A look back sharpens the view forward!
The story of ROBINSON begins in 1970. Two men, Friedrich Engel and Wolfgang Arthur Mankel, had an idea: they wanted to create the first German-speaking club of premium quality worldwide. “Great idea!” thought TUI and Steigenberger Hotel AG, and they founded Robinson Club GmbH. On January 1, 1971, the time had come. The first ROBINSON Club opened on Fuerteventura. And with it came the first ROBINSON team: from the very beginning, around 150 employees created an informal, relaxed, and welcoming atmosphere on the Canary Island.
Other important milestones in ROBINSON Club history
The world of ROBINSON
In 1974, the first resort designed entirely by ROBINSON is put into operation in Kenya. In 1989, ROBINSON becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of TUI. In 2000, ROBINSON opens its first club in Germany. Since then, ROBINSON has focused on growth and welcomed many new clubs into the ROBINSON family. As a result, the number of employees has also grown steadily; today there are around 5,000 worldwide!
1993: The ROBIN is born
The great sense of togetherness of our employees is certainly also based on the common name: The term "ROBIN" first came up in 1993 in a workshop with Thomas Ulrich, the HR manager at the time. Today, all ROBINS worldwide are called this, regardless of which club they work in and what they do there. The colors white and blue have also been worn uniformly by ROBINS since 1995.
The job worlds are growing continuously
The eight different departments today have grown historically. In the beginning, there was sports animation (gymnastics, water gymnastics, volleyball, bocce, darts, shuffleboard), children's animation, tennis, water sports, diving and our shows in the evenings. The Wellness & Fitness area, for example, was added in the 90s. The range of services for guests and thus also the opportunities for employees at ROBINSON gradually expanded. In the meantime, people with the most diverse qualifications and talents work for us - a colorful pool of talent!
Finding "types": Recruiting times historically
While today the majority of applicants become aware of us on the internet and we only accept online applications, this was quite different in the past. We advertised diligently in the major daily newspapers. In order to find "types," as we called it back then, we also placed ads in various city magazines, such as Zitty-Berlin or Pflasterstrand Frankfurt. In 1986, we then launched the castings, which are still an integral part of our recruiting today.
"When I was hired in 1979, I had an appointment with Claus Finger, the founder of animation, as we used to call the field, at ROBINSON in his completely smoky office. He probably smoked about 80 cigarettes a day," remembers Dr. Andreas "Olli" Oltrogge - former club director at the ROBINSON SOMA BAY in Egypt ... That's how times change ...
And the future? We want to grow!
Our declared goal for the next few years: We want to grow! More clubs, fantastic new destinations and thus exciting opportunities for our employees! The new ROBINSON Club Djerba Bahiya in Tunisia, which opened in 2015, was our starting signal for this. We have great new countries in mind where we are looking for suitable hotels and properties.
The range of resorts will be expanded further in the future. Following the successful opening of ROBINSON NAM HOI AN in Vietnam, another resort opened in Austria in July 2025: ROBINSON FIEBERBRUNN in the Kitzbühel Alps. Further new additions are planned for 2026/2027 in Cape Verde (Boa Vista) and Zanzibar.