Hotel berhampiran Der Baum von Freigehege, Cologne

I stayed for 2 nights on a trip through Europe. The hotel is centrally located, just a few minutes walk from the beautiful Cologne Cathedral. What I liked: The great location. The friendly staff. Exceptionally clean. Great Breakfast with lots on offer. Easily accessible. The bed was comfortable. What I didn’t like: The room I was given was tiny with no window. It was so so hot and sadly that affected my sleep. The room had air conditioning but it didn’t work and just circulated hot air. However, the kind man on reception offered me another room, but I was already settled and for such a short stay didn’t want to pack everything up again. Regardless of that, I’d be happy to stay here again and the price I paid was incredibly reasonable, being so close to the centre of the city.

Das Hotel liegt in Köln recht zentral. Auch die Möglichkeit direkt im Hotel zu frühstücken hat wohl den Ausschlag für die Buchung gegeben. Jedoch schon bei der Ankunft zeigte sich das an der Rezeption vor und nach mir es wohl Lautstärkedifferenzen zwischen den Buchungen der anreisenden Gäste und den Verständnis, der nur bedingt deutsch sprechenden Dame an der Rezeption gab. Mein mitreißender Kollege hat er eindeutig Frühstück mit bestellt. Musste dies aber am nächsten Morgen lautstark einfordern. Ich selbst, bin sehr viel in Hotels unterwegs hab es aber extrem selten erlebt, dass das Personal gegenseitig immer wieder lautstark vorgestern um Abläufe, welche eingeübt sein sollten, stritten. Mein Zimmer selbst war abgewohnt und hatte wohl den Flair der 1980 Jahre. Stromkabel einfach an die Wand geklebt, mit der Hoffnung, dass diese sich nicht wieder lösen. Insgesamt würde ich dieses Hotel nicht mehr buchen. Was den Grund, dass Mitarbeiter und Gäste sich ständig negativ anschreien.

We were due to fly out the following day so wanted a place close to the main station. Smarty Dom was perfect location (2 minute) walk to the station and cathedral. The check in was all straight forward we were issued with the door and room door code via the automated check in terminal. The room was all very clean and well equipped. It was compact in size but had a small balcony and room fan. For the cost of £46GBP (€50) was great value for a city centre hotel.

Our stay was AMAZING! We enjoyed the view from our hotel room, we would love to visit again definitely. The front desk staffs are friendly and carpark nearby.

Location was superb. Walking distance to train station, cathedral, shopping area… you name it. Staff were very friendly, breakfast was good. Pillow was a bit strange - just a flat square but room was comfortable. Little to no noise from the outside. Bathroom small but adequate. Was quite difficult to control water temperature but once you figure it out you’re all set. Overall a very good stay, would book a room here again

There was no air conditioning (AC) even though the hotel advertised as having it. Their excuses was that it was too cool at night to operate the AC for the hotel even though it was actually very warm outside. Translation: the entire hotel is either on heat or AC, they are too frugal to allow use of the advertised AC, or their system is outdated and does not actually work properly. Very hot and stuff room. The odd thing was is that the hotel lobby seemed to have AC. The hallways and room were uncomfortably hot. Upon checking in there was only a little bit of toilet paper was left on the roll. Fortunately there was an extra roll provided. Only a few sheets of Kleenex were in the box. Also, the hand soap dispenser was nearly empty. It seems not much care is given to the rooms between guests. On our last day the housekeeper knocks on the door early in the morning even tough the “do not disturb” sign was hung on the door. It was a basic room with furnishings that included a desk, a small round table, 2 small nightstands, a desk chair, and one sitting chair. There was no usable refrigerator, just a mini bar. The was only one suitcase rack situated in the closet. We had to use the sitting chair for our other suitcase. The beds were not too comfortable. Also the pillow case did not completely cover the pillow, so your head might rest upon the exposed portion of the pillow where the lasts hundreds of guest placed their heads. Bathroom was OK but a bit smelly. The shower had low water pressure. Some water will leak out under the shower door to the floor. Stepping over the high tub with a slippery shower floor is a bit precarious. Internet speed was 3.81 Mbps in both upload and download, with 8 ms latency. The location is near the chocolate museum and a good pizza and pasta restaurant is nearby. The cathedral is less than a mile away. At almost 400 euros a night, it was very expensive for a poor experience. Perhaps HN stands for “Not Happy.”

