Crowne Plaza Frankfurt Congress Hotel by IHG

The skyline view from the room was lovely, and the room itself was clean and comfortable. The tram stop is very close, with connections to the airport and Hauptbahnhof by S-Bahn and bus. One odd thing: breakfast isn’t included in the room rate.

The gym is the part that really bothered me. The photos show a big, open space, but in reality it’s about 3m x 4m, barely bedroom-sized, with two treadmills, a bike, an elliptical, one dumbbell rack, two leg machines, a chest press and a lat machine. I didn’t post my own photo because other people would have been in it, and that wouldn’t be fair to them. The WiFi is so weak it’s unusable through most of the building. The hotel itself is okay, and the bar is good; the rooms are okay too.

The front desk staff were unapologetic, which made the problems feel even worse. We booked six nights, from 27 October to 1 November. The shower drain was blocked, and there was a stink bug crawling on the bathroom wall. On one day the room wasn’t cleaned; on another, the sheets weren’t changed and the litter was left behind. The key card worked for the first four days, then needed reactivation each evening on days five and six. One of the three elevators was out of service the whole stay, and eventually a second was taken out for maintenance too. Don’t waste your money on this poorly maintained property.

The self-service shop in the lobby was the best part. The property needs repairs and updating, and both the lobby and our room were far too hot. We had to switch off the air conditioning completely to stop it blowing hot air. At check-in, the staff member walked away as I approached the desk and didn’t come back for several minutes. I later found him talking to another employee. After that, every request to the staff seemed like an imposition.