Excelsior Hotel Ernst

We have just come back from a two night stay at the Excelsior Hotel which has been a truly wonderful experience. The hotel is a classic hotel which has a welcoming feel to it and is very comfortable and clean and well looked after. The staff are all extremely friendly and helpful and they went above and beyond to ensure we had an enjoyable and comfortable stay. The hotel is also perfectly located to enjoy Cologne with stunning views of the Cathedral. Staying at the Excelsior Hotel certainly made our trip very enjoyable and we would definitely come back.

Stayed for 2 nights 16th and 17th December. Its a perfect location for the christmas market. We received a fantastic welcome from the gentleman on reception and throughout our stay all the staff were excellent, including the lovely lady who greeted us at breakfast and the doormen who always had a smile abd kindly organised our return taxi and took care of our bags even giving us some water for the journey ! Our room was amazing with a fantastic view of the cathedral, we really appreciated it. The room was spacious with a beautiful modern bathroom. We had a free mini bar in our room with beers and soft drinks, very welcome. Breakfast was a high quality affair, a plentiful cold buffet but also hot food / eggs to order freshly cooked. We visited the cocktail bar, expertly beautifully made cocktails, great friendly staff. Its high end but you get what you pay for. We absolutely loved our stay and cant wait to return !

Spent a perfect short break here - gorgeously cosy, excellent bar and stewards - great mixing and conversation! Beautiful breakfast with impeccable service. It’s a very classic property rather than modern, but the room was stylish. Cracking management and reception team - super-friendly and helpful. Would go again, especially in December!

Attracted by the 5-star sign and ideal setting next to the Dom, we headed to The Excelsior. Equally appealing Booking.com-pictures of beautifully appointed suites, I decided to go for the 950 eur / night splurge. I have to say that I deeply regretted this as the hotel fails to live up to any modern-day expectation: it seems stuck at 2 decades ago and hasn’t seen maintenance since. First the room. On booking.com - it displays 10 pictures of the suite. The first 6 show a beautiful and modern suite. But the last 4 show an old-fashioned, tacky and worn-out room. I have to admit: I didn’t see the last 4 when I booked. So maybe technically the hotel could say “I told you so”. But I find this practice utterly misleading and potentially even unlawful. And yes - we got the worn-out one. And worn-out it was, not just by the looks of the stained and bleak carpet. The rain shower in the bathroom didn’t work so I had to hold the handshower all the time. In the morning I found out why: the rain shower needs a certain amount of water pressure for the switch lever to work and apparently I was unlucky that evening. Maybe the water pressure drops if too many people shower at the same time? Oh yeah - the drain cap was loose, the fireplace didn’t work and towel heater was broken too - all small details maybe but at a certain point you start noticing everything. I informed the reception about it but since it was 11 pm I went to bed. Furthermore - I didn’t like that the hotel still had old-fashioned roomkeys. A security risk for sure as these keys can be easily copied by anyone. In addition, the door of the room didn’t close properly. I wanted to go to the gym at 8 am but my teenage daughter was still sleeping… I had to choose between locking her up from the outside (which would be dramatic in case of fire) or leaving the door wide open from the outside. I chose to stay in the room… if this hotel would have keycards it wouldn’t have been an issue. Silver lining: I didn’t miss much by not going to the gym in the morning. I checked it out very briefly: it was cramped. As with so many hotels I have to say. Anyway - it wasn’t all bad of course. The morning breakfast and service at the nicely decorated Stube restaurant was absolutely perfect. And the staff highly attentive. And the location great. But I will return only to this hotel after a huge makeover. I give it 2 stars, similar to the in-room experience and for the fact it’s ridiculously overpriced compared to the quality.

A wonderful 2 night stay with great food in the Hans Stube restaurant and a perfect location to explore the Cathedral and Christmas Markets just a short hop away.