National Hotel, Frankfurt am Main

...room at the four-star Hotel National online, about a week in advance.

We arrived in Frankfurt on the 7th of July 2005, the morning of the London bombings. As we passed through the arrivals gate, a German television news crew pounced at us, and a rubbery, suntanned man in a linen suit thrust out a microphone. He was gurning at us in that timeworn approximation of journalistic sympathy and concern… "What do you feel about it?" ...
.../> THE HOTEL: The Hotel National is very centrally located, almost directly opposite the Hauptbahnhof, an imposing edifice that houses Frankfurt's main train station. We found it without any difficulty whatsoever. The hotel's exterior seemed a little more dated than its publicity photos had led me to expect, but it is nevertheless unimpeachably clean and well presented. Whilst my husband waited outside, I went in to inquire about parking and was ... more

BACKGROUND: My husband and I were visiting friends in northern Bavaria last summer, and decided it would be quickest to drive down from Frankfurt. I've visited Frankfurt on several occasions in recent years, usually for the International Book Fair, and whilst I have no complaints about the city itself, I've generally no real inclination to linger there any longer than necessary. My husband, however, had never been to Frankfurt before, so we decided to break our trip and spend a night in the city en route. I booked our room at the four-star Hotel National online, about a week in advance.

We arrived in Frankfurt on the 7th of July 2005, the morning of the London bombings. As we passed through the arrivals gate, a German television news crew pounced at us, and a rubbery, suntanned man in a linen suit thrust out a microphone. He was gurning at us in that timeworn approximation of journalistic sympathy and concern… "What do you feel about it?" he repeated, in an insistent tone. At first, we had absolutely no idea what had happened. It was all very strange. An hour or so later, and in a degree of shock, we arrived at the Hotel National. It was a beautiful summer afternoon, and we certainly hadn't planned to spend it languishing in a hotel room, watching Sky news, but that's exactly what we ended up doing.

THE HOTEL: The Hotel National is very centrally located, almost directly opposite the Hauptbahnhof, an imposing edifice that houses Frankfurt's main train station. We found it without any difficulty whatsoever. The hotel's exterior seemed a little more dated than its publicity photos had led me to expect, but it is nevertheless unimpeachably clean and well presented. Whilst my husband waited outside, I went in to inquire about parking and was told that we could leave our car in the hotel's car park around the back, but that we would have to surrender our keys, and wouldn't be able to move the car again until the following morning. This sounded like a rather peculiar and inconvenient arrangement, but the proverbial penny dropped with a clunk when we sighted the 'car park' concerned. This was actually little more than a glorified driveway, and a fairly narrow, and not especially long driveway, at that. Such factors were but minor impediments to the hotel's determined little clerk, however, who somehow contrived to install ten or twelve cars along its length.

THE LOBBY: Once inside, the hotel lobby was cosy, with stairs leading up towards an attractive bar and dining area on the right. There is a computer terminal with Internet access, and a selection of complimentary newspapers, including some in English. Overall, our first impressions were very positive. The décor, here as elsewhere, was simple and generally tasteful, and the hotel was spotlessly clean throughout. Our room was on the first floor, and as we only had a little luggage, we decided to take the staircase. This was a curving, marble affair that would have been rather smart had it not been for the presence of the two or three reproduction cherubs en route.

Our room was at the end of a hall, and overlooked the Baseler Strasse. I've encountered all manner of door locks in hotels over the years, from those conventional keys with a heavy metal barbell attached, to plastic swipe cards and code-operated entrances. However I was utterly defeated by the system at the National, which seemed to require a very deft and impossibly specific flick of the wrist to operate it. I vaguely recalled the clerk having mentioned something about the door earlier, but my mind had been elsewhere. Besides, it had seemed at the time like the sort of information that is little more than a blah blah statement-of-the-obvious, like those security drills on airlines, the sort of thing one tends to blank out… The prospect of skulking back downstairs and asking him to repeat his instructions did not appeal. Anyway, my husband had a go then, and after a couple of minutes of twiddling, pressing and cursing we finally heard a promising 'click' and the door was open.

