Feb 1

Feb 1 Munich, Germany: Spending Winter in Winters Hotel

MUNICH, GERMANY. With a huge consideration that our hotel should just be near the main station (Hauptbahnhof) of Munich, we booked two rooms in Winters Hotel located along Arnulfstrasse.

Why near the Hauptbahnhof, you ask? Because we thought that since we would be arriving during the Christmas holidays when most of the restaurants and establishments are closed, then it would be best if we just stay near the main station so that we could just go out of the area and catch a train ride to a nearby town whenever we please.

The Winters Hotel is a no-frills hotel. They offer just the basics which is good when basic is all you need. They have two teeny-tiny elevators (which I observed was normal in Europe) that could fit a max of 10 people combined; lower if they each tow a luggage.

All their rooms are equipped with a wifi, beds that are comfortable enough to sleep in, a flat-screen tv, a desk with telephone and high-speed internet access and a luggage rack with a safe. Their bathroom has the basic toiletries, lots of hand/bath soap, a hair-dryer and some more freebies if you book a comfort double room or higher.

There are some quirky things I observed in this hotel that you might either love or hate. Their toilet bowl is short in flushing-powers. Their hotel keys have this steel weight attached to it which I think was placed so that you would not dare take the hotel keys outside because it is so heavy you'll be forced to leave it with them (it's their policy, by the way) and which also give the keys enough speed when dropped in their deposit hole. So if you are the type of person who does not like leaving their keys with the receptionist, I think you better look into your other options. But if it does not bother you, I think this is a good idea because you are spared of the constant headache of looking for the whereabouts of your keys.

Just a few meters on the left of the main door of the hotel is an underground passage towards the Hauptbahnhof which had been a great help for us snow-neophytes when it was snowing hard outside.

Also, you cannot be assured that your hotel room will not be cleaned even if you put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door knob. That unfortunately happened with us. The fortunate thing though is that nothing went missing. So before you go out and particularly do not want your room to be opened, it would be better to tell them specifically that you do not want your room to be cleaned. If they still cleaned it though, it would be best to tell them immediately about it.

A couple of their staff do not know how to treat their customers well which is so sad because the hotel is okay. It happened during the last day of our stay when we were not able to come back and check-out in time because we got lost and encountered some setback in Dachau. We were hoping that they'd hear us out but sadly, the assigned receptionist did not and ask us to still pay for the two rooms. It was actually okay if she said it in a well-meaningful manner but I do not think she knows how to communicate both nicely and effectively. The other girl sitting in the reception was just so indifferent she does not want to be included in the discussion. She even told us that she's not actually assigned in the reception but in the kitchen. Anyway, I hope they have their staff undergo a training on customer centrism.

Other than that, all was well!

Prices start at EUR 79/night + taxes for a standard twin room. We got a triple room for EUR 90/night and a standard twin room for EUR 72/night all-in through Agoda.

WINTERS HOTEL AM HAUPTBAHNHOF