A Review of the Holiday Inn Munich City Centre

If you were on the ball last night, you may have noticed that Priority Club was accidentally pricing some reward stays at much lower prices than normal.  It appears that while Priority Club was updating their systems for the forthcoming pricing changes, several hotels were discounted by 5,000-25,000 points per night.  The glitch has now been fixed, but hopefully all reservations booked at the mistake rates will be honored for upcoming stays.

One of the deals I was most interested in was a drop at the Holiday Inn Munich City Centre, from standard pricing of 25,000 points per night down to 10,000 points per night.  This is one of the properties I actually expect to see increase with the new pricing structure coming out later this week, so I was thrilled to see it come down in price temporarily.  Based on some Twitter action during the deal, it seems as if many other travelers will be taking advantage of this opportunity for a trip to Oktoberfest, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the hotel.  It’s a bit outdated at this point, but since there haven’t been any major refurbishments since my stay, I think it’s still relevant.

We stayed for 2 nights during Oktoberfest and had a good – but not extraordinary – stay.  I would absolutely recommend the hotel (and in fact, will personally stay there again in the future), but don’t expect luxury, personalized service, or platinum benefits if you’re there on a reward stay.

The room itself was quite large for a European city hotel, with plenty of room to spread out especially on a short stay.  The bed was comfortable and unlike many other German hotels, came with your choice of firm or soft pillows, something you take for granted until you travel through Germany.  Amazingly, the room was wonderfully quiet, something I didn’t expect on a sold out weekend with a number of guests coming back from spending all day at Oktoberfest.

Along with a good night’s rest, the other thing I particularly appreciate is a shower with good water pressure, and I’m happy to report I was able to start my morning off on the right foot.

Our room was clean and had a lovely view overlooking the city, icing on the cake.

The location is okay, on the edge of the tourist district, but still within walking distance of everywhere we needed to go.  I typically like to be even closer to the thick of things!  There is an S-bahn stop (Rosenheimer Platz) directly underground the hotel – if I remember correctly, it was 2 stops to the Marienplatz, 4 stops to the central train station, and about 40 minutes to the airport.  However, we had beautiful weather during our stay and chose to walk everwhere instead.  The Marienplatz was only about a 15-minute walk from the hotel and we also walked to the Englisher Garten and back from Theresienwiese (even after several steins of beer), both of which are further afield.

Breakfast at the hotel was quite expensive (21 euro per person as of our stay), though we did eat there one morning since it was the only place open early enough for our plans.  Although expensive, the buffet spread was great, including eggs cooked-to-order, bacon, sausages, breads, danishes, cereals, fruits, baked tomatoes, fresh-squeezed juices, espressos and cappuccinos, along with a standard German selection of cold cuts and cheeses.  For a cheaper meal, you’ll find dozens of little bakeries and coffee shops for a light breakfast (walk toward the Marienplatz about five minutes and you’ll smell them!).  My preference, though, would be to head all the way toward the Marienplatz and Viktualienmarkt for some overpriced tourist cafes with awesome people-watching.

The hotel is also next door to a gas station (including a 24-hour convenience store) and around the corner from a Europcar location, so it’s easy enough to rent a car without necessarily having to go to the airport.

The only downside to our stay was that wi-fi is not included, and is quite pricey.  Normally I “unplug” while on vacation, but when insomnia hit, I found it too late at night to find an internet cafe and gave in to paying 7,50 euro for half an hour of internet access.  It may have been a free night’s stay, but between breakfast and internet charges, they still made a bit of profit on me!

If all this talk is making you wish you were going to Munich this year, it’s not too late.  The price has been revised upwards to 25,000 points per night, but that’s still a phenomenol deal if you’re planning on attending Oktoberfest, where room rates are easily 300 euro a night across the city (and most other hotels either black out or are sold out of award rooms).  If you’re planning on going, I’d highly recommend booking now since I expect the points rate to rise – and availability to dry up.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll see you there this fall.

Check back for my tips on attending Oktoberfest!