This was my 9th business trip to Hamburg in as man...

This was my 9th business trip to Hamburg in as many months and this is unfortunately the worst accommodation I have stayed in.

Starting with the positives, the staff are lovely and the breakfast is quite good. These positives however do not outweigh the room quality. The rooms were unacceptable in my opinion (and I do not have high expectations when it comes to accommodation). I was not concerned by how dated the room was (the carpets and furniture are very old and heavily stained which may deter some people), but the smell, heat and noise are what I found to be unacceptable.

Smell - upon arrival I assumed I had been given a smoking room by mistake as the smell was so overwhelmingly pungent. I went back to reception and was advised that there are no smoking rooms. There was no remediation possible, each night of my stay I had to go to the hotel, open the window, and leave for an hour to allow the smell to dissipate; it by no means eradicated it, but it was at least manageable. Looking around the room there is signage requesting customers not to empty their ash tray into the waste paper bin so my assumption of the smell is that the carpets / furnishings have not been changed since the time when it was a smoking room and the smell has lingered ever since.

Heat - the hotel is not air conditioned or sufficiently ventilated. They provided a desktop fan which I was able to put on the coffee table to circulate air but it merely circulated hot air and I repeatedly woke up covered in sweat.

Noise - this would not have been an issue if the heat was not so bad, but the heat meant I had to open the window, and the outside noise from opening the window was significant. My room was not facing the central station as others have commented however the noise levels were still high, particularly in the early morning.

Overall, I had minimal sleep during my 3 nights here which is far from ideal for a business trip. I would encourage visitors to stay in one of the many other hotels in the city as I have not had the issues above with any other hotel in Hamburg.