Four Points by Sheraton Central, Cologne
(no longer a Four Points)
The Four Points Central is located just opposite the Cologne Main Station. The Exterior of the Hotel is not so nice, but if you look inside it is quite well furnished. If you come by train, just leave the station via Breslauer Platz and the hotel is right in front of you. If you come by car, follow the signs “Main Station” or “Musical
Theater”. There is a small parking for 10 cars; you can park beside the Hyatt Hotel and just walk over the bridge. Parking in the side streets is not really possible, since maximum parking time is 4 hours and parking fee on some streets is till saturday 23.00 h. .
The Hotel has ten floors and also some meetings rooms in the first floor. There is a restaurant with Bar on the ground floor, right hand side if you enter the hotel, while left hand side is a small sitting area with a PC Workstation. The lobby is not quite and beside the sitting are at the entrance, there is no further seating.
The staff is friendly and very helpful, also they sometimes answer telephone calls while checking you in. Usually, check in is fast and efficient.
There are two small elevators to the floors. The rooms are air conditioned and have sound proofed windows; you do not hear much of the noise outside the hotel. Rooms with wireless LAN are available on request – but note, the signal is sometimes not very strong. I have had several times problems connecting to the internet (Provider is T-Mobile).
The rooms to the backyard and some of the rooms facing the Station have a bigger bathroom than the rooms to the street beside the hotel, which are quite small. Every room has a minibar with soft drinks free of charge.
Breakfast is served as extended Continental breakfast in the restaurant and an extra room on the ground floor. It contains of scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon, ham, cheese, marmalade and jam, several sorts of bread and rolls and some pastries. Cereals and fruit salad are also available.
Stays: 24 March 2004, 05 April 2004, 18 July 2004, 11 February 2005, 15 March 2005
Arrival Date:24 March 2004
Departure Date: 25 March 2004
Room type booked: Standard (got a room with a double)
Rate Plan: Best Available Rate
Room Number: 519
Room Rate: 85,00 EUR / night
Status of SPG: Gold
During this stay, I got a room on the 5th floor. Normally I book the cheapest available room in this hotel at time of booking. This time I got a room with a double and a working desk. The working desk was very small and due to the tea and coffee facilities on the desk you could not really work there. At the entrance of every room is a central switch for the lights in the room – you did not have to put you key in it.
A table and a lounge chair were also placed in this room and therefore the room very narrow. The cupboard was big, but as this was only a short stay, I did not use it. The TV screen was beside the cupboard. Also there was a minbar with four bottles of soft drinks (free of charge).
The bathroom was again very small but it has a bath. I will never understand, why they did not built a shower in this sort of small bathrooms. I doubt, that the most guests in this hotel take a bath. just a side note, after a shower, the mirror became fogy and you have to open the door of the bathroom.
In the morning, I have had some problems to leave the parking, as another guest (I think staff, as the car had a plate of the city of Cologne) parked behind some other cars. Also they tried to charge me a second time, as they had some trouble with the registered cars for the parking (I did not use the parking anymore).
Arrival Date:05 April 2004
Departure Date: 06 April 2004
Room type booked: Standard
Rate Plan: Special Rate Plan
Room Number: 605
Room Rate: 61,00 EUR / night
Status of SPG: Gold
The low rate of 61,00 EUR I got some at the beginning of month of april made me book another night in this hotel to collect some nights.
This time I got a single on the 6th floor of the hotel looking to the backyard of the hotel. Although the view is not really nice, this rooms have the big advantage of a really huge bathroom with a window – one could say, the bathroom is as big as the rest of the room.
The rooms has a working desk with a TV. The possibility to work is better as in the room I had in march, as the tea and coffee facilities are missing in this room. Therefore you have more space on the working desk. A lounge chair with a table were also available. The bed is placed beside the entrance door, but you did not hear much noise on the floor. The minibar offers four free soft drinks.
At the entrance of every room is a central switch for the lights in the room – you did not have to put you key in it.
This rooms offers W-Lan connection as I was told by John (aka Spiff) who stayed in this rooms during the Cologne Stammtisch in February 2005
Arrival Date:18 July 2004
Departure Date: 19 July 2004
Room type booked: Standard (got a Room with a double)
Rate Plan: Endless Weekend with Breakfast
Room Number: 407
Room Rate: 65,00 EUR / night
Status of SPG: Gold
I returned from Frankfurt in the evening and had to work in Düsseldorf the next day. As the Four Points in Düsseldorf was more expensive, I decided to stay once again in the Four Points as I was able to book a low rate of 65,00 EUR. I checked in at 19.15 and was told, I get a double rooms with the requested W-Lan connection. Unfortunately, I did not get a signal in the first time and only in the late evening a weak signal. This was the beginning
of some calls with the staff about their W-Lan availability; I only had a strong signal in the lobby and the restaurant up to now.
The rooms offered a view to the backyard and was dark, as there was only a small window due to the position of the room. A lounge chair and a small table were placed in front of the window. The working desk was larger than in room 519m but again it was not really possible to work there, as on the one side the tea and coffee facilities and on the other side the TV covered most of the desk. The minibar offers four free soft drinks.
At the entrance of every room is a central switch for the lights in the room – you did not have to put you key in it.
As usual, the bathroom was very small with bath.
Arrival Date:11 February 2005
Departure Date: 13 February 2005
Room type booked: Standard
Rate Plan: Endless Weekend with Breakfast
Room Number: 616
Room Rate: 77,00 EUR / night
Status of SPG: Gold
This time I get a small single room looking to the street beside the hotel. The room was small, but not as full with furniture as the room of the Holiday-Inn in Düsseldorf. The working desk was very small and you could hardly work there. The W-LAN signal was often not available and the most time weak. Beside this, the room was nice. In the minibar were only three instead of the usual four bottles.
At the entrance of every room is a central switch for the lights in the room – you did not have to put you key in it.
The bathroom was very small, you barely could move and someone who has not the ideal figure will have problems in the bathroom. The space beside the washbasin is small, but you could your personal belongings there without much trouble, but the bathroom itself is of good condition (proper shower curtain, proper shower head). The wash lotion, shampoo was were products of the ArabellaSheraton group.
Arrival Date:15 March 2005
Departure Date: 16 March 2005
Room type booked: Standard (got Double Room)
Rate Plan: Best Available
Room Number: 509
Room Rate: 99.00 EUR / night
Status of SPG: Gold
During my second stay in 2005 I got an upgrade to a double room on the 5th floor with view to the yard; this view is not very nice, you are looking in parking. The bathroom was okay, a little bit bigger than in the room I had in February but not as big as the rooms with the “..06”. The space beside the wash basin was narrow and the mirror was not adjustable any more. Again, the wash lotion, shampoo was stocked very well with the products
of the ArabellaSheraton Group.
A nice working desk was opposite the two single beds. On the working desk were also placed the tea and coffee facilities and the integrated minibar with four bottles (one cola, one orange juice and two bottles of mineral water). The working desk was big enough to work with a laptop. The lamp at the work desk could be a little bit brighter, but it was okay. A power outlet was at the working desk, unfortunately only one; this power outlet was also needed for the tea and coffee facilities.
At the entrance of every room is a central switch for the lights in the room – you did not have to put you key in it.
The TV screen was not on a rotating table, so watching TV from the bed was not very good.
