I had just checked out of the Marriott Cologne which I had booked using Hotwire and had a really pleasant stay. As a Diamond Hhonors member I was expecting good things from the Hilton Cologne…I was travelling on business and due to a conference at the UN in Bonn, I was staying in Cologne. I had walked from the Marriott through the station and out the other side, past the cathedral and found the Hilton on my right. It certainly wasn’t a long walk from the station. I left my bags with reception and hopped on a train to Bonn (where I managed a visit to the Haribo factory!)
I returned around 7pm to check-in and was informed that I had been upgraded to a Deluxe room. There was no Exec Lounge here and as far as I could tell from peeking in other rooms as I walked past, my room was slightly larger and had some complimentary water included but not much else.
The rooms here are modern in an Ikea sort of way; ill let you decide if that is good or not. I had everything I needed including a nice selection of snacks and some Kölsch in the minibar. If you haven’t tried Kölsch and you get the opportunity to do so then take it; it is an excellent beer. I had a view of another building from my window and the room was pretty hot; the aircon didn’t seem to be doing very much.
The bar in the hotel is unremarkable, situated opposite reception it seemed to have about as much atmosphere as motorway; there was a fair selection of booze available though.
Breakfast was pretty standard Hilton stuff, although the croissants were covered in sugar which did not taste good. The tea was also awful; bring your own.
I checked out efficiently, but without any real conversation other than what was absolutely required and thought that my stay was…unremarkable. There was nothing wrong with the hotel, but similarly, there was nothing to make me wish to return.
I caught the train to Bonn, went to the office and then on to the airport only to be told that my flight was cancelled; I got back on the train and booked a room at the Hilton on the way.
Check-in this time was not so good. Different staff were working at reception so I explained my plight and again received no real response. I was given a standard room at check-in which annoyed me a lot; I had just booked the stay and could clearly see from the website when booking that there were Deluxe rooms and suites available. I was repeatedly told by reception that there were no upgraded rooms available. I explained that this was simply not true (and indeed even showed the online page from my phone, yes I am that principled). Eventually she agreed that there were rooms available, however only managers were able to upgrade bookings and this had not been actioned. I once again explained that the booking had only been made a few minutes ago however this fell on deaf ears. Clearly, I wasn’t going to win the discussion, so I made the decision to stop having seen the standard rooms anyway, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be missing too much.
I got to the room and, as expected, the room was the same size as the ‘Deluxe’ room I had been given the previous night, all that was missing was the complimentary bottle of water and the bathrobe. Like the child I am, I ensured that I consumed the ‘to pay for’ bottle of water however no sign of this appeared on my bill.
I left to find some more draught Kölsch and returned to the hotel around 11pm. I noticed that the aircon in the room was very loud and after playing with it for a few minutes decided to call down and ask for help.
A night porter appeared and agreed that the aircon was broken and that the very loud noise would continue. I explained that this wasn’t acceptable and after some discussion with reception, he returned with keys to a ‘Junior Suite’.
The Suite was larger than the other rooms but had no other amenities; indeed there was a large empty space in the room where it was clear something should have been! Upon looking at the website it seems there should have been some funky seats and a table here but even so, I would have been very disappointed had I paid extra for it.
Check-out the second time was much the same as before and overall the stay was just….dull. Bit of a shame really.
The are loads of places nearby to eat and drink (the hotel options didn’t look exciting and the ‘Ice Bar’ was simply not what one would think; don’t get too excited) including a 24-hour shop less than 5 minutes walk from the hotel.
Hilton Cologne, Marzellenstrasse 13-17, 50668 Cologne, Germany. Website
