 Following the conclusion of the Second World War in Europe, a number of formerly German military hotels and resort complexes were taken over by the United States Army and put into use as R&R centers for the benefit of the soldiers stationed there.While these older hotels served this purpose well for many years, they also became expensive to continue to maintain.In the spring of 2000, the U.S. Army and members of the United States Congress approved plans to construct a modern resort hotel in the Bavarian resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.