Originally Posted by
Chinatrvl
In regards to "two healthy legs" ... Albeit it is true that is just crossing the river, I would say it's a 15 min walk (1 mile) on a fairly busy 4 lane bridge (to Heumarkt) or a 10 min ride on the metro (to Neumarkt) and would generally avoid staying on the "wrong" side when on a tourist/ sightseeing trip.
As for basic rooms at the Hyatt. They could do with a refurb, old style TVs etc. Suites are better, but nothing to write home about. Pretty much guaranteed suite upgrade at IC.
The walk via the bridges is actually very nice, about 10 minutes to reach the Cathedral. If you take the tram, you need 5 minutes to the stop and 5 minutes to the first or second station on the tourist side of Cologne.
I cannot comment on regular rooms at the Hyatt, but the RC rooms have new 37' Samsung LCD-TV's which are nice.
Rooms at the IC are significantly smaller in comparison to the Hyatt and the bathrooms are nothing to write home about at all, very small and average for a new 5 star hotel in an age where bathrooms are considered a unique selling proposition for an upscale hotel...