In the four years since my last visit (when I'd liked the place just fine) this hotel seems to have become a little dowdy. The furniture in the room and the tiles in the bathroom floor look stressed.
Guests who expect free wi-fi might find themselves a little stressed, too: you can pay a lot to have it available in your room or you can visit the oddly located "business center" (after hitting the front desk up for a key to open the also oddly located floor lock) and discover that the keyboard for the very slow computer is unfriendly to North Americans (certain letters aren't where you'd expect them) and that there are four printers listed but the one in the room apparently isn't one of the four! (If you want/need to print your boarding pass, forget about doing it here. The front desk can't/won't help.)
The way space is used within the hotel is strange. Most of the bottom two floors consists of a shