Back home in Australia for good (well for now..) enjoying the sunshine
Back home in Australia for good (well for now..) enjoying the sunshine
Member since:29.12.2005
Reviews:44
Members who trust:38
An IBIShotel.. what can I say. Have you stayed in an IBIS before? Then you have stayed in IBIS Dortmund.
Where is it? A bit of a trek, but a walkable trek, outside the main part of town. Located on a big but unexciting street. The street has exciting things such as closed shops and a car dealership. Typical back of town street. Its not so far from a train station with an unpronounceable name (info on the website), but this is most definitely not the central train station and was no help to us. To get to the hotel from the Central Train station we walked up through the centre of town, and then out and then out some more and just as I was about to start snapping "You have the directions wrong" there she appeared.. phew. There is a map on the IBIS website (link below) with directions, though the directions are in German. Its located 1km from the Convention centre WESTFALLENHALLEN for a point of reference!
What can I do? The IBIS has a cafe, which is downstairs. It serves hotel priced food, not a wide selection but if you are stuck it's there, its open only in the evening
from 6-11pm. There is also a small bar in the hotel. At reception you will also find some local brochures and there was some German newspapers too. There was a town map but they were selling it. We figured we would cope without it (and did)
All 97 rooms have air-conditioning and ensuites. There's a lift to get you upstairs, as well as stairs. There's WiFi available and if you want to bring your pet, well that's just fine with the IBIS.
You can also park your car at the public car park, its indoors but you must pay.
What can I do outside of the hotel? There's a supermarket next door, but it was shut the entire time we were there. Probably as it was a weekend and its out of town.
About five minutes walk away (back towards town) we found a nice German restaurant. There was also a pub in that direction too, but it was an "Old man pub" (filled with scary old men) so we avoided it.
Dortmund itself is not for the hyper tourist, and is definitely a conference/business style town. Aside from a rather cool and large local park with lots of fun things, like a chairlift (no snow) and a outdoor auditorium, there's a church. That's about it that we could find. There are quite a few art galleries around too, I would say they are all in German but this means the explanations and not the paintings themselves! There's a big shopping mall, with such unusual shops as, err, H&M.
But how can I book it? You can book your room online, which we did and had no problem with. You will just be asked standard questions, when, how many etc. Just print out your reservation slip and pay on arrival. Yes, on arrival. We had to anyway, it could have been the dodgy look on my face after all that walking to find the hotel. Rates vary according to time of year, and day of the week. Weekends are cheaper which I thought was great (obviously since I was there on a weekend!) but its around 50ish Euro a room. You can also phone or fax a reservation (details below) if you aren't a fan of the internet (though what are you doing on Ciao then?). The website does ask that if you have a special request (child under 12 in the parents' room, a family room, a group booking, etc.), you should contact the hotel.
The staff. We had to get a cab to the train station at some weird hour for our flight back. We could have walked but it was something like 4am so we decided the sleep vs. cab fare was well worth it. The staff on reception were happy to book it for us and the cab turned up no problems. Amusingly my friend forgot what country we were in, she just knew it wasn't an English speaking country so she needed to get out some Foreign. She then began to instruct the cab driver in Japanese…. Still makes me laugh! Somehow we managed to get back to the train station.. The sfatt were also the ones to point us in the direction of the nearby restaurant and happily answered our questions. In English and with no haughty attitude knowing that our German didnt extend beyond "Nien".
The Room. We got a room with a double and a single bed, with a small table that about took up the whole room with enough room to walk out the door. So it wasn't huge, but we could breathe, a little. There was a TV, a phone, it was clean and the bed was comfy. It was a bit cold so we made use of the spare doonas in the corner cupboard. Attached to the room was a nice, but small, ensuite. Shower, toilet, hairdryer, soap and sink. It was cleanded properly and each day. The rooms were located far enough off the nearby street that we didnt hear a thing.
Check me out. As we had already paid we simply handed the key back to reception when we left and that was that.
Why go? I am often asked this question, and I always say "Because I can". I'm from Australia and so anywhere in Europe is exotic. It also had something to do with a "free" easy jet flight. We paid about £20 return. They are not so cheap now and I just had a quick look for a flight a month from now and it was around £70. I would definitely not go out of my way to get to Dortmund, or the Dortmund IBIS, but for what I paid and for the experience of another little part of Germany I was happy. The website says "You'll never want to stay anywhere else".. well I don't know about that but it was fine and we had no problems.
One more point.. The IBIS is part of Accor hotels and you can use your Accor loyalty card for points.
The Facts: Märkische Strasse 73 44141 DORTMUND GERMANY
This hotel is ideally located in Dortmund, close to Westfalenpark and a 2-minute walk from ... more
the nearest U-Bahn (underground) station, which takes you to the city centre in 4 minutes.The Hotel Ibis Dortmund City offers spacious, comfortably furnished roo...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
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