46 suites. One team. One family.
The people behind your stay.
Behind this house stands no hotel chain, no corporation, no anonymous investor.
The team that greets you at reception still remembers which suite you had last time — and whether you prefer your breakfast early or late.
A house with 46 suites is not an anonymous hotel. It is a place where you know your guests.
People who stay — and guests who come back.
A house is only as good as the people who work in it every day. At Aqua Aurelia, that is a team built with care: calm, warm, without sharp elbows. Those who start here often stay a long time.
"Even though it was our first time at the hotel, we felt as though we had been regular guests for years." — Guest review, Google
Katharina Bender
Hotel Manager, Trainer, Driving Digitalisation
Katharina Bender studied at KIT and completed her Master's degree. After that, she chose Aqua Aurelia — as the thing she truly wanted to do.
She took the hotel management journeyman's examination with real enthusiasm. Today she coordinates operations, trains apprentices and drives the digitalisation of the house. So that the team has more time for guests — and the personal touch stays where it belongs.
Her son Johannes will start school soon. You might still spot him in the office now and then — the next generation is close at hand.
Svenja Parrisius-Kröger
Deputy Director
Svenja has been at Aqua Aurelia since 2018, serving as Deputy Director throughout. With hospitality experience from earlier positions, she looks after what keeps operations running: orders, logistics, repairs, staff matters. If something in the hotel runs smoothly, Svenja usually organised it.
Where Katharina leads the way, Svenja goes into the detail — she is the one who makes sure that what was announced actually happens.
She represents the house at trade fairs and training events and takes care of the things that nobody else has on their radar. As a guest, you may not notice much of it — because it simply works.
Marisa Neer
Head of Reception
Marisa trained at Aqua Aurelia and has been here ever since — almost as long as Katharina Bender herself. "The calm in the storm," Katharina calls her — and anyone who has seen her run reception on a busy weekend understands at once.
She reads the mood at the front desk, listens, finds a solution. Sometimes a different one from what Katharina or Svenja would have chosen — but always one that holds. Her team knows: when Marisa is on duty, things run. She passes on that steadiness and clarity — to colleagues, and to every guest who arrives.
When Marisa is working, Katharina can truly switch off — go on holiday without being called. "In our industry, that is a rarity." Sometimes, Katharina says, things are even better organised when she gets back.
She is the face you see when you arrive. And often the person returning guests mean when they say: "Do give our regards to Marisa."
Giulia Palazzo
Restaurant Manager
Giulia comes from high-volume gastronomy. Before she joined us, she ran shifts of 300 covers an evening, for many years, intensely. That shapes an attitude: it works. Always. She believes in her team, and her team believes in itself. That is what you sometimes cannot name as a guest, but feel.
Giulia's own view of the restaurant sums it up: "We want to be a bistro — but one that operates at restaurant level."
Freshly prepared egg dishes, honey from Geroldsau, bread and rolls from Confiserie Böckeler, wine and Sekt from Affenthal — Giulia keeps an eye on every order. She stands at the buffet in the morning and knows what goes on the table and why.
With Giulia, breakfast is allowed to take its time. Nobody is moved from the table because the next shift is waiting. Families with small children are served first — so that the parents can eat in peace afterwards.
Gabriela Horvath
Head Housekeeper
Gabi — as everyone here calls her — runs the housekeeping. Her team is permanently employed in the house, not outsourced. Every member of staff has her own floor and knows the suites she looks after. Some returning guests already ask at booking for "their" floor — because they know who keeps it in order.
Gabi's strength is that you don't see her work. She is the calm that carries the team: mediates conflicts, looks after new colleagues, holds everything together. On a busy Sunday in high season, 30 check-outs and 20 check-ins come through — and it works, because Gabi knows how.
The roots of the house
Rainer and Regina Bender
When you walk through Aqua Aurelia today, you walk through a house that Rainer and Regina Bender designed themselves — from the very beginning, down to the last detail.
Rainer is a qualified engineer and independent architect. His starting point was a simple observation: anyone who lives at home on 200 square metres should not have to squeeze into 20 on holiday. So he designed a house where the smallest suite is 35 square metres.
And when he discovered that the underground car park of the Caracalla Therme ran directly beneath the plot, he created an underground passage through which guests now walk to the thermal water in their bathrobes.
Regina grew up in the Black Forest, where hospitality was not a service but second nature. As an architect, she and Rainer were responsible for the conversion of Baden-Oos railway station — recognised as "Station of the Year" in 2010.
Aqua Aurelia was the realisation of her own degree thesis. What she brought from the Black Forest can be felt in the house — a calm in dealing with guests that does not feel rehearsed.
Today the house is in the hands of the next generation. Rainer and Regina are still here — advising, supporting, visible when they are needed.
"You can tell that the architect family runs the hotel themselves. Family-run in the best sense." — Guest review, Google
What makes this house
This house was built because time is too precious to spend on compromises. What pleases us most are the guests who write at Christmas — without a booking, just because. Who ask at check-out how our trainees' exams went. Who send back a forgotten key card with a little note.
That is how a house comes about where people know each other. Where guests become people who come back. We wish exactly that for you, too.
If you would like to become part of this team: Careers at Aqua Aurelia →
Your team at Aqua Aurelia
and the Bender family