City Hotel by Celina

We were pleasantly surprised after reading the reviews here. The hotel isn’t brand new, but it was spotless, and we didn’t find any faults or damage in the rooms we were given. Its location is convenient, right in the town centre next to the train station and 4 km from the highway, with a few nice restaurants within walking distance. There’s no air conditioning, so the room can get quite hot on a warm day.

We found a lot of problems here, and I honestly wouldn’t come back, not even for one night. For this price, there are plenty of better Airbnbs. I’d rate it 1.5 stars. The hotel is in the city centre, in an area I wouldn’t now describe as safe. When we arrived, there was no reservation under the name it had been made with. After questions and a very confused front desk attendant, we learned it had been booked under my name as the accompanying guest, not the person who actually made the reservation. The hotel didn’t fix that, and the bill was simply issued in my name. We also paid 5 euro per day for parking. Nearby parking costs 1.5 euro per hour, but even though the room was 75 euro per night for two people, parking wasn’t free. The hotel lot was hard to find, unmarked, and tucked deep inside the building block. The drive in had another company’s markings, the spaces were tiny, and there was little room to maneuver. The only parking map was at the hotel entrance. Breakfast costs 10 euro per person, which seems outrageous. It’s served on the 5th floor, but the roughly 40-year-old elevator only goes to the 4th. On the way to our room we noticed a strong chlorine smell, like around a pool. The room was supposed to have a double bed, but it had two single beds pushed together without one large sheet over them. They slid apart easily as we moved, and one of us actually fell into the gap while sleeping and turning over. The blankets weren’t even the same, one was much heavier and warmer, which wasn’t okay in the middle of summer. The door had only a regular key and handle, not a knob, so we had to lock ourselves in with the key. The bathroom had a loud sewage processing device by the toilet that ran after flushing and during showers, something I’ve never encountered in a 3-star hotel. It didn’t work properly either: there was backflow with toilet paper and brown water, and a terrible smell on the second night while we were showering. Two lights in the shower cabin also worked for a minute or two, then went out. Towels and squeezable bottles of universal washing liquid were provided on the wall, but the toilet paper holder had very loose screws and wobbled by about 15 cm. The room furnishings were as cheap as possible. There was no fridge, and the TV worked but was so small that my PC monitor is twice its size, making it unwatchable from the bed. The windowsill had marble foil, and the bedside table “drawers” were just planks with handles, made to look like drawers. In summer we opened the windows and found two small spiders beside the bed the first night. The street was so noisy, with people screaming, that an open window meant getting woken up. The single-layer curtains were thin and didn’t properly block the hotel’s outside lights, though those lights were switched off later at night. On the second day we found two more spiders, with more likely to come in from the gigantic web right outside the window. There was no air conditioning. The hotel had fans locked at the front desk, but nobody told us or offered one. When we left, nobody was at the front desk for us to complain to.

The breakfast was simple and fresh, with a modest selection. The hotel is near the train station, has a lift, and provided two bottles of water.

The hotel feels old-fashioned, and my room was cold because the heating was off. It’s right in Hagen’s inner city and quite noisy; from the first floor you can pretty much hear people talking on the street. The breakfast room is on the 5th floor, but the elevator only reaches the 4th, so you have to take the stairs. It was okay overall, but too expensive in my opinion.