Leipzig is one of the German towns in former eastern Germany who did a strong development over the last years. In the 90s Kempinski reopened the Fürstenhof as a luxury hotel. Together with Elephant Weimar it left Kempinski (and Leading hotels of the worls) and got a Starwood Luxury Collection member. While I visited Elephant many years ago Fürstenhof never worked out. My parents visited frequently and liked it a lot.

Now I had the chance to see it with my own eyes.

Check In

When I arrived no doorman were on sight and it was not really possible to park the car. So I stopped in second row and looked out for some help. It seems the do some costs cuts and only hire one doorman who has also other duties. Not so luxury.....

Check-in was relative fast, the room not available yet. So I did a walk through the city.

Location

The hotel is located at the ring and while it´s not in the heart of the city it has a good location and it is only a short walk to the centre. One disadvantage of the location is the fact that the street in front of the hotel is very frequented so the rooms which face it are very loud.

Room

I booked a Junior Suite as no bigger suite was available. In fact the bigger suites seem to be a Junior Suite with a connected second room. When I entered the room I was shocked. It was a room with old furniture and far away from a suite. The highlight was the bed which stood so near by the window that you barely could walk on its side and you always stepped on the curtains. Meh. The chairs which should be the seating group were in a tired condition and not too comfortable. When I used the desk and its chair I was afraid it collapse every moment. The television worked very slowly.

Internet was a real joke. Totally slow and the Mac only connected sporadic.

The bathroom wasn´t bad many years ago. A good sized shower, bathtub, 2 sinks and separated toilet. Unfortunately the shower showed mud and the shower head was filthy. It wasn´t really funny to use.

Another bad thing were the riff-raff neighbours in the room beside us. We had a connecting-door (to make it a 2 bedroom suite – there are 2 Junior Suites with a living room in the middle). It did not shot completely so you heard some Arabic talking. In the evening the rooms smelled like hell because smoke (I guess shisha or other rubbish) came across. Terrible! As it was in the night I did not comply as I had no intention to change rooms in the night.

Pool

The SPA is with over 1000 sqm not small and looks nice on pictures. To be fair it is not really bad. One problem was, that the water was really cold. Worse was the fact that it was in urgent need of renovation. Colour flaking off the wall at many places. So after a short visit I went back to the room.

Dining

Dinner at Villers was not cheap but of good quality. Over all a good performance.

Drinks at the bar were solid but nothing special.

Breakfast was pretty good with some nice homemade choices of good quality.

Overall

Over all I did not really enjoy my stay. My main problem was the room (floor plan and condition), the tired SPA and the not working internet. Also I mentioned some cost cuts. Positive was the food. When I came home I told my parents I envy them as they are satisfied with a little.....