opened again under its new name - Hotel Turist. The following years saw continued development as new floors and new rooms were added. In the 1980s, the Turist discotheque in the hotel basement became a synonym for the best party in town.
After Slovenia gained its independence, the hotel was returned to the Krajc family, which renamed it to City Hotel Ljubljana. The original building dating from 1905 was torn down and replaced with a new one, which opened its doors to the public in 2007. The hotel's main guests, Nikolaj, and Marjanca Krajc, once again gave it a soul and left their personal mark here.
Today, City Hotel Ljubljana is owned by Elephant group d.o.o. and is part of a successful tourism story together with its sister hotel, Best Western Premier Hotel Slon. Together, the hotels offer 370 rooms at an elite location in the centre of the city and are famous for their genuine hospitality and rich tradition.