Hotel Mondial am Dom Cologne MGallery

The Hotel Mondial am Dom Cologne MGallery is a centrally located (views of the Cologne cathedral and next to the main train station). A solid hotel but this stay (for the Christmas market) was somewhat Kafkaesque.

I had booked two adjoining junior suites and checked in at 15h. Only one was ready and I was told that the other would be ready after 16h. Fine by me and off I went to explore the city. When I returned after 17h I was told that the adjoining suite was not available after all (the guest had extended his stay). So we were given another junior suite (not recently renovated) but told again that the adjoining one was not ready.

When the adjoining room was finally ready it turned out not to be a junior suite after all. Being fed up with this game of musical chairs I decided to keep the room.

You'll get to see three different rooms here:

1. A recently renovated junior suite (first room given)

2. Another junior suite (not recently renovated)

3. Adjoing King room (not a junior suite as booked)

All rooms featured those awful single duvets you find in most German hotels. Other than that all were quite comfortable but the whole situation was somewhat ludicous.

View from the second junior suite:

Staff were friendly throughout (front desk, breakfast, restaurant). Premium guest get three items from the front desk shop as the rooms do not have a mini bar (but have a fridge).

We had dinner at the restaurant but were not impressed. The quality of the food was not up to the mark. The breakfast buffet was ample and decent though having a self service coffee station in my view is somewhat unbecoming for an MGallery.

Dinner:

You can't beat the location. Right next to Köln Hauptbahnhof (station) and easily reached by car, the hotel is right in the centre. The main Christmas market (as well as a another more cuter one was right on our door step.

Overall, even when considering the bizarre room roulette, the stay was pleasant enough. That said, the promised service recovery for the inconvenience never arrived (even after reminding the hotel after the stay) left a bitter aftertaste. A hotel should not promise something and then completely fail to deliver.

Value for money was decent (considering how busy Cologne gets for the Christmas market) but I understand that at certain times the rates can be very high (trade fairs etc.).

If you are considering staying there make sure to insist on a recently renovated room. While the somewhat dated one was serviceable its small TVs and carpeting belongs to another era.