Last summer I packed my hand-luggage and jumped on a train to Manchester airport. I downloaded a mystery boarding pass to my phone and discovered that I was heading for a surprise trip to Cologne.
This trip really was a surprise. It was arranged by the fab folk over at WowTrip who specialise in surprise holidays around Europe. I must point out that the trip was kindly gifted to myself and a bunch of other bloggers who took part in Monica’s Blogger Course.
You can find out more about WowTrip, what they offer and what we got up to during our stay in Cologne in my full review.
Today I want to tell you about the hotel we stayed in and share my room tour video – you can find the video at the start of this post or over on my YouTube channel.
Accommodation is an important part of travel for me. I like to be in a central location with a clean, comfortable, safe and modern hotel. WowTrip guarantee a central hotel with a 3* or 4* rating. For the price you pay for the trip I think this is really good.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express. It’s just ’round the corner from the Old Town and a quick walk to the nearest U-bhan. An excellent location for exploring Cologne.
The hotel had recently been refurbished and was very modern. My bedroom and bathroom were clean and the bed was very comfortable (perfect for those early days of pregnancy).
I was pleased to find lots of plug sockets around the room and particularly near the bed. I think this is essential in a modern hotel.
The hotel and location both felt safe. I like that you have to have a keycard to activate the lift. I’ve stayed with Holiday Inn a few times now (my review of the one in Berlin) and they always feel safe and secure.
The continental breakfast buffet was included with our stay. This was just a standard breakfast, nothing too exciting. However, I was pleased it was included as part of our WowTrip. It’s always nice to be able to grab a coffee and croissant before heading out for the day.
I was very happy with our hotel for the trip. It ticked all the boxes, especially as it was all arranged as part of a surprise.
If you have any questions about the hotel feel free to leave them below and I’ll be more than happy to answer them.