Elbotel Rostock

We finally reached the hotel at 2:45 a.m., exhausted after a frustrating night. Our train was late, so I had called at 8 p.m. to let them know; they said they'd alert the front desk. At Rostock train station around 1:30 a.m., it was completely empty, there were no taxis in sight, and I called the hotel for over half an hour, probably 20 times, hoping they'd order one. I kept getting a recorded message and no answer. My two young children were extremely tired, and I was furious. Eventually a taxi turned up. The front door was locked, as is typical in Europe, but after two rings it took ages for the clerk to answer. He told me checkout was at 10:30 a.m. I own a travel agency and have never had a hotel checkout that early. I asked for a late checkout, and he agreed to noon. At checkout, I mentioned what had happened to the front desk manager. She was extremely rude, gave no apology or thanks, didn't say goodbye, and stayed in the back office until we left. We'd hoped to have lunch in the restaurant, but were told it was closed at noon. Stay away from this property. They don't understand customer service. I didn't see another guest while I was there, which isn't surprising.

The workers were very friendly, especially in the dining room, and we really liked the sauna. There's also a small gym with a bike, rowing machine, and dumbbells up to 10 kg. Our double room had free WiFi, a TV, a large wardrobe, a desk, and a nightlight on each side. It was clean when we arrived, as was the bathroom, which had a hair dryer, clean towels, and soap. The only downsides were the thin wall, since we could hear the man in the next room talking, and the lack of power outlets on both sides of the bed. There was plenty of bread and rolls at breakfast, along with ham, cheese, feta, cream cheese, chocolate spread, butter, honey, and scrambled and boiled eggs. For vegans, the options weren't very interesting: there were apples and pears, plus fresh tomato, pepper, and cucumber, and six or seven cereals with dairy milk or yoghurt, but no plant milk.

Rostock's a pretty quiet area around this nice hotel. In summer, if you need to open the windows, you may hear some traffic from a street-facing room. It's not particularly busy traffic, though, so you can still rest easy.

The WiFi seemed fine, but the location wasn't great and the room was just okay. When I asked for a key to the fitness center, which was locked, the staff simply told me the room couldn't be used.