InterContinental Frankfurt - Frankfurt/Main, Germany     

The Intercontinental Frankfurt is a huge, grey, concrete, squared-shaped, 1960's dinosaur of a building. Don't worry as inside the hotel everything is very modern, clean and in good working order. Common areas and private guest rooms have all the usual Intercontinental furnishings which you find the world over if you're a regular visitor of this hotel chain. LOCATION The hotel is a 5 to 10 minute walk from Frankfurt's main train station (the Hauptbahnhof) which is really practical for transport connections. However, bear in mind that the hotel AND the train station are NOT right in the centre. You will need to walk a further 10 to 20 min from the hotel or take public transport (or taxi) to get to many of the major financial institutions (such as the European central bank) and to the large shopping areas (most of which are open only from 9:30 to 18.00 and closed all day Sunday due to archaic German legislation on trading hours). Trains run from the main train station to and from cities all over Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and even further away in Europe. If you're coming/going by train from/to Frankfurt's main airport this is also where you'll arrive/depart. Below the train station you will find Frankfurt's U-bahn i.e. metro (subway) and local regional trains (S-bahn). When getting off your train in the main hall the of station - walk right (without taking any stairs) to the big EXIT near platform 1. Cross the main road over to where the "Hotel Continental" is(unrelated to the Intercontinental), then walk past the "Le Meridien" hotel and the small square and turn left. If you've got a lot of heavy luggage you may want to take a taxi outside the train station. Some drivers may put up a fuss before accepting the ride because the hotel is so close - just be persistent - German law obliges them to take you no matter how short the distance. If you get a hard time, tell them you just have a really bad knee and can't walk or mention the law. Germans have a difficult time resisting if you tell them they are not following the rules. ROOMS River view rooms with wide panoramic windows are vastly superior to "city view" rooms. The city view rooms only look out onto other buildings across the road (don't expect a city skyline view of Frankfurt or anything like that). The bedside cabinet had a bible AND book of "Buddha's wisdom" which was a refreshing surprising alternative to most hotels around the world. Bathroom has "Elemis" soaps and shampoos which were a nice touch, however a hotel of this calibre should NOT have plastic shower curtains which cling to your body as you wash, as I did ! Seems like someone was trying to cut costs and didn't realise that hotels of this standard should only have glass door water barriers in the bathtub/shower. The minibar was of the automatic variety which bills you as soon as you move anything in it even if you don't use it. The TV was not a flatscreen but had a good selection of various channels in many languages including quite a few Middle Eastern broadcasters. I'm guessing they have a large business clientele from this part of the world. If you authorize the TV to bill you - you will get access to ALL 6 pay TV channels at once for a once off flat rate of 15 Euro per day. This is a good price but be aware that this will automatically release 2 or 3 hard core adult channels as well - so if you don't want this make sure you block these channels beforehand. REST OF HOTEL Some websites and guides list this hotel as a 5 star property. That's stretching it a bit. You'll only feel its 5 star if you get a room on the 19th floor or above -where the executive rooms and private lounge is. Otherwise this is a standard 4 star property. The restaurant to the left of the main entrance seemed to have pretty decent prices for hotel standards- have a look at the menu before going in. My rate did not include breakfast so I cannot comment on its quality but be warned !!! If you pay for it separately its 27 Euro per person !!!! Their are 2 computers in the lobby for FREE internet access which is a big bonus considering that so many hotels worldwide now charge expensively for this simple service. CONLCUSION: The hotel is nothing amazing - it's a standard 4 star hotel (with unproven 5 star aspirations) which generally caters to business travellers, conference attendees and airline staff. Nothing less, nothing more. The location is practical for easy train and airport connections but the area around the main train station isn't Frankfurt's best - especially at night. Rates can vary from 120 to 270 per night Euro depending on demand, events and time of week. Anything above 175-200 Euro per night is way overpriced in my opinion, unless you have a room on the executive floors, or a suite, or there is some really major event in town. If you're a business traveller make sure you check how far this hotel will be from where you need to go for your work. You shouldn't pay premium for a room and then have to fork out even more on taxis just to get to your meeting or convention. Be aware that this hotel adds on a surcharge per person per night if you have more than one guest in the room even if the room has a double bed or twin beds ! However, there's nothing to stop you booking the room for 1 person who checks in and having your friend/partner/wife/relative join you later by just walking past reception to the lifts/elevators. GENERAL NOTES ON GERMANY: If you're a tourist you can use Frankfurt's practical public transport but in general I wouldn't recommend ANY major city in Germany for anything historical or eye-catching. Almost all medium and large German cities where utterly destroyed during allied bombing in the second world war and (unlike in post war Poland where all old buildings were rebuilt as they were in August of 1939) a conscious decision was made in western Germany after 1945 to rebuild most cities with cheap grey squared-shaped concrete buildings. Occasionally you will find a house/building or church that was not bombed or torn down after the war - but these are few and far between. You will see a lot of grey when travelling in Germany - grey buildings, grey railings, grey bus and train stations, grey sidewalks, grey lamp and traffic light posts, grey and red train timetables, grey and pink German telekom adverts, grey rubbish bins (garbage cans) grey pens at the intercontinental hotel....all shades of grey....concrete grey, modern rough metallic grey, soft grey and white stationery.... GREY - Everywhere ! A much better bet if you're a site-seeing tourist is to visit the smaller towns and villages in Germany which suffered minimal damage in World War 2. Heidelberg and Nuremberg are just 2 good examples (the latter is one of the few German cities that decided to rebuild almost all its bombed out medieval churches, fortifications and towers after 1945).