Kempinski dates the Prague relaunch to early 2027
Kempinski Hotels will open Augustine Hotel, Prague in early 2027. The group announced the date on 14 October 2026 from Prague. The property stands within the 13th-century Augustinian Monastery of St. Thomas in Mala Strana, the Lesser Town district beneath Prague Castle.
The hotel occupies seven historic buildings shaped by more than 800 years of history. Kempinski bought the asset earlier in 2026 and has run a repositioning of it since. The property sits inside a working monastery that the group describes as a living community of Augustinian monks.
The first purchase in more than fifty years
Kempinski announced the acquisition on 2 April 2026 from Geneva. The release calls the deal wholly owned and the group’s first acquisition in over 50 years, after the investment in Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich in 1970. Barbara Muckermann signed it as chief executive of Kempinski Group.
The same release sets the purchase inside a strategic shift towards an asset-heavier approach to the global portfolio. It describes the move as a step towards direct investment and ownership of landmark properties, so the group controls the guest experience from beginning to end. Muckermann calls the hotel a grand showcase for The Good Life as the future of Kempinski as an ultra luxury brand. The release adds that the property occupies a carefully delineated portion of the historic site.
Kempinski describes itself as Europe’s oldest luxury hospitality group.
One hundred and one keys across seven buildings
The hotel carries 101 guest rooms including 20 suites. Many of those rooms keep original vaulted ceilings and wooden beams from the monks’ former living quarters. Kempinski’s own property page carries the same count. That page adds speciality dining venues, two bar concepts, a spa, The Monastic Library, more than 400 square metres of event space and more than 650 square metres of terraces and gardens.
The October release names five signature suites: the Presidential Suite, the Monastery Suite, the Philosopher’s Stone Suite, the Charles Suite and the Fresco Suite. A three-level Tower Suite follows in a second phase. The release ties the Presidential Suite to Vaclav Havel and the Tower Suite to the astronomer Johannes Kepler.
The rebrand window has moved
The 14 October statement supersedes the group’s own earlier schedule. Kempinski’s property page for the hotel still read that it would rebrand under the Kempinski name in late 2026 after a design-led refurbishment, weeks after the October release moved the opening to early 2027.
La Revue des Hotels carried the Prague item in its 16 October 2026 edition. That record puts the relaunch under the brand in early 2027 and has the hotel staying open through the change. The asset trades under its pre-rebrand name until the flag changes.
The team the repositioning carries
LDS Design Studio leads the transformation, with Massimo Severo Barbera as creative director. Gorgeous Group and Russell Sage Studio develop the food and beverage concepts. The release describes a neighbourhood dining room called The Salon with a live piano programme and a brasserie zone. The bar sits in the monastery’s historic Refectory and runs a twelve-gate cocktail programme alongside St. Thomas dark lager.
The guest access programme is called The E.R.A.s, short for Experience Real Access. Kempinski describes it as a route into the city through insiders, craftspeople and local figures, delivered by the Resident Curators the release names.
The case Kempinski makes
Rasha Lababidi states the position the group is selling. “Augustine allows us to unlock something that is increasingly rare in luxury hospitality: genuine access to a living piece of history,” said Lababidi, chief product, experience and communications officer at Kempinski Group, in the October release.
Her title in the group’s April release reads chief product and experience officer. The October release adds communications to it. Lababidi also describes the collection as built on individual properties with local character, and says Augustine will become a physical and experiential representation of the Kempinski of the future.
The April release puts the property’s historical clientele among heads of state, cultural figures and global business leaders.
What a rate desk watches
Three dates decide the Prague entry. The rebrand moved from late 2026 to early 2027. The hotel stays open and trading through the repositioning. The 101 rooms, the 20 suites and the event space all remain in the market under the current name until the flag changes.
The release publishes no room categories, no room sizes and no rates for the relaunch. Those are the three items a pricing desk works from.