The pluses and negatives of this hotel are: Good Points: Premium location, the hotel is only a short 10 min walk down the hill and to the right from the station bringing you to a quiet courtyard 1 block back from the main Heumarkt square (left hand side of the square) A modern, boutique sized hotel Comfy bed Quiet from an outside noise perspective, especially given its next to the main bar / restaurant areas of Cologne Clean Negatives Pillows too soft Double rooms very compact with minimal storage space for luggage Walls very thin, you can hear every conversation clearly of your neighbours Continental breakfast at 15 euro was overpriced imo for the choice available if not included in room rate No bar/relaxation area to sit in, if you are wanting to use hotel facilities to relax No tea/coffee making facilities in room, kettle available on request Walk in shower was nice but as bathroom is so small you end up having a slippy floor, and be careful of the floor rails where the glass shower panel runs as raised and easy to trip over Mini bar was empty other than 2 complimentary bottles of water (not that we usually purchase from mini bar) but worth noting if you do Overall on a personal note we paid a high room rate for our particular 2 night break due to it been a peak weekend of events going on in Cologne which were unknown to us when we originally booked the flights and decided on this hotel. It was not worth 500 euros, I would say 350 / max 400, and this is mainly due to the location. Perfectly functional for a short break at the right price.

We stayed in the hotel for 4 nights for business in May. The hotel is pretty new - I think less than 2 years old. The rooms are quite big, with full kitchen amenities (fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, full set of glasses. The surprise was there was no kitchen roll for cleaning - all the apartments of these types of hotels have some cleaning paper. The location is very close to Koln Messe Deutz station, and we made easy travel arrangements by train to the Dusseldorf fair. The room is clean, the windows are opening (a big plus), and the façade is quite modern. The hotel is quiet, especially since my room faced the open courtyard, which was super quiet, even sleeping with open windows. Breakfast is OK, nothing spectacular, and I think a bit overpriced for the 23 EUR per person. The only problems we had were with sporadic services and some items in the room malfunctions: I had electricity problems with the power supply (caused by a defect in the dishwashing machine which could not be switched off - The fuse went off). I had a problem with the telephone. For every problem, I had to drag to the reception (unable to talk on the phone). The coffee in the room was delivered in the first few days, the next 2 days, and there was no new coffee pack (to make your French press). One day I did not have big towels delivered (the housekeeping did not replace the used towels on the bathroom floor, and I had to go to the reception to ask for them. I would give that hotel 3 stars, but the best surprise was the super fast internet connection (free). We had 200 MB/sec, perfect for surfing and streaming.

I stayed here for 3 nights, It may not be in the centre but it has good transport links. From The airport, S19 to Cologne Messe, there are taxis outside the station if you don’t want to walk to the hotel. It had everything I needed, it was quiet, clean and had a good shower and very good wifi connection. Also had a very good air conditioning which was needed. The nearest supermarket is Lidl which is a 10minute walk and 15minute to the Cologne Messe station or you can take the tram/bus which is 350metres away which also takes you across the bridge. There is also a mini market in reception for cold drinks and snacks open 24hrs which was handy. I didn’t have breakfast here so I cant comment on that. I had a very enjoyable stay and I would stay here again.

Sehr Modern eingerichtet und die Zimmer sind sauber. Leider war bei unserem Besuch am 21.08.2021 die Mini Bar nicht bestückt. Ich denke aber, dass dies der Corona Situation geschuldet ist. Leider gibt es im Hotel keine Bar. Sollte man Durst am spätenAbend bekommen steht ein Getränkeautomat zu Verfügung . Das Früstück Buffet ist vollkommen in Ordnung , man sollte aber jetzt kein 4 Sterne Buffet erwarten, aber man wird satt und die Auswahl ist auch OK.