<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by msp_flier:
How was the location of this hotel? I'm traveling to Germany in May and Koln will be one of my stops. I plan to use SPG points in the more expensive cities (Munich, Amsterdam, etc.) and I'm not sure if Koln falls into that category.
Also - was that the train station I saw from your balcony shots (the long 1/2 dome in front of the cathedral)?
Thanks!</font>
Yes, you're right: you see the train station (= main station Cologne; the long 1/2 dome in front of the cathedral) from the balcony shots. The first picture (= hotel building) was made from the train station which is just on the opposite side of the street. Therefore the location couldn't be any better. From the main station you have
- access to the long distance trains (e.g. high speed route to Frankfurt)
- access to the subway system for Cologne and the cities in the area
- access to the shuttle bus to CGN airport (if I remember correctly 10EUR)
- access to the Ryanair-shuttle to Hahn
I wouldn't use points in Cologne and sometimes you can also find good rates in Munich (in Munich there are 4 ArabellaSheratons and 2 Four Points. All 6 hotels (including the ArabellaSheraton Grand) have very often reasonable prices also during the week. There's no need to use points in Munich during the weekend. Only if there are special events like fairs, the prices go up).