HotelChatter

Location is Not Always Tops
We picked this hotel primarily because it was one teeny tiny block from the Munich Hauptbahnhof (that's train station in Deutsch.) Rolling off the night train from Paris and wheeling our bags to the hotel was practically a joy, especially since it was 9am and we had taken a sedative in the form of strong French cough syrup which left us a little groggy.

Yet the neighborhood by the train station is what you would expect from a neighborhood by a train station. A little seedy, a little weird and full of shops selling strange things. We saw clear stripper heels for 19 Euros. Just FYI.

The Leonardo Hotel is one of the nicest hotels on the block (there's a nice Le Meridien and Sofitel across from the train station too) but it's also across from two youth hostels. And with it being Oktoberfest, it got loud. Also, have you seen hostels lately? Not so pretty to look at.

Check-In
Check in was a breeze and they even let us go right up to our room at 9am. The desk clerk, although a little grumpy, spoke English too. We didn't spend much time in the public areas but there was a cute little restaurant and outdoor patio. Everything was new and clean. We cannot say the same for the train station.

Room Reaction
The room was tiny, not Yotel-tiny, but still small. Yet we found it very cozy. And big, compared to the sleeper cabin on our overnight train. So the hotel has that going for them.

It had everything we needed (except working WiFi) like a flat-screen TV (reruns of Full House dubbed in German shown here!), a desk, a window that opens, a mini-bar, plenty of closet space and a spacious shower with a little place to sit down.

We did think the comforters were a little weird---we each got our own little one--but this seems to be a common German bedspread. The sheets were however, scraaatttchy.

Amenity Madness
Aside from the aformentioned room basics, the room also sported handwash and bodywash in wall-mounted dispensers with the brand name Tricky Ricky. Toiletries were rather scarce. Just shampoo and gel. The hotel also threw in some local magazines which were in German and poorly translated English. These are useless. The only thing interesting was the ads for "gentlemen's clubs" in the back. Seriously.

On the eco-friendly side, the hotel has a keycard slot by the door and this controls all the lights. We found this very common in our hotels in Europe, leading us to wonder WTF is wrong with American hotels. They should all have this. However, this did give us a problem later. Keep reading.

Room with A Hostel View
Our traveling buddy, who just happens to be a man we married, looked out the window at one point and saw a girl smoking in a g-string at the hostel across the way. Instead of getting jealous, we actually saw this as a good thing. It was less work for us to do later. Heh heh.

Oktoberfest Scene
Since we were in Munich for Oktoberfest, the hotel's location came in handy here. The train station is one stop away from the Oktoberfest fairgrounds. Plus, you get to look at all the people milling about in traditional Bavarian gear.

Oh yes, people do dress up here in lederhosen and dirndls. At the very least, men wear those gingham-checked shirts and girls wear their hair in pigtails. We spied some pukey pastel concoctions at the German department store, Ludwig Beck. It's Juicy Couture Bavarian-style.

The train system is also extremely easy. After spending nine hours in the beer tents, we managed to get back to our hotel room safe and sound, although we don't remember anything after about 5pm. According to our cellphone text messages, it seems we arrived home at 11pm.

Here is where that energy-saving keycard slot came into play. You try waking up at sometime in the early morning after having spent nine hours swigging bier and prousting to find the keycard to put in the energy-saving slot. Yet never fear. We'll have you know that our aim was somehow precise in the pitch-black dark of the bathroom. Twice.

Bottom Line: We used credit card points to book this room for two nights but room rates start at around 109 Euros. Expect that rate to be a lot higher during Oktoberfest. Yet, Munich is a beautiful city and to waste it on a hotel near the train station is a waste indeed.