Kastens Hotel

Avoid this hotel at all costs!! It is THE worst hotel I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. On booking the hotel I was offered 2 prices, one to "pay now" and the higher price at the hotel, Making a group booking I opted to pay at the hotel, but they then took the higher amount immediately. I had to cancel this to get a refund (which took weeks) and was advised to rebook 8 rooms in 2 blocks of 4 to avoid them taking the money immediately. Despite doing this they again took the payment in full immediately after booking, and again took weeks to refund it. On arrival at the hotel last weekend, only 7 of the 8 rooms were available, despite the booking.com confirmation displaying 8 rooms as being confirmed. They were particularly unhelpful and we had to accept the 7 rooms and not the 8. On return to the UK they have not only debioted the full payment for all 8 rooms, but also taken 50% of the booking (£925) as a completely random payment, and will not contact me via phone or email. The location is not great and is a good 15 minute walk to anything resembling a city centre, and to top things off, all of our party were bitten by bed bugs whilst staying at the hotel and came out in red blotches. The breakfast was horrendous and pretty much inedible There are many much better hotels right in the middle of the city, at much more competive prices, so save your money on this one

What’s German for dump? Kastens hotel Düsseldorf. What an awful place! 4 stars, they say. Well, I wouldn’t recommend it for my dog. The bad: no air conditioning, and in 39 degree weather they give you a microscopic fan. Picture it! The hotel was full of mosquitoes and the bed had bed-bugs. Shower curtain mouldy. Lift incredibly slow and doesn’t stop on floor 2 (the German equivalent of a Harry Potter 7 1/2 platform I guess). Breakfast was weird: no cakes, no muffin, no sweet breads, but an abundance of savoury (which was nice). Latte machine not working well, milk was cold when came out. No safe in the room (in spite of hotel literature plead with guests to leave valuables in safe in the room) and the worst, softest pillows I have ever had the misfortune to rest my head on. The worse than bad: Reception staff incredibly lethargic and unhelpful. I emailed 4 times to ask for directions from airport, they couldn’t be bothered. Told me to take a taxi, which would have been over 50 euros. I told them I was happy to take trains, I asked for advice. No reply. Completely uninterested. Worse: one day I returned, knackered (there had been a train strike in Belgium that ruined my bay trips and my train back to Düsseldorf broke down!): hotel had a locked front door with a sign “back soon”. Took over 5 minutes for guy to return, with a woman (!!!) saying “sorry I had to do something upstairs”. On check our I was asked if I took something from the mini bar. Cold death stare: I had no mini bar!!! When I arrived in the room, the bathroom rubbish bin was full of someone else’s rubbish (yuck!!!!) Was there anything good? Well, 5 min walk to a good tram line straight to Hbf, 25 min to old town (but frankly I should have stayed in old town, the hotel prices were fine there). No, I don’t recommend this dump to my worse enemy.

Our room was good and our breakfast was fine. I asked for an extra towel that seemed like a big ask. Most of the employees where very nice Plus I like the location. I have stayed there several times. For this I am not going down to a one star. When I arrived the person at the desk said I have to pay when I leave... whatever. But when paying on departure they kept saying my card was not accepted. I called the bank who said they are not seeing any charge must be a connection issue with the merchant. The bank noted I had just used the card 10 minutes before (booking a train reservation). We went through four or five of our cards all failed. I told them it was their machine. No not our fault. They told me to call the booking agent. I did who said they can not help. The person at the desk asked if I could be quite. I said no you are making us miss our train because your machine is not working. No it is not our machine. Meanwhile my wife was running a half mile away to find a cash machine. I called another one of the card companies (Going through yet another authentication process) who said it must be their connection as they are not seeing a charge. Finally she checks her machine. Oh yes it does not have a connection. At least she admitted it but this is 45 minutes into our check out process. Says it is not the hotels fault the card machine is not working... well it is not mine! Are you going to pay for my ticket since it is your fault that I cannot pay? No it is the card machines fault. Is it going to pay for my lost ticket or get me to Hamburg? My wife returns in a taxi with cash. I load the car. Person at the desk says we should have paid on arrival wife says we tried and where told we had to do it on departure. Missed our train had a hard time getting out as there was a festival in Düsseldorf (had I known that I would have changed itineraries). Just horrible customer service. I do not speak German maybe there is no word for sorry? I would not be giving this bad a review if they could have admitted or even tested their machine after I put 5 cards through it or had been at least slightly apologetic. If you have to stay here pay in cash because they will not even be nice about their machine failing.