Lint Hotel

The Dom is very close, and the location makes it easy to reach the main areas. That was the bright spot. I have a knee problem, and our room was on the top floor, so the stairs were a real struggle. From now on I’ll check for an elevator before booking. We asked reception to move us, but there were no other rooms available. We stayed put and found ourselves sharing the room with lots of insects. At least they were “friendly.” Breakfast was another disappointment. We could choose just one dish and one drink, and the food itself seemed to have very few ingredients. I travel for work more than 20 times a year, and this has been my worst hotel stay so far.

For my first visit to Cologne, the location worked perfectly with the plans I’d made. Getting around on foot or by public transport was easy, and the room was really cozy and stylish.

The place was very noisy, with loud bars on the same street, so anyone sensitive to noise should think twice. The mattresses were uncomfortable, and the upper rooms had only two small windows and no air conditioning. There was a fan, but I can’t imagine managing the summer heat well. The rooms were also very small for the price, with barely room to move around or do anything beyond using the bathroom and lying on the bed. We weren’t told we might be put on the fifth floor, and ended up carrying our suitcases up all those stairs. The no-elevator information is on Booking, but no one asked if we could manage the climb. No one in our group was disabled, but one person was pregnant and found it extremely hard. She felt a bit sick afterwards, which could have been avoided. The room was clean, and someone responded quickly through the Booking app chat and helped us cancel check-in so we could redo it and get another room. I expected something different when I booked, and the price still doesn’t feel justified.

On August 16, 2025, after I posted about being stranded at Cologne Central Station and booking the wrong dates by mistake, Hotel Lint’s General Manager, Julian, emailed me. His message felt threatening: he said he had seen my review and “assumed it would be removed promptly.” He also said he had charged a €20 “processing fee” for a booking canceled within a minute, but the amount actually withheld was exactly €30. No service was provided, and this felt like financial abuse and cheating. Expedia has effectively endorsed this by refusing to take responsibility, leaving guests stuck between rigid policies and unprofessional management. To me, the case shows Hotel Lint and its booking partner putting profit and silencing criticism ahead of empathy and care. The original problem happened during the night of 8-9 August. I was stranded at Cologne Central Station between 3 and 4am, exhausted and with nowhere to go. I walked around to hotel after hotel asking for a room, but they were either full or closed. I then booked online what I thought was a same-day check-in and check-out at Hotel Lint for the night of August 9. I hadn’t noticed the platform had automatically selected August 9-10. Once I saw the error, I canceled within minutes, before using any service or causing the hotel any cost. Hotel Lint’s General Manager, Julian, refunded only €69.25 of the almost €100 I’d paid, keeping over €30 as a “processing fee.” In his written response, he stressed there was no obligation to refund anything, described the partial refund as “saving me €80,” and brought up the self-check-in system, which had nothing to do with my situation. The terms may technically permit this, but hospitality should involve people as well as policies. I was in a vulnerable, urgent situation. A small act of understanding would have cost the hotel nothing and could have earned lasting respect and loyalty. Instead, the decision put a short-term marginal gain ahead of empathy, fairness, and basic decency, especially in hospitality. I’m sharing this so other travelers know what to expect, and in the hope that Hotel Lint will consider whether following policy rigidly should outweigh compassion for a guest in genuine need.