The Grand Green family hotel promises endless fun. What about the parents?

The drive from Berlin to Oberhof took less than four hours, but by the final kilometres the visiting family had slipped into a strangely hysterical travel mood. The parents and their nine-year-old and five-year-old laughed and shouted together as the road wound through the Thuringian Forest.

The trigger was a series of warning signs for rumble strips. Each barely noticeable bump became an event. “Rumble strips!!” the family cried, reacting to the road as if they were riding a roller coaster.

Perhaps, the article suggests, they simply could not go on any longer. Their destination was The Grand Green in Oberhof, considered Germany’s most expensive family hotel. The children recover wonderfully there. The more difficult question is what the experience does for the parents.

The article asks whether the luxury family hotel fulfills its promise of giving parents relief while making children happy. It also considers what the success of a hotel like this says about the daily lives and longings of its guests.