PREAMBLE

Instead of flying nonstop between Miami and Paris on AA as I do three times a year when I go see my sons, last summer 2011 I took Lufthansa because I wanted to change from my usual seat 2A (bulkhead window on AA’s 767s with a stupid video system that blocks me in my seat during ten hours whenever I have a screen addict neighbor, which happens 99% of the times…) and remember the epoch when TWA upgraded me to seat 1-1 (the very first window seat) on my favorite Boeing 747.

So I purchased a first class ticket on Lufthansa for a whopping 135,000 miles from my United Airlines account because I no longer fly with them since they changed their upgrade policy in 2003: instead of making my reservations with a confirmed upgrade paid with miles and holding them for a couple of weeks, they now want me to purchase the ticket first, then request the upgrade after I have opened my skinny wallet; so they haven’t seen me since 2003…

And I was right to choose Lufthansa because between the day I got the ticket (several months ahead as usual) and the date of departure, the German airline changed equipment from the scheduled 747 to the new giant Airbus 380 where I had the best room in the house: seat 1A on the upper deck, all by myself, with the first neighbor several feet away on my right! It was worth every single mile I paid for this ticket and I would certainly love to renew the experience if I were not a simple professor working almost for free at FIU, or if I had enough miles left with UA…

Since I had to change planes in Frankfurt and was entitled to one stopover, I decided to spend a weekend there upon my return from Paris to Miami and that’s how I discovered the very best value for money I have ever seen outside of the USA. Of course, the absolute very best worldwide value remains Choice’s Clarion hotel in Las Vegas Convention Center, where I paid 8000 points the first night and $40.33 with tax the second night in May 2011! Add 10% for the paid night if you are not a senior like me and it’s still a gift, even without breakfast! But if you want the most bang for your bucks, don’t leave the USA!

BEST ROOM EVER SEEN IN EUROPE FOR LESS THAN 100 EUROS

When I reserved the Best Western Imperial Palmengarten in Frankfurt in October 2010 for August 2011 (I plan ahead so I can get the best deals!) for only 33 Euros per night (less than $48 US!) without breakfast, I was somewhat worry because, knowing the outrageously high rates of European hotels, I was wondering what I would find over there! My fear increased after my bad experience with the tiny closet at the Best Western Arosa in Madrid two months before this trip, in June 2011 (see my review of “Hostal Buenos Aires” in Madrid).

But I was wrong to worry.

The Best Western Imperial Palmgarten in Frankfurt Main, Germany, is, by very far, the very best hotel I have ever seen in Europe in my price range, including the "Kyriad Prestige" in Chartres, France, where I spent a couple of days in August 2009, and the "Clarion Hyde Park" in London, where I slept in closet # 711 in January 2007, when it was still part of Choice Hotels.

The AIR CONDITIONED room that I got in Frankfurt for €33 faced the back of the building, towards the Botanical Garden (Palmgarten) and was higher than all surrounding buildings with the exception of a TV tower farther to the left. This room is as big as a normal Quality Inn room in the US which, in Europe, is out of the question unless you accept to pay over 400 Euros (around $500 US) per night which, added to another 400 that I could never afford to pay...

It has two small beds side by side with a wood frame dividing them, one big night table next to each bed, a small stylish desk, a small frig hidden in a stylish furniture left of the desk, a luggage rack at the right covered with a tapestry that could sit two extra persons and, something that I had never seen in any of my European budget hotels, a club chair plus a sofa under the window!!! In addition, there is a square table next to the sofa that can be moved in front of it because there is enough space (a good five feet) between the bed and the sofa. It also has an electric coffee pot like most English hotels (where you sleep in a closet for $200 a night!) and a digital alarm clock radio next to the TV, plus a digital safe (that I don't need because I never travel with my gold bars...) in the closet and bears the whitest bathtub (but slippery because very polished with no asperity) that I have ever seen in a hotel, including the US, where many maids limit their cleaning contribution to just give a swift caress to the bathtub with a wet towel... Finally, there is a 220V outlet over each night stand plus another one over the desk and two more close to the floor.

45 MINUTES FROM THE AIRPORT, DOOR TO DOOR BY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Most hotels in all countries that I have visited seem to consider humiliating to give directions by public transportation and they only tell you how to get there by car, thinking that everybody will jump out of a limousine… This Best Western is no exception!

So the first thing I did as I arrived to Frankfurt airport was to ask for directions at the tourist office, then I asked for a confirmation at the train station when I purchased my one way ticket for €3.90 (circa $5.85 at $1.50 per Euro in August 2011). Both itineraries were identical.

Unfortunately, both girls neglected to specify the number of the house (# 40) and only entered the name of the street in the computer (Sophienstrasse). Therefore, the machine aimed at the middle of this long street and gave an itinerary that made me take a train plus a subway plus a bus plus, worst of all, walk a good twenty minutes with my luggage along Sophienstrasse from the high 200s where the bus dropped me, all the way down to number 40. Had they entered the house number, I would have avoided the bus and walked only three blocks from the subway station!

