Hotel Jedermann

My travel agent booked this assuring us it was a nice hotel. We asked for 4-5 stars but supposedly none were available even though we booked 8 months in advance. That may have been because of our need for air conditioning and two rooms, with at least one of which had to have two separate beds for our adult children. Sadly this was the worst hotel of our whole stay in Germany. First let’s start with the positives. It has great water pressure and wifi. They have AC and while they limit the setting to no cooler than 18 degrees Celsius, it does cool adequately. The beds are comfortable. The hotel is about a 12 minute walk to the main train station. The breakfast is fine, although not exceptional when compared to the other hotels that we stayed in on our vacation. There is a train stop outside the hotel. Our waitress the first day was cheerful and helpful, even asking our young adult children what they would like to drink. (The waitress the last two days didn’t even acknowledge them). The front desk workers are also very pleasant and helpful. Onto the negatives, which are plentiful. The place is old and has not been updated in a very long time. I guess to some people that is charming. While they seem to keep it clean, the bathroom showers are still moldy. They are clearly a budget hotel geared toward budget conscious travelers (of which we are not). They provide only one pillow per person although they will give you an extra if you ask. They only provide one tiny bar soap and two tiny bottles of body wash per room. They do not even have tissues in the room and when we requested some they gave us napkins. The keys are not electronic so you must turn in your key at the front desk when you leave the hotel and retrieve them at the front desk when you come back. You can’t take them with you because of the large keychain they are attached to. That means it is very obvious when you are not in your room. When you leave your room for the day, they come in and open the screen-less windows, which shut off the AC. So after a long day of walking and sweating, you arrive to a warm room. The small lobby and part of the first floor stinks of cigarette smoke. While the location is a 12 minute walk to the main station, the area is not in the best part of town and far away from anything most tourist are going to want to visit. Basically to get to the side of town where the sites are will take at least 25 minutes on the various trains, if not more with transfer times. Even though the location is not prime, we at no point felt unsafe. If you are on a budget this hotel should be adequate. If you are used to a bit more luxury, then you should look elsewhere. This is NOT a three star hotel by most people’s standards (at least not by US standards). It is what we would consider a 2 star hotel in the US, max. If you are here as a tourist, I’d suggest trying to stay in the Marienplatz area. Not only is that area close to everything you would want to see, it’s a much nicer area of town, and once there you can walk to everything of interest and will be close to all of the best restaurants.

Actually staying here is great. The rooms seem recently renovated, with newer looking wood and a built-in USB port. The wifi works great, just make sure to ask for the password at the desk. The ac is good, however it limits you to 65°F or higher and the window must be closed. You must turn in your key every time, since the key isn't electronic, and the breakfast has more than the typical hotel you'd find. Staff are friendly too.