Stayed recently at the CP Hamburg Alster Friday through Sunday. The hotel is easily reached by the number 6 bus which stops outside the Hauptbanhof on kirchenalleestrasse. During my trip i lost a credit card and the reception staff allowed me to use the house phone to cnx my card with my provider (it appears that there is no reverse charge calling available in Germany?) However this kind act was much appreciated and i found all the CP staff very welcoming and helpful. One small criticism (which is an ongoing bug bear of mine) is that the hotel towels were quite worn and could have done with being replaced!!!!!! I know that its not always possible to offer new/plump towels but CP management should keep an eye on the towel quality as (most of us?) expect a plump luxurious towel to bathe and wash with!!!!!

we spend weekend at Hamburg, purpose was to visit Christmas market, this time me and my wife's parents and friend.
we booked Crowne Plaza because priority club membership + location, with my friend we are Platinium members so we looked forward to see how it effects for service, this time nothing, but we booked Club suites so not much better there could be.
we arrived friday evening by plane, friend by car, from airport its easy to go to hotel by taxe and price is about 28 euro, which is not much for 4 persons. Check-in went slowly, we had trainee otherside of desk, but we got 2 rooms to us suite and wife parents clubroom, friend at suite.

First we visit club, it was cousy, nice to sit, yv and various drinks, alocholic and otherwise, snacks too, small cannapees sweet and sour, first night went well at club, nice to chat and drink, all included room price so it was very cost effectiv for 5 persons to have drinks there before dinner.

It was first time to all at Hamburg so we didnt knew exactly how far from restaurants we were, but we decide to wal, about 20 minutes we got to street where was all kind of restaurant, went to one Italian, evening and food was nice, after it was good distance to wal and melt food.

Saturday we had breakfast at Hotel, it was prompt and there was all what needed, good quality, prompt service and table cleaning, good breakfast for start of day.
After breakfast we started to walk to Christmas market, rain started, reception loan us umbrellas and we started walking, went little wrog route but finally we got to main shopping street and markets, back we went by taxi, over 30 minutes walk from main market. Gluwein, sausage, nice booths all kind of stuff, happy athmospher, lot of people, even bad weather didnt spoil, Christmas markets at Germany are nice, sunday we went straight to main market by taxi 8 euro only from hotel, for 4 person it wasnt much. Market day was nice and walked back and had dinner restaurant street close to hotel, Portugues Vasco da gama restaurant, fair prices and nice food, had chicken curry, worth to try also house wines was nice.

About hotel, there seems to be problem or misunderstanding about Club Lounge, different types of food runout saturday-sunday nights, also now glasses, but for Germany it was strange to now beer in fridge, after calling beer came also other drinks, glasses and cleaning happens after we guest called, that was nice to see that it worked when asked, but more nicer if there is somebody taken care of Lounge, some guests there cleaned tables and arrange things, looked strange, mother and 2 daughters help us to find stuff from lounge closet, they also cleaned used cups etc. maybe its purposes to have this kind self service, but our experience before is that there is staff to filling fridge and take care of used glasses, but maybe used too good...?

Rooms wer ok, cleaning was strange, both days different things missing, first removed glasses and no shampoo, second time toilet paper missing and hand towels missed, it wasnt things where we wanted to call and complaint, also we didnt get water bottle second night... small things which shows that there probably are not much supervision to check that all things are done promptly and everytime, probably we travel too much to notice these small things, if longer stay surely mention at site.

We had evening dinner second night at Hotel, empyt restaurant relax service, menu was dissapointment, too fancy food, afterwoods we looked room service menu, there was those what we would wanted, but food quality was nice, service wasnt high standard, polite but probably girl was trainee also, also food was very expensive comparing our dinners first and third night at outside restaurants, there we have full menu with appetizers half price than short sellection at hotel, but now hungry afterwoods.

Checkout went again with trainee, she was confused with bill, didnt remove Umbrella posit, so I need to ask new invoice, printer didnt work etc. it took 10 minutes to checkout, but we werent hurry, but that was sure that Priority club membership or having Platinium card didnt show anyway in this hotel, but got points, that was good.

Overall its business hotel, getting old inside, location probably pretty far from short trip, but taxis are cheap, breakfast was good, beds also... club room nice when there was cold beer and other drinks, also club room works very weel with friends, if we had same amount drinks at lobby bar it would be more than room price ;-)

I have stayed here several times and am intimately familiar with Hamburg and the hotel choices. The rooms here are run down and in need of renovation which is what they will be getting apparently in 2013. In the meantime they are renovating the common areas which doesn't leave you with a clean smoke free room. Of the 2 rooms I booked one was not available despite pre-paying and the other stank of smoke.

Internet and parking costs drive up the price of staying here by another $35. Needless to say I shan't be staying here again in a hurry. Shame really as it used to be quite OK

The hotel is located in a quite area well connected to the center of the city. Bus and metro are really very close to the hotel. We had some nice days during our staying in Hamburg so we also walked to the city. It is maybe a 20 minutes walk but it's very relaxing.
Our standard room was on the 3rd floor and it was spotless and looked like new. I peeked in one of the Club Room and they are bigger, so maybe you should ask for one of those if you travel with a lot of things and big luggage, otherwise standard rooms work just fine.
Breakfast was super! Whether you like continental or not, you will find a lot of things to eat. There are cakes, muffins, jars of delicious marmalade but also eggs, fish, bacon, beans, lyoner, mushrooms and tons of fruit! It costs 20 euro per person, quite expensive but quality was good.
The pool is not very big so it's better not to go there during the time of the swimming courses. As for the gym, it's really really small and after some time it becomes impossible to breath... But a part from these tings, everything is great.