As a follow up to my check in problems at the Dom in Koln, I just received an e mail message from the hotel mentioning that they are aware of my 'feedback': We would also like to thank you for taking the time to give us feedback on your stay. Your opinion is highly important to us as it helps to improve our service What is interesting is other than my post here on FT, I did not write about my problems. Additionally, after I was given my room and received the complimentary champage, I went down to the front desk and thanked them, and apologized for being upset--(yes, I am a woman who felt embarassed that I became emotional during this ongoing problem ) The e mail then went on to offer me an upgrade to a corner suite on my next visit.
So it appears someone here communicated my issues to the hotel, and I thank you.

I got this room also as a Plat upgrade on a "slow" weekend in Koeln. I paid about 125 Euros with no breakfast. Beautiful room, only there one night though.

- HF

One comment to mauld- if it should happen that a hotel ask you to pay for a drink/coffee/etc after having offered it- reference to the bartender/server/manager that you were invited as your room was not ready as promised. Typically, they don't know/don't remember- and will quickly charge it to the appropriate rooms division account for this purpose.
This has happened to me at a ton of hotels- SPG, MO, LHW, even Fs and ShangriLa- so just be a bit firm about it and it should work out- provided you don't order a bottle of the aforementioned champagne
Koln is a beautiful city- and the Dom is a nice hotel- give it another chance!

We just had a one night stay at the Dom, and were delighted with it. It is a boutique hotel in an enviable location in Cologne, ideal for the first time visitor. Hotel staff are well educated on the Starwood program; I heard a couple times how they give platinums the best available room.

Logistics: Frankfurt Airport to Hotel
We arrived at the Frankfurt Airport, and took the train to Cologne. We had heavy luggage as we are at the start of a long trip. There are several places where luggage can be checked at FRA. It costs 3.6 euros/day; 1 minute over and you pay for the second day. Trains to Cologne leave from track 6 of the long distance train section of the station.

We bought our tickets in advance which substantially brought down the price. We paid 58 euros each plus 2 euros for a seat assignment per ride. In hindsight, I could likely have saved the 4 euros for seats; still, I have no idea how heavily booked the train is come the summer tourist season. It was a one hour ride to Cologne, with the train reaching speeds of 300 km/hour.

It was an easy walk from the train station to the hotel, no more than 5 minutes. As you leave the terminal, look for the cathedral which is immediately adjacent up a flight of stairs. (There is an elevator you can use.) Walk to the right which takes you to the front of the cathedral, then across the front and to the far side. The hotel faces the square to the side of the cathedral.

Hotel
We were given a room the hotel labels a suite, room 104. This is a very spacious corner room which looks out over the cathedral and the adjacent square. It opens unto a balcony/terrace that runs the length of the hotel on the square facing side.

Toiletries in the room were the standard Starwood brand.

The hotel restaurant has a sun room that runs the length of the hotel, where breakfast is served. It has a large seating area outside. There is an intimate bar, named the Ustinov Bar, after Peter Ustinov who was a frequent guest and bar habitue.

Local Area
The hotel is ideally sited for tourism. Across the square is Römisch – Germanisches Museum, with the Ludwig Museum a building behind it. Museums are closed on Mondays. The hop on hop off bus picks up on the train side of the Cathedral. It costs 10 euros for a complete ride, or 15 euros for hop on/hop off.

We had dinner with a local friend at Peters Brauhaus, Muehlengasse 1, an easy walk from the hotel. She knows that Americans adore ancient bulidings since we have none. This has been a beer hall for over 460 years. It is asparagus season, so that was available along with a number of traditional dishes.

Conclusion
We would happily return to this hotel if we find ourselves in Cologne again. I like the intimacy of the hotel, its location, and its cordial staff. And the room overlooking the cathedral was terrific.

On the Frankfurt-Cologne/Duesseldorf route it really depends on the weekday and the time you are travelling.

If you have to go to one of those cities on monday morning or friday evening you will be very happy to have a seat assignment.
But I really recommend to make a reservation on this section anyway.

I'm writing this at the 4Ps now. The hotel is simple and basic. Paid a 71.10 euro rate without breakfast and was given an 'ok' room, small but supposedly an upgrade to a Queen bedded room. But I couldn't find a signal for the T-Mobile wireless service they have so I was moved to another room on a higher floor, facing the station. Now this room is definitely larger than the one I got earlier.

I'm just *wood Gold now, but my next stay at the DOM tomorrow puts me at PLT after I check out. So I won't be able to make use of the facilities that PLTs get for now.... but I will return, one day!

i was preupgraded to corner "suite" (jr suite) as gold. it was 204, which has the tall windows/doors, and a small balcony at all 3.

i arrived early, and had to wait several hours for the room, but i had no problem with that considering the upgrade. it was a fantastic room.

X01 > X04 = dom side
104 204 304 = dom side corner "suite"
404 = dom suite

these also look like suites >
X15 X20 X21 127 223 323 423

We stayed here for one night and certainly enjoyed the marvelous location of this hotel, but we were not upgraded and our room didn't impress us at all. In fact, it was a bit ragged looking and quite small, although they did give us a nice view of the fabulous cathedral and the square. Maybe that's what they thought was an upgrade when I asked for one?

The bathroom was tiny, had no shelf whatsoever to place toiletries on, and a bathtub that literally could not accomodate my "posterior" sitting down, and I wear a size 7, so I assume anyone over 130 pounds can forget about taking a bath! They also had not heard of the shower curtain that arcs out to give some more space so that when you wash your hair, your arms don't have to hit the wall...

The two beds in our room that were pushed together to make a large one, were not "heavenly" in the least, and the pillows were uncomfortable to us. There was a flat screen tv, though, and it seemed out of place with all the period furnishings that still remain, such as the black/white tile floor and the 40's looking light fixtures, and the window latches, etc. We were staying on cash & points, so perhaps we got a smaller room, but ...whatever..the rate was great at $60 a night.

We got a recomendation from a local woman we met, and had dinner at a nearby restaurant named Weinhaus Brungs, Marsplatz 3-5, Tel. 0221-258-1666. www.weinhaus-brungs.de
which was totally charming, and about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We ate outside in the garden area, but they have a huge indoor area that accomodates many people, and the woman we met said that often locals book meetings and parties there as the prices are very reasonable. Our food was delicious and they even changed some stuff around on the menu for one of us who is a vegetarian. They were offering chanterelles in many different forms, which is a specialty there and we were there at the right season. They also make their own ice cream.

Koln was a beautiful city to walk around, especially on the river. We walked all the way up to the Chocolate Museum (run by the Lindt company) and spend about an hour there and had a great time. The little cafe inside offers incredible desserts and a wonderful view!

I must have been in a different hotel than all but the last poster. I was there for 3 nights in August and would not return. As a gold (I know, nothing special), I think I got the worst room in the house. In the rear corner with a view of nothing, carpet and pillows that looked like they were from the 1970's (and hadn't been cleaned since then), and weird pastel coloring in the room. The check-in agent tried to sell it as "modern design" - after my stay, I would call it more like "forgotten design."

Still, the location can't be beat, but having stayed at both the Dom and the Marriott a few blocks away, the Marriott is the no-brainer for all future stays for me.

I just finished a stay at the Dom. When I checked in, I was told that my room wasn’t ready yet, but I had been upgraded to a nice room. The previous night, I saw that I was pre-upgraded to an Executive Room with a Cathedral view. The clerk told me that my room would be ready in an hour, and I dropped my bags off with the bellman and wandered around town for a bit. When I got back, I was given my room, which was a corner Executive room on the first floor facing the Cathedral. Nothing earth shattering, but nice. Surprisingly, there’s hardly any noise from outside. The d�cor was pretty modern, and I had no complaints.

Along with my welcome packet, I received a coupon for a free ice cream at Confiserie am Dom, which is located in the corner of the building. However, it’s always been closed when I passed by. I also received a statement showing how many SPG points I had, and how I could redeem them at the hotel for various things.

Anyway, the complimentary mini bar contained two bottles of water (still and sparking), 4 Cokes (2 diet and 2 regular), and two beers (Beck’s and Das Kolner Dom). There was also a large bottle of complimentary water next to my bed. Internet is .70 Euros/minute, with a max charge of 24 Euros.

As stated earlier, there’s no gym, but the hotel will give you a discount voucher to Fitness First (a 10 minute walk away) for 7.80 Euros. If you want to go running, head a few blocks to the Rhine river.

Breakfast was 26 Euros, and was pretty disappointing. I expected something a bit grander. It was the usual European breakfast offering, but I was expecting a little more variety when it came to the hot items, which consisted of only boiled eggs, mushrooms, mixed vegetables, and small sausages.

The location of the hotel is great (along with the staff). I’d definitely stay here again. Oh, and the soap smells like bubble gum.

I stayed at the Dom Hotel for one night at the end of December and will never return there. Here is an excerpt from my recent trip report:

I just completed another trip to the area, where I stayed in Cologne for a couple of weeks and split my stays between the Hilton and the Four Points. If one is a member of both Hilton and SPG, the Hilton is the best of the three options by far. All three of these hotels are only a few minutes away from the cathedral and many of the junior suites at the Hilton have very nice views of the building.

The Four Points is actually fairly decent as far as Four Points go, with friendly staff, consistent suite upgrades, free internet usage and even free coffee on their mezzanine level. On the other hand, it is definitely in need of renovation, the bedding needs to be replaced and the quality of its towels are poor -- but no worse than those at the Dom. Plus, my rate of €65 for mid week stays was hard to beat.

Spent 2 nights at the Dom this past weekend on a free weekend nights promotion stay.

We were driving up from Heidelberg so didn't arrive until 5 or so. We were a little confused about how to get to the front of the hotel by auto, but after running in while idling on the nearby street the answer was simple: "Just drive across the square directly to the front door. People will look at you as if you were mad, but that's how it is done."

Sure enough, I got quite a few interesting looks and nasty stares on a crowded sunny Saturday afternoon but the sea of people did part as I drove directly across the square to the front of the hotel.

Here is where we parked for the valet



Despite the late hour, we were informed by the prettiest man I have ever met in my life called Dieter that our room was not ready. But he offered to buy us a glass of wine while we waited. Since sitting on the square having a glass of wine was exactly the plan anyway we jumped on that offer. We drank our wine at the outdoor bar on the square and just as we took our last sip, Dieter appeared from nowhere to hand us our keys, let us know that our luggage had been taken from the car to the room and that the car had been parked.

We were assigned room 101. It is a beautiful room with a balcony and large windows which were completely filled up with the Dom itself. I ended up spending a great deal of time on that balcony watching people or sitting at the open windows looking at the square and the Dom.

The view from the balcony:



The view of the balcony/room from the square:



IME, the Dom is a beautiful hotel inside and out, the location is ridiculously good and the staff were of luxury hotel quality and character.

Reading the prior posts I assume there is no club at this hotel. If not do they do Breakfast certs for plats? I would prefer to stay here this summer on vacation, but with the wife and kids the free breakfast at Hilton will win out.
thanks,
Troy

Looks like it's the Hilton for your family... as there is no club, and as been mentioned in many, many posts-- (in general) Starwood does not give Platinums free breakast.

While they don't give free breakfast, they have a complimentary morning coffee & chocolate croissants in the lobby!