StarwoodGuy: Around the World With Starwood Hotels in 30 Days

I left early from The Hague for a day journey that would give me a two hour stop in Amsterdam and then four hours in Cologne before heading to my work destination the following day in Essen. I first had to activate my Eurail train pass at the station in The Hague which was fast and seamless. The pass was a Eurail Global Select Pass with 15 days of travel with a special bonus of 2 extra days within a month period and covering most of the rail lines in Europe. I did not make a reservation for the first leg on a train where I was the sole person in First Class, but on many other trains it is highly recommended. Having missed out on the chance for the Hotel Pulitzer in Amsterdam I was still eager to have a quick walk around the city, so I dropped my bags and had a brisk stroll around the city center, the main canal, and the red light district before heading back to the station. The pass comes with complimentary access to rail lounges in most countries, with the most notable exception of the Deutsche Bahn Lounges in Germany, so I headed right for the lounge at the Amsterdam station. Unfortunately I found that it was closed for renovations and would only open the next day, so I opted for a quick beer in the station’s main bar before jumping on the next train to Cologne, a two hour journey. I had initially planned to stay in Cologne that night and head to my meeting in Essen the next morning, but unfortunately a hotel I have always wanted to stay at, the Dom Hotel right next to the magnificent Dom Cathedral which itself is right on the Rhine River and next to the train station, left the SPG program at some point. When I looked this up I found quite a few blogs on Starwood losing some key properties in Europe to other brands such as Leading Hotels and Preferred Hotels. Nearby there was only the Dusseldorf airport hotel, so I opted for the Sheraton in Essen for that night, but only after I had a great walk around Cologne. First I dropped my bags at the modern luggage kiosks which in a youtube video I had seen previously took bills but now only take change. Fortunately I was able to break a 5 Euro note and put my bags away for 4 Euros, a high cost, but other blogs had noted that if you had time to walk the short distance to the Ludwig Museum next to the station and the Dom Cathedral you could put them there for 1 Euro. Who knows where the bags go, but they disappear into the automated box and you can retrieve them from any of the other automated machines around the station. Cologne is one of the best shopping cities in Germany, with plenty of smaller boutiques as well as the large German department stores. The old city is beautiful with great pubs for a local Kolsch beer, and the walk along the river is beautiful as well.

After all of this I jumped on the next train and headed to the Sheraton in Essen, but not before discovering that since I had my bags in the automated system for over two hours, it would be another 3 Euros to retrieve them. It is a short walk from the station to the hotel, and once I arrived I was given a nice upgrade to a park view suite. The hotel is typical of a business hotel, and Essen is a business city. The hotel is next to the beautiful city park and it is just a short stroll to the town square which I looked at quickly. The park is small but very picturesque, and the hotel is next to the concert hall. There is a larger park which is a forty-five minute walk away and a famous coal mining museum but I did not have time for either of these on this trip. Inside the hotel itself there is a nice restaurant with a terrace situated right on the park, an updated bar and lobby area, and in the rooms modern and updated bathrooms. The rest of the bedroom is still stemming from the 1970’s and could definitely due with an overhaul, but the view of the park was quite nice. The Club Lounge is on the 6th Floor at the top of the hotel, it had two or three rooms with complimentary waters, juices, coffees, tea and wine and beer provided throughout the day. It was unattended but from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm there were nuts, cheeses, crackers, meats, breads and olives put out. I tried the meats and cheeses, not the best, but I was not too hungry. The air-conditioning unit in the room was also loud and clunky which was a little annoying and the room never actually got cool, so I wondered what it was like in the summer. The gymnasium was again almost a surprising after thought in the basement with just one room with a few cardio machines, some free weights, and a universal machine. I was a bit surprised by this since the hotel was built in around the 1970’s. The spa area on the other hand was elaborate with two different saunas and a steam and some nice relaxation areas. One always needs to remember that in North America everyone covers up in saunas, in Asia men and women’s areas are often separate but people walk around freely naked within them, and in Germany especially, all of these spa areas are completely mixed, with men and women alike naked. I was the only one who used the gym in the morning and the spa area was closed for some reason until 3:00 pm which I was a little annoyed at since I would have had a steam and a sauna before my breakfast meeting. There was no breakfast served in the Club Lounge, it was instead an elaborate buffet served in the main restaurant. I met my suppliers and we had a good working breakfast at the elaborate brunch before I checked out and was picked up by my friends who were coming to meet me for the next two days of my journey. The city of Essen itself is not on most people’s radar and it is often compared to Detroit (no offense), so unless you are going for work many have no need to stop here. The Sheraton in Essen was a good business hotel, with a useful Link by Sheraton and business area, good internet in the rooms and in the lobby and with a good restaurant and bar and a great location for Essen. The Club Lounge was good for drinks but not for food, and while the living area of the rooms and gym were sadly not the best, the updated bathroom was great as was the spa area. You do get what you pay for, at $115.00 per night it was much cheaper then hotels in Cologne would have been and a good option in the area to save some money.