Art Inn Hotel Dinslaken

Breakfast was generous and complete, and the staff were friendly. The bathroom also looked fairly new. We were on the ground floor, where the room felt a bit warm for that time of year. Parking in front of the hotel was free from Saturday to Sunday. For the price, it was good value.

We got a great deal, so the value for money was okay. The room had plenty of space and a small kitchen, and the town was quiet and pleasant for a weekend. What bothered us was the train noise, along with curtains that didn't block out the light properly. If we came back, we'd insist on a room with better light-blocking curtains.

You can spot the hotel from the station platform. A friendly couple runs it, and they speak English perfectly. Everything feels cared for and done with love, while still being professional. I'd happily stay there again.

The next morning, my bike was mysteriously damaged. I'd come in needing somewhere secure to leave my expensive touring bike, but the owner's wife first showed me an outdoor spot beside the hotel, behind a chest-high, see-through iron gate about 1.25 meters tall. There was nowhere to lock the bike, and she wouldn't let me put it farther back where I could secure it. The hotel is right by the train station, and on a Monday night there were 10-12 rough, loud men drinking tall cans of strong beer out in the street until late. She kept saying there was a locked gate. When I said I needed another hotel, she offered a locked shed by the trash cans. I agreed, but she angrily and condescendingly repeated that she'd already told me the gate locked. To me, an unlocked $2,000 bike left 30 meters from about a dozen street drinkers, behind a transparent gate my mother could climb over in five seconds, wasn't safe. I was tired of being talked down to and told her so. I'm a serious, sober professional, and usually pleasant and deferential. I'd stayed at 26 hotels on this Europe trip without one problem with anyone. We argued about her combative manner and her treating me like an idiot for no reason. In the end, opening the garbage shed just took a turn of the key she already had in her hand. It seemed like a simple thing, but she acted as if I was causing trouble by asking to leave my bike somewhere safe. I have dignity and won't be dressed down like a child by an arrogant person. She was haughty and demeaning, and treated me as if I were stupid. Maybe it was because I don't speak much German. I'd recommend avoiding this hotel. It's within spitting distance of a small crowd of street drunks, and the owner's wife was rude and petty.