My Hotel In Kassel
I stayed in the Golden Tulip Hotel Reiss, by the Hauptbahnhof.
On my checklist it scored three negatives.
The worst failure, is that although it is close to the station, the Hautbahnhof is now no longer the main station for Kassel. So I arrived at the other one and needed a taxi to get between the two.
Perhaps, this explains why the hotel wasn’t very busy.
My Hotel Checklist
I have started using a checklist by which I judge hotels.
- Is the tea and coffee facility in the room adequate? There must be at least two proper tea-bags, milk or creamer and a kettle that is obvious to use.
- Can a 67-year-old man, who needs glasses and has a gammy left hand, run the bath or shower without glasses?
- Are the towels numerous and big enough? I’m only small, so big for me in small compared to say Eric Pickles
- Is the wi-fi free and doesn’t require a complicated password or your e-mail address?
- Is the security good but not obsessive? You shouldn’t need a card to work the lift.
- Is the hotel by the station or on a simple tram or bus route from the station or airport? Taxis should be unnecessary.
- Does the television have BBC World or even better BBC1?
- Is the bed comfortable? After all that’s the main reason you booked the hotel.
- Does the hotel have a friendly bar, that might be showing some important football?
- Are the staff knowledgeable and helpful?
- Is the room temperature sensible and controllable? I’ve stayed in a couple of top floor rooms, that were unbearable.
- Is the lighting adequate? In too many hotels, candles would be brighter.
- Does the hotel insist on giving you a paper bill?
- Does the hotel give out a good map of the city centre and the area around the hotel?
- Can you walk from the hotel to the city centre?
- Does the hotel give you complimentary soap and shampoo? I never take any.
- Is there a table or desk, where I can lay out a paper or work flat under a light?
- Is there anything that means you will never go there again?
I’ll probably add a few more to this list. I haven’t put in anything about value for money, that is covered by 18.
Other people will have their own pet hates.
My Hotel In Cardiff
I’m not going to name it, as I’d probably think about using it again, despite its problems.
It was a bit out of the City Centre and I was able to walk there easily.
But it was a bit down-market for my tastes and I can’t remember the last hotel, I stayed in with only a wash-basin in the room.
It was comfortable and clean, but in some respects, I think the hotel had another purpose, as the television was showing a gay dating site, when I switched it on.
I can understand why I prefer ladies, as middle-aged men can be so ugly, especially if they’re carrying a few extra pounds. Switching away was the problem, as the remote control needed new batteries and was rather unresponsive.
But then what can you expect for £31.50 in cash?
A Well-Designed City Centre Hotel
On my trip to Sheffield to see Ipswich at Hillsborough, I had to stay overnight, as there is no return train after the match.
So I booked into the Leopold Hotel, mainly because it was in the city centre and by a tram stop. I booked the room without breakfast for just £85.50 on Late Rooms.
It is one of the best designed hotels, I’ve stayed in ever.
The bath and shower didn’t need a Master’s Degree in plumbing and your glasses to understand, the tea and coffee making in the room was one of the best and the bed was comfortable.
My only niggles, were that the TV wasn’t a Freeview one giving radio as well and they could do better and remove some of the clutter, like magazines and the radio/alarm, from the room.
Wi-fi was free, as it should be.
I would certainly stay in the hotel again, but I doubt I’ll get it at £85.50 again.
On Trip Advisor, people are complaining that it is a ten minute walk to get your car.
They are missing the point.
This hotel is one of those city centre hotels, where you come by train and use public ytransport for your stay. If you want car parking, stay on the M1 in a Premier Inn.
At the present time, that will be more expensive!
Every city needs at least one hotel like the Leopold or the Hope Street in Liverpool.
Two Very Different Beds
I had two nights in Scotland and they couldn’t have been more different.
The first was in the Premier Inn at Lauriston Place in Edinburgh.
I’ve stayed there before and although not the best placed, it was easy to get to from the station after we finally found a taxi.
But I wasn’t prepared for what I found, although the receptionist said that my top-floor-room might be a bit hot.
A Greeting From Two Fans
I’ve never been met by two fans as I entered a room.
It was hot and so I opened the window as far as I could. But in the morning, this is what I read on my hygrometer/thermometer.
This Is Just Too Hot!
It is the worst case I’ve found of top-floor-overheating I’ve found.
It was much worst than the room, that I’d suffered in Iceland.
My second bed was on the Caledonian Sleeper. I took this picture lying in the comfortable enough bed.
Looking Around My Cabin
When I got up it was nineteen degrees on the train, with a very pleasant humidity of 26%.
Strangely the quality of the sleep on both nights was about the same, but I have felt a lot better today, than I did yesterday.
The interesting thing though was that the single-occupancy bed on the Sleeper was cheaper than the night in Edinburgh.
My Tired Hotel
If there was one thing that spoilt my holiday to Iceland it was the hotel.
This picture sums up the hotel.
My Tired Hotel
It was tired and in need of a stiff makeover.
But there were some faults you just can’t excuse.
1. The shower was stuck on hot and unusable.
2. The gluten-free bread they produced was frozen and inedible.
3. They had a glut of Earl Grey teabags, so that was what you got in the room. I hate the stuff.
4. I had a top floor room, which suffered from top-floor-too-hot syndrome. They kept the fire escape open to try to cool the top floor.
But the biggest problem was that it wasn’t the city centre hotel I asked for and it was claimed to be ten minutes walk away. You might have been able to walk it to the centre in just over that, but walking back up the hill would have been a lot more for me.
If I’d have donre my research better, I wouldn’t have booked it, as some entries on Trip Advisor said that all was not well!
Would I Go Back To Warsaw Again?
Most certainly! But I’d certainly stay in a different hotel.
I’d also plan it better, as there is lots to see that I didn’t!
One Good Feature Of My Hotel
My room in the hotel did have one good feature; a good view of the Palace of Culture and Science.
Note the night time picture. Why was just one light on?
Thinking about it though, was it a good feature, as although Joseph Stalin might have liked this sort of architecture, we can certainly do better today. Unless it comes to The Shard.
My Hotel In Warsaw
My hotel in Warsaw wasn’t the best.
My Hotel In Warsaw
It didn’t have any free wi-fi or a PC that I could use pro-gratis for a start. And I couldn’t find an Internet cafe in Warsaw either.
They also said that as I didn’t book breakfast originally, then I would have to have it in my room and couldn’t buy it as an extra in the restaurant. But the room service menu was as gluten-free as the average down-market bread shop. How customer-friendly is that?
With one or two exceptions, the staff weren’t very helpful and it is certainly a hotel or even a hotel group, I will ever use again.
My Hotel In Gdansk
It wasn’t actually Gdansk, but the next town called Sodot.
I arrived at the Haffner Hotel in a taxi from the airport for a reasonable fare, just before midnight and the girl on the desk looked after me well.
The hotel looked after me well, with good gluten-free breakfasts, including bread.
But it did have one problem. It was outside of the city centre and it was half-an-hour to get there on the train.
But that wasn’t there fault! It was mine!
The Anonymous Widower 