What Makes a Good Hotel in Frankfurt?

Year after year, many visitors come to the state of Hesse in the centre of Germany – Frankfurt has plenty to offer. Some people want to get to know the charming city on the River Main, others are visiting friends, acquaintances or relatives, and still others are in Frankfurt on business. For others again, tours to some of the exciting excursion destinations around the city may be the main focus.

This also explains the wealth of accommodation options in Frankfurt. Here you'll find both rather luxurious establishments with all the amenities and comforts, such as the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, as well as more affordable accommodation. Of course, it's worth bearing in mind that a hotel at the lowest price can't be expected to meet all the standards that a top-class hotel might offer.

Whatever price range you choose for your trip, the value for money has to be right. It's long since taken for granted that every hotel should be clean and hygienic without exception. Beyond that, though, there are many areas in which you can tell whether the hotel guest is at the centre of attention or rather just in the way.

In this article, we'll show you how to recognise a first-rate hotel and where to find them in Frankfurt.

A good hotel: facilities and sleep comfort

Often, the first point of contact with a hotel is its website. This gives the hotel the chance to make a first impression and present a kind of business card packed with information. The most important thing here is good imagery, because nothing else says as much: do I want to stay there, or do the photos perhaps not appeal to me?

Of course, it's also important that all relevant information is easy to find, easy to understand and presented cleanly. Especially in the hotel trade, the website must be ‘responsive’, meaning optimised for mobile devices.

The second impression of a hotel comes from its location and the welcome at check-in: do you feel ‘well looked after’, so to speak? At check-in, I want to be seen as a person and treated accordingly. Appropriate to the time of day, staff should briefly and clearly explain where to find what – a friendly welcome should go without saying.

Some explanations, for example at a check-in at 10pm, will probably still have time to wait until the next morning. Hotel staff can skip this step for regular guests, provided there's nothing new to report.

Of course, sleep comfort during the night is also essential in a hotel. Since many people already have trouble falling asleep properly at home, it's even harder in an unfamiliar city. After all, you want to experience your discoveries the following day feeling rested and fresh.

This makes the bed, and especially the mattress, particularly important. In well-run hotels, mattresses are replaced on a regular rotation and have the same level of firmness across all rooms and beds.

Alongside top-class bedding comfort, even an untrained eye can spot a backlog of investment in a hotel by looking at the carpets, walls and floors. Good towels, clean bed linen and quality cosmetic products in the bathroom, which reflect the establishment's customer focus and calibre, are especially appreciated by more experienced travellers. Does hotel management perhaps skimp on small things like tea, coffee or water in the rooms?

A hotel can score plenty of points with guests at the breakfast buffet – or, of course, miss the mark entirely. Quality naturally comes before quantity here, and you can tell how a hotel approaches this by, for example, whether branded products are available at the breakfast buffet. In recent years, awareness of regional produce has also risen sharply.

Does the hotel make an effort to buy locally wherever possible, for instance from a farmer or the nearest workshop? Since guests usually come to the city to discover many of its facets, they generally reward this kind of shopping behaviour, even though it's often more costly and demanding.

Individuality and communication in Frankfurt hotels

While communication between hotel staff and guests begins with the booking or check-in, in a good hotel operation it continues throughout the entire stay. Staff at a professionally run establishment remain as unobtrusive as possible in the background, but are always on hand when challenges arise or even as problem-solvers. Often family-run hotels, such as the Hotel Borger, play to their strengths here. Many hotels now also use digital channels to draw attention to events and news – staying in dialogue with guests and keeping close to them.

Even if you don't necessarily need to be a fan of a minibar, its contents are still a good gauge of whether the offering is tailored to overnight guests, or whether the contents of the mini-fridge look more like an attempt to use up leftovers before their best-before date. The minibar is called that precisely because you can't store much in it. That's why the hotel manager should be aware of what's popular and shape the selection accordingly. This gives a minibar the chance to earn a hotel more praise through better quality – and, of course, the same goes for the real bar, where a convincing drinks selection is complemented by conviviality.

If, besides exploring Frankfurt and the surrounding region, you also want to do something good for your body, you'll likely have looked for a good spa area when booking. Naturally, this should be hygienically spotless and clean. Especially here, where things are a little more relaxed and intimacy plays a role, a well-run hotel can really showcase its strengths.

This doesn't mean following every wellness trend and creating an unwieldy range of offerings whose quality can no longer be guaranteed. Rather, treatments and applications should be provided by outstanding massage therapists or beauty specialists who deliver convincing results.

Top of the list of essentials are the facilities and ambience of each hotel. Beyond that, the right attitude from the operator and hotel staff is a key factor. Only when both of these elements come together does a stay at a hotel in Frankfurt become truly satisfying. The best hotels in Frankfurt – your vote counts. Perhaps we've been able to give you a few tips for your trip to Frankfurt. Of course, individual preferences also play a role, such as location – important because of proximity to the station, airport or motorway.

For some guests, a good hotel restaurant may also be important, as these often rank among the best restaurants in Frankfurt. There's also the German Hotel Classification system, which awards stars for quality. The four-star category in Frankfurt includes establishments such as the Victor's Residenz Hotel. If a hotel carries the additional ‘Superior’ label, visitors will find an à la carte restaurant on site and can look forward to above-average facilities, furnishings and comfort.

Hotel Frankfurt – your vote for the best overnight experience

With the help of this article, you should now be well equipped for upmarket temporary living in Frankfurt. There are certainly plenty of reasons for a trip to the city on the Main: during the day, the city centre invites you to stroll and shop, as well as to visit some historic buildings and sights.

Numerous events await visitors to the city, and the surrounding region also offers many excursion destinations that can be combined with a cycling tour or a hike in or around the city of Frankfurt. As night falls over the city in the state of Hesse, Frankfurt is also appealing to clubgoers and pub-goers alike. Speaking of the city's guests: who better than those who have already been there to judge the quality of hotels and offer tips?

It's only natural, then, that we've asked our users for nominations and their votes. So here's our request to you: if you've ever stayed as a guest in one of Frankfurt's many fine establishments, then cast your vote for your favourite here!