THE ROOM: Although admittedly on the small side, our room was light-filled and attractive. The road outside was quite busy, but the sound proof windows filtered out the noise of any traffic very effectively. To the left, there was a double wardrobe that also housed the television set, tea and coffee making facilities, safe and complimentary mini bar. This was a nice touch, and contained a selection of beers and soft drinks. To the right of the room, in front of the window, stood a small table, as well as a desk with the usual in-house information and hotel-bannered stationery assembled on top of it. Two neat little bedside tables with lamps stood on either side of the bed. As to the bathroom, it was immaculately, clinically white, with a hair-dyer and a decent selection of toiletries. All in all, other than the issue of its size, it was a perfectly pleasant and acceptable four-star room.

Having dropped our things, we collapsed on the bed, and watched the awful events unfolding in London. We had tried to call various people, but had been unable to get through. It was an awful afternoon, memorable for all the wrong reasons. At one point, I went out to get something for us to eat, and had wandered across the road towards the train station. An outdoor marquee had been set up in the sunshine, more of a beer tent, really, selling bratwurst and pretzels and cider on tap. The atmosphere here seemed almost perversely festive, with folksy music blaring amidst laughter and the sizzling of sausages…and it struck me quite forcefully that life really does go on.

We went out in the evening, returning quite late. Although we'd already worked our way through a reasonable selection of the local tipples in the course of the evening, it seemed churlish not to make use of the free drink tokens we'd been given when we checked in, so we made our way to the hotel bar for a nightcap. The bar was empty apart from a burly businessman slumped grimly in the corner, but the night-porter, a hunched and geriatric little creature in an ancient tuxedo, hobbled obligingly across to the bar to serve us. His hearing was clearly not very good, necessitating a great deal of shouting and hand gestures. Finally, I asked for a Pernod and ice, and then looked on in astonishment as the little man fetched a wine glass from the shelf and, with jittery hands, added a little ice before carefully filling it to the brim with Ricard… The businessman, who had been looking on, laughed uproariously at this. My husband was then given his beer, which was served in a more conventional fashion. We chatted to the businessman for a while, and then retired for the evening.

BREAKFAST: Breakfast at the National, which was served in the main dining room, was little short of superb. It was possibly one of the best breakfasts I've had in a hotel of this type, with a scrumptious array of breads and fresh pastries, wonderful eggs prepared on demand, lashings of plump smoked salmon, and a top notch selection of cheeses. I could easily have lingered over it for an hour, and might as well have, because once we had finished and went across to check out, we discovered that our car was blocked in. It seemed the hotel's ingenious one-way car parking system had hit an inevitable snag… Namely, the car parked two behind us had broken down, and couldn't be moved, and they were waiting for a mechanic to come and resolve the situation. Still, once again, the staff were all so friendly and apologetic about this that we found ourselves feeling completely unperturbed… and we simply sat in the lobby and waited patiently.

LOCATION: If arriving by plane, the train to the Hauptbahnhof, opposite the hotel, takes just 10 minutes. The hotel is very conveniently located, and is within a 10-15 minute walk from most of Frankfurt's central attractions. Leaving the hotel, if you turn to the left there is a walk of approximately 5 minutes until you reach the River Main. There are attractive walking trails on either side of the river, and it is an excellent route to take if heading towards the Old Town. To the right, if heading towards the train station, you will pass a rather down-market looking little bar with coffee tables and seats out the front, occupied in all likelihood by the very same collection of beery, bulbous-nosed individuals, irrespective of the time of day that you happen to pass… Carry on a little further and you will find yourself in the thick of Frankfurt's slightly seedy red-light district, which, during the day at least, is certainly not as alarming as it may sound. There is a very nice market nearby, and several very pleasant restaurants.

FURTHER INFORMATION: The Hotel National has a total of 71 rooms. A high-speed, wireless internet connection is available throughout the hotel. Room service is available from the hotel's restaurant during meal times. Ciao's listing (above) suggests that the hotel has 2 stars, but this has since been upgraded to 4. The hotel certainly appeared to have been recently refurbished when we were there. Rooms cost from 95-145 Euros for a double.

FINALLY: The review title is very much tongue-in-cheek. The National is a very pleasant and reliable hotel, providing excellent service and superb value for money in an extremely convenient location. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to any visitor to Frankfurt. Our room cost less than £50 for a night, which in my opinion was exceptionally good value for the amenities and services provided.

http://www.hotelnational.de
 

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