Black

“5 points for the emotional drama”

This hotel gets my full rating - not for the hotel, though. Simply for the drama. The concept is well meant but badly executed. Yes, everything reeks of style but on a closer look it comes with a lot of flaws. The Hotel Black is built into what might have been an old factory building. This seems to… more

This hotel gets my full rating - not for the hotel, though. Simply for the drama. The concept is well meant but badly executed. Yes, everything reeks of style but on a closer look it comes with a lot of flaws. The Hotel Black is built into what might have been an old factory building. This seems to bring with it some issue with the ventilation since you are exposed to a constant hum even if you turn off the air condition. Which you actually need as a heater when you stay there in winter. My room got cold pretty quickly. The bathroom was facinating. It was fascinating how really every single board, every towel holder could barely hang on its hinges. Took a towel from the rack above the bathtub and the whole thing came crashing down (I caught it, actually). Every screw in there was loose. The soap dispenser had already fallen from the wall at an earlier occasion. The room didn´t exactly seem old or worn but really badly assembled. As if it came from an IKEA kit. Okay… so why do I still give it 5 points? Well, a night in the Hotel Black comes with a large topping of human drama you normally need a Netflix account for. I leave my room to have breakfast. The lady at the reception stares at me with big eyes. What´s my name? I tell her. There´s a list. She cannot find me. I show her my key card, give her my room number. She frowns as if I was some kind of scammer. She finally finds me on the computer. And, well… sorry, but I can´t have breakfast since her colleague from last night booked me in for a slot at 10:30 and it is now only 09:30. I explain that there is a little bit of a misunderstanding. What I actually HAVE told the - very nice - guy from the evening shift was that I had to finish and go packing at 10:30 since I needed to check out at 11:00 and get on my way to a business meeting. Her answer to that was revealing - from a psychological point of view. She stated that I should not argue with her and show some respect even if she was only the receptionist. Thing is, I actually only tried to tell her how that 10:30 misunderstanding might have happened and it never even crossed my mind that being a receptionist might be a crappy or depressing or whatever job. I am self-employed and had enough times when I had to juggle with my finances to be any kind of elitist bastard. Okay, so there was clearly an issue and she even told me that there were only few guests and I couldn´t have any breakfast if I had given her colleague the wrong time. It went full Twin Peaks from there… ending in a bizarre battle of arguments. With me ending up in a supermarket to buy some rolls. When I came back I asked if I could at least get some coffee. She answered with a smirk that there was a coffee maker in my room. The coffee maker worked, though. Nice coffee maker. Coffee maker was my only friend at Hotel Black. Check out was quick. Paid the full rate, of course. So… if you feel an urgent need for an emotional thrill - go there! If you are an able craftsman bring your toolbox and fix the room.

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“Nice and cozy hotel at Köln”

The rooms are big. The bed is comfortably large. Staff helpful and nice. The location is excellent. There were some technical problems in the bathroom, but they were well resolved. I recommend this hotel.

“Beautiful hotel with lovely staff”

Beautiful hotel with lovely staff. Nothing was too much for them. Really enjoyed our stay the bed was amazingly comfy! Definitely stay again. The location was good there was a tube about a five minute walk away. And little scooters you can whiz around the city on.