Hilton Cologne

BACKGROUND Open since 2002, in recent years (2016-21) the hotel has undergone extensive refurbishment, including all rooms, public areas, bars and meeting rooms.

Last year around €2 million (£1.67 million) was spent on remodelling the entrance and introducing a new restaurant and bar – Pigeon Post.

WHERE IS IT? A five-minute walk from the main train station and only five minutes from Cologne Cathedral.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? The 296 rooms were refurbished in 2016 and are on floors one to seven. The building used to be Cologne’s postal savings bank and the original building has been retained, though you only really get a sense of it from the exterior (stand on the other side of the road and look up at the listed 1950s design). It does explain the higher ceilings and consequently larger windows in many of the rooms. When it was converted into a hotel and opened in 2002, an extra wing, out of sight from the front, was added, and this has 72 rooms and the fitness centre in its basement. Rooms have views either to the front towards the Dominican Church or to the back across a narrow but quiet street to some residential apartments.