Sleephotels Cosmos

The room was nice, but the window wouldn't shut, so it got quite cold even with the heating on. Self check-in was a bit tricky, though the system is good. Make sure to note your room number when it appears at the end on the screen. We missed it and had to wander around trying our room card.

The room was clean and spacious, and there was also a curry house on the second floor that looked good and seemed very popular. That's why I gave it two stars. But it wasn't cheap for the three-bed room we needed, and I would never stay here again. It was a bad choice on my part. The view was over a street corner drug market and public toilets. At night, even with the provided earplugs, I slept in fits, interrupted by shouting, howling, and screaming from addicts and street workers below. Through the filthy windows we saw scraps, slaps, and scuffles. The only staff member I saw came to knock on the door to remind us when to check out. Check-in was through a machine in the entrance doorway, and it felt complicated and impersonal.

The area felt extremely shady, especially at night. Saying I felt unsafe almost understates it. The hotel itself is pleasant enough for what you pay. The staff and room service were nice, and the clean rooms were as advertised.

We liked the room itself, but it was loud, had no air conditioning, and the windows wouldn't open all the way. After only 30 minutes at the hotel, we decided to leave instead of spending the night because we were worried about our rental car getting damaged. We'd planned a day trip to Hamburg and booked this place through Booking.com for what seemed like an amazing $50 deal. We parked in a public paid car park around the corner, and the place immediately set off alarm bells: it was an open-air lot right beside busy streets, with a group of people sitting in front of us shooting up drugs. I would have left right then if my partner hadn't been with me. Even the four-minute walk to the hotel felt unsafe to me, and I wouldn't have done it without my partner beside me. That part of Hamburg was full of immigrants and drug users.