This is the best way to get there by public transportation:

From the airport, take train S8 or S9 to the station “Hauptwache”. Then, take subway U 6 or U 7 to "Bockenheimer Warte": 3 stations. If you take the first wagon, you will se an escalator on your right as you get off the train; then take a second escalator on your right to get out to the street and you will see a medieval tower on your left as you exit the station, at the corner of "Bockenheimer Landstrasse" and "Graftstrasse". Then turn right and walk two blocks on Graftstrasse to "Sophienstrasse" where you turn left. The Best Western Palmgarten is half a block on your right hand side. As you exit the subway station, you will see tramway #16 going along the "Graftstrasse" that turns left to pass in front of the hotel, but there is no closer stop. So you must walk 2.5 blocks.

When I returned to the airport, I left the BW at 6:15 a.m., took the U7 at 6:23 at Bockenheimer and, at 7:02 a.m., I was at the airport: a first escalator, then a second escalator and I was right at the Lufthansa check in hall. Like Atlanta airport, Frankfurt has the best public transportation system, NOT like Paris De Gaulle, where you have to get off the train, walk up and down the stairs and take a shuttle to reach terminals one or two. London Heathrow also has a good subway system, but you must walk quite a distance between the station and terminals 1, 2 and 3, and Miami now has the Airport Flyer, bus No. 150, which takes you from Miami Beach to M.I.A. in 25 minutes.

A HALF HOUR WALK TO THE HEART OF THE OLD TOWN

If you don't want to pay about $15 US for a one day unlimited pass (for which I paid less than $5 in Las Vegas or in Tampa!) you may walk downtown as I did the day I arrived, after leaving my luggage in the room.

Just take “Sophienstrasse” a couple of blocks to the beginning of it, where you turn right on "Zeppelinallee", which becomes "Senkenberganlage" one block later, which becomes "Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage", which becomes "Düsseldorferstrasse" after "Platz der Republik", which becomes "Am Hauptbahnhof Basseler" and you are at the main train station.

It took me 23 minutes to get there walking at a normal pace of a 68 years young man and my Garmin Nuvi 265 with the European SD card marked 2.4 kilometers (= 1.5 miles) from the hotel.

Another 12 minutes along the Kaiserstrasse right in front of the main entrance of the train station (with plenty of shops, restaurants, junk food, a couple of McDonalds and even a Starbucks) and I was in the “Hauptwache”, right in the heart of the old city. My Nuvi 265 marked then 3.5 kilometers (circa 2.2 miles) and 35 minutes walk, without counting the stops.

I took the “Bockenheimer Landstrasse” to return because this was a straight line and my Nuvi marked only 3.1 km instead of the 3.5 that I had walked with the detour via the train station and the Kaiserstrasse. About forty minutes later, I was back in my big, air conditioned room.

All in all, this is a gift at 33 € but it would still be an outstanding value for money at 65 € (twice as much as I paid) plus 12 € for breakfast that I didn't take because at that price ($18 US just for breakfast ?!) that's not a good deal at all.

I already reserved (since I returned to Miami in August 2011…) for June 2012 with a credit card guarantee because they have an honest same day cancellation policy: I will pay 44 € for Saturday June 23 and only 34 € for Sunday 24 (that’s 78 € versus only 66 € that I paid in August 2011) BUT if you go Monday June 18 to Friday 22 expect to pay… 249 Euros per night for the same room!!! So I reserved the night of Friday 22 at the Best Western Scala right downtown for 69.95 Euros. Not as good as 44 and 34 € that I will pay during the weekend, but far better than the 249 that I would have to pay at the Palmgarten for Friday!

This hotel located near the botanical garden and it is far from the city center and the metro ticket in frankfurt is not cheap 2.5 euros one way so it is quite expensive if you need to go back to the hotel so often. The hotel is nice,, the room is big and they have free wifi. Inside the bathroom you can find some damage that looks so dirty but it is not a problem for us since we use the hotel only for take a rest. They also have a sauna and a treadmill and another machine. This hotel only does not have a restaurant in the evening. Around the hotel also not easy to find a restaurant. For the price I paid for this hotel, this hotel is so worth it.

clean rooms, simple beds, not too friendly welcome, modest breakfast

I stayed only one night, beeing in transit to other location from Germany.
I found this hotel very easy, near to the entrance in Frankfurt and was the right place for me.
The hotel has a retro air, present also in the rooms furniture. I was happy to find an electric cofee maker in the room (with coffee instant, tee and sugar bags), which was included in the cost (a bit higher). Despite the retro air, the rooms are clean and generous.
A minus can represent the very small parking, but, with luck, a parking place can be found on the street, where is allowed.