Excelsior Hotel Ernst
Cologne, Germany
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About the Hotel
Nestled among the church spires of Cologne, Germany, not far from the Rhine River, stands the exemplary Excelsior Hotel Ernst. A member of The Leading Hotels of the World, this historic hotel, one of only a few buildings in these parts to survive World War II, has been part of the cityscape for nearly 140 years. Its luxurious rooms and excellent service have earned it both a loyal following and flawless reputation, as well as inclusion in Conde Nast Travelerâ€(TM)s Gold List.
Location
Excelsior Hotel Ernst
Trankgasse 1-5, Domplatz
Cologne, Germany
P50667
Nearest Airport: CGN
Features and Amenities
Reviews for Excelsior Hotel Ernst
An Experience to Remember
We had the great good fortune of staying at the Excelsior from 17-20 December 2025. A family of eight adults from Australia for our first European Christmas. Beautifully located at the foot of the magnificent Cathedra, this hotel meets the highest standard in every category. Fantastic attentive staff who deliver wonderful service, the rooms that want for nothing and great dining. I did not want to leave.
GJ312
So 1999-ish
Poor experience overall. First the positive: All staff is awesome. Everyone couldn’t be any friendlier. Breakfast is awesome. And they offer a good night hot chocolate or hot milk with honey for kids. Which is a nice touch. The rooms is where it goes downhill and the way staff approaches it. Booked a deluxe room, around EUR 500 a night, and the room’s carpet is just disgusting. We didn’t want to take off our shoes. It has some major stains (see photo) and overall just felt dirty. That’s an issue. But the real issue for me then is when staff at the reception pretends like they’ve never heard of this and are all surprised that there may be stains. Dude, that stain, on that overall totally worn carpet, looks like it’s been there for years. So that really threw me off. He gladly still charged the full 500, of course, but offered a stale Christstollen to make up for it. Crazy. The other thing: The shower. Highly dangerous and you’ll need to be acrobatic (photo). Plus, the water goes everywhere and you’ll for sure flood half the bathroom. But… I’m complaining about that part since 2008 when I started staying there for the first time. Excuse was always: We’re renovating. Here we are, 17 years later… Location is awesome. Only reason to stay ( besides I’m not sure if there’s an alternative overall if you’re looking for that level of service - minus the receptionist who gaslight you).
BigTraveler002
Great location and good customer service
So glad we checked into this hotel, after our nightmare at the Hilton around the corner. We really enjoyed our stay here and recommend it for the following: 1) Location = 5/5 as it’s like a 2 min walk from the central station and so close to the Christmas markets. 2) Check-in = 5/5 a very warm and helpful welcome. What’s great is they allowed us to check in early. Thank you! 3) Room = 4/5 it was very spacious, clean, functional, standard amenities of large bottles of: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, earbuds, make up pads, tissues. The reason for the four is that the aircon was playing up and making so much noise so the heating was only capable of one setting which was very hot, therefore it made sleeping difficult. Someone came to fix it immediately and was great, but told us that it was old. We were just glad the noise was gone. Nice slippers, towels good but no robes. Also no tea or kettle in the room. You need to ask for this at the desk. No bathtub. 4) Afternoon tea = 4/5 fresh sandwiches, four small raisin scones great pianist and we asked for more sandwich’s and she got some even though they don’t replenish these, is what she said. It was €150 for two with a glass of champagne. 5) Customer service = 5/5 very friendly and helpful staff. 6) Checkout = 5/5 very easy and they offered us water too. Nice and helpful. I recommend this place for the location and helpful staff. Everyone had a smile on their face and wanted to help you with anything. They gave us a free welcome drink in the bar and a lovely welcome plate of treats in the room with a thoughtful card. Thank you.
Leezz - London, United Kingdom
Superb - without doubt the best in Cologne
Classically German flawless excellence with 9/10 Christmas spirit. Renovated suite was excellently done. Some roundabout pricing on upgrade / to a suite which turned out to be a large junior suite. However absolutely no complaints. Standout superb service from Hae Nam, Sasha and the concierge team who organised very complex Reservations during the Christmas period. The Charles bar is superb. Breakfast is higher quality and more comprehensive than many grand capital city hotels. Overall, an extremely impressive experience.
ACARSW5 - Singapore, Singapore
Trying to sleep at a beer garden
It was like trying to sleep above a beer garden. Below our room in a gathering room, live music is still playing and it’s 12:50 in the morning. I thought I was supposed to be staying at the nicest hotel in Cologne. I would have been better off trying to sleep at the train station. Went down to the desk at midnight to see when it would stop. No luck with that.
Gregory W
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