Finding a decent hotel in Hamburg is not easy. Either they’re outrageously expensive, or they look like they were last refurbished in the mid-20th century. Eventually, I figure this is as good a time as any to explore the 25H Hotels brand, which is the Accor Group’s answer to the CitizenM brand.

Location

The 25H Hotel Altes Hafenamt is located down by the water, near Hamburg’s old harbour. From here it’s only about ten minutes on foot to the Elbphilharmonie and fifteen minutes to the Hauptbahnhof. The U-Bahn station Überseequartier is just a short walk from the hotel. Being so close to the water means that in the mornings I can hear seagulls outside, soaring overhead in search of food.

Just one thing – the 25H Altes Hafenamt is located on Osaka Allee. There is another 25H hotel just around the corner on Singapur Strasse. If you walk up to reception and they can’t find your booking, it’s likely because you walked into the wrong one of the two hotels.

Check-In

I check in to the hotel at around 13h30 and receive my room card straight away, even though I’m early. The reception area is rather small and tight. This being Hamburg, it’s obviously got a maritime theme – but it still looks kinda cozy.

Staff

The check-in is friendly, but a bit stiff. I think the girl checking me in has only just started in her new job. Hence, her interaction is focussed mainly on getting the basics right.

Extra Large Room

This is all very confusing. I’m in room 243 which is, apparently, on the fourth floor. I’ve booked an extra large room overlooking the courtyard behind the hotel.

The room certainly is extra large. The door opens into a long foyer. On my left is an open wardrobe. On my right is a fixie bike mounted on the wall that is mine to use during my stay. It’s a bit gimmicky, but fine.

I turn the corner into the main room, and the gimmicks continue with a 1980s theme. There’s a old landline telephone, a record player and, built into the credenza, a small tube television and a VHS recorder that I suspect half my students have never seen the likes of because they’re too young. Oh yes, and there’s also a typewriter – for whatever reason.

My instinctive first impression is for me to dislike the room, but strangely, I somehow don’t. In fact, the room is rather comfortable. The bed and pillow combination is just perfect, in the sense that both have just the right amount of firmness to ensure that I have exceptionally good sleeps during my stay.

The bathroom is also rather large, just like the rest of the room. It has an open walk-in shower that does not bode well for the tried and tested Knight of Malta shower test. Nonetheless, this sample still manages to score rather highly. There’s certainly no spillage, just a few droplets of water in the area immediately in front of the shower. Surprisingly, the cosmetics in the room are by Soeder, which is a fairly small company from Zürich.

Amenities

In terms of amenities, there’s just a water kettle in the room. To make coffee there are sachets of ground coffee and a set of paper filters. The coffee they produce is rather good. Small tubs of fresh milk are also provided. The minibar has two bottles of beer, two bottles of water and fritzkola. All the contents of the minibar are complimentary. The welcome gift is a bit of a letdown. It consists of a hand written note and… two sticks of raspberry flavoured fizzy candy? I also think that it would not have been too much to ask for there to be complimentary bathrobes and slippers in the room.

Dining

The only restaurant is NENI on the lower ground floor, which serves modern middle eastern fare. I only have breakfast here and it’s very good. There’s a huge buffet that also features a few middle eastern classics like labneh, hummus, and baba ghanouj. This really is an excellent spread that they have here.

Conclusion

The moment I entered the 25H Hotel Altes Hafenamt, I should have taken an immediate dislike to the place. Everything about it just yells “hipster” in big, flashy upper case spelling with multiple exclamation marks. And yet, despite all that, I thought it was surprisingly not bad. The service is nothing to write home about and interactions with the staff are limited. Even so, I would consider staying here again, mainly because of the comfortable bed and the stupendously spectacular breakfast spread.