Hi everyone,

I hope you don't mind that I post these questions in here. I think this is the internet forum where my questions will be read by more people who have actually stayed at the Renaissance Cologne - even though you're all likely to be diamond status...

I paid €160/room for 3 nights in December via Priceline, and though we are enrolled in the Marriott Rewards programme we have yet to stay in one. I have been reading this is worn and in need of renovations. Though Priceline classed this as a 5 star hotel (and yes, I was aiming for the Marriott). I am bringing my parents along and would like this to be a memorable stay.

I read on Tripadvisor that someone had paid €45 for the Club Package (breakfast, mini bar, lounge). This seems "cheap" given that breakfast seems to be €25 each. My questions are as follows: will I be offered this possibility upon arrival (with availibility) or am I better off contacting them in advance? Is it more expensive at check-in? With Club Package are rooms better?

Are there places nearby for cheaper breakfast?

Does anyone have experience with upgrades at check-in, and I mean paid upgrades since I don't have any rewards status.

Parking: it says Off-site parking, fee: 1.6 EUR hourly, 14 EUR daily Is this near the hotel?

Any other tips to make this a pleasant stay would be appreciated.

Thanks everyone in advance.

PS: If this post should have been made elsewhere, my apologies and thanks in advance for moving it.

Just stayed a weekend there and thought that the upkeep state of the public areas and my room (I had a suite) was absolutely OK. The design, however, was a little 80's, so maybe that's what makes people say it's in need for renovation as this is not really state of the art any more.

Make sure you get your Marriott rewards number added to your reservation and monitor the eMail you have given there. About five days before arrival you will get an eMail from the Virtual Concierge that will offer this package. And yes, even though you might not get an response as other hotels do this eMail is read...

That said, be aware that this offer refers to the Club breakfast and the Club offering is substantially of lesser extend than the regular breakfast - it is continental only and had no hot items when we stayed there. Basically coffee, juices, boxed cereals, bread, jam and cold cuts - that's it.

Can't answer that, sorry.

Certainly, depends a little on your definition of nearby, however. There are some places right next to the hotel which I don't know personally, however if you make a right out of the hotel and then turn left on the next large street, you will find a bunch of places offering food at lower prices. Cologne tends to be rather inexpensive, so I would not expect more than 5-6 Euro per person for a breakfast. On hint: Bakeries in Germany offer breakfast-food for cheap, which so far has always delighted my US-guests who enjoyed the pastries a lot.

The off-site parking is right across the street.

If you stay over a sunday, consider their brunch-offer. While it is not overly cheap (36 Euro per person including drinks - also alcoholic) I found quality and presentation worth it. It starts at noon on sundays, so you might want to skip breakfast for it (that's what we did).

Greetings - Dirk

Thanks for a great reply. I will call the hotel to check if they have the reservation of priceline already and try to add the rewards number.

Thanks a lot for the other pointers.

You should be able to add your MR number online at marriott.com. Just look up the Marriott reservation number you got from PL (starts with "8") and enter it together with your last name in the "Find a Reservation" box under "Upcoming reservations" in your MR account.

Thanks, I was able to access the reservation online when logged into the account. However, I was not able to make this upcoming reservation stick, since the next time I log in it doesn't appear under the upcoming reservations tab.

I contacted the Marriott helpdesk via the website and they added the room under the Marriott Rewards name to the account. The other room which had to be named for the purposes of priceline could not be added... I did get a short lecture about using the marriott website if I wanted to ensure that both rooms would count towards my benefits and that they offer a LNF guarantee, if my concerns were the price. (I paid about 1/3 of their website price ;-))

Hi,

I am back from Cologne and just wanted to update this post.

I was a bit worried about this hotel but there was nothing wrong with it. The rooms looked refurbished with new furniture, on the small side, the bathroom was pretty good, thought the taps and sink was a bit scratched. Other than that it was a good stay. I am a Marriott newbie and had no stays. We had 2 rooms booked via priceline and the one associated with my Marrriot rewards was slightly bigger and had a complimentary bottle of water and apple, while the other had nothing complimentary.

We were not offered (for a price) any sort of upgrade when we checked in. Online there were only standard rooms available, so this might be why. I did not inquire. We had breakfast in a nearby bakery (tasty!!).

We parked in the car park in front and this was really convenient and cheaper.

Overall I don't know why this keeps being described as in need of renovations unless there are bad rooms around. We booked via priceline and got pretty good rooms for the price paid, so I can't complain. I do agree this is not a 5 star hotel - it may offer the type of amenities a 5 star offers but there is really nothing glitzy about it. For example the bathroom towels were pretty thin for a 5 star (more Ibis like!) and the price tags on the drinks and souvenir tray in the room were useful but quite tacky for a 5-star hotel (more Ryanair-style!!).

Is this hotel close to the train station that one would take when coming from DUS airport?

It's actually a couple of U-bahn stops away from the main station.

It's the Marriott that's about a 5min walk away with a rollaboard in tow.

It's the second stop from the train station, actually. You take the #5 subway towards "Ossendorf" and get off at "Friesenplatz", then walk something like 100m to the hotel...I agree the Marriott is more convenient from the station, but the Renaissance is far from a hassle as well using public transportation (which runs frequenty and is usually reliable).

Greetings - Dirk

Renaissance Cologne no longer belongs to the Marriott group. It is now Lindner:

http://www.lindner.de/de/hotel_koeln_zentrum

I think I caught that a few days ago, as it wasn't listed on the Marriott website when I was updating the exec lounge sticky. I just didn't know when it had left.

Cheers.