Germany: Hotels
Villa Kennedy, Frankfurt, Germany – Review
Headed to Frankfurt on business? How would you like to stay downtown, at a historic neo-Gothic former villa, filled with more than 700 pieces of art, only a fifteen-minute drive from Frankfurt Airport, and just a few minutes from the main train station?
Rocco Forte’s Villa Kennedy, which opened March 1, 2006, is just that sort of hotel, although “hotel” seems a misnomer, as this property feels and appears more palatial …
InterContinental Berlin – Hotel Review
Berlin Mitte is literally the center of Berlin and the InterContinental Berlin, which opened in 1978, is in the middle of the German capital and is well-known among frequent business travelers to the city. Conveniently located on the Budapester Straße next to the Berlin Zoo (Zoologischer Garten), it is about a 30-minute taxi ride from Tegel Airport and about 40 minutes from Schönefeld Airport and the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport …
Park Hotel Bremen Review
Bremen, a port city that, together with nearby Bremerhaven, comprises the state of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen) is a city known for commerce and shipping but not necessarily chocolate. Yet as I drove from Arnhem to the Park Hotel Bremen, the one thing I kept thinking of was the chocolates that the hotel makes. I wasn’t disappointed. After checking in, I found a tray of fruit and chocolate awaiting me.
Set …
Excelsior Hotel Ernst, Cologne, Germany – Review
Every two years when I was a child, just like clockwork, my father would head off to Cologne for the Photokina trade show and each time he spent almost a week at the Excelsior Hotel Ernst. Upon his return, he had his secretary type up a letter to the hotel’s long-time general manager, Siegfried Breuning, making a reservation for two years hence.
I was allowed to go along on several of …
Der Zauberlehrling, Stuttgart, Germany – Hotel Review
The magic of the Zauberlehrling hotel in Stuttgart became apparent to me when I first e-mailed about a possible reservation. The e-mail reply closed with the phrase “Mit Zaubergrüßen” (With Magical Greetings“).
I had grown up with the tale of the Zauberlehrling or Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Goethe both in terms of the story itself as well as its prominent appearance in Walt Disney’s Fantasia. As a result, as we drove up …
Hotel Hessischer Hof, Frankfurt – Review
My first interaction with the Grand Hotel Hessicher Hof Frankfurt’s staff was weeks before my arrival. It was a chat with the hotel’s concierge. We didn’t speak on the telephone, however. Rather, the conversation took place on the Web via the hotel’s unique Concierge chat function. Within seconds of clicking on the concierge button, I was pleasantly greeted by “Concierge” and he (or she) addressed all of my questions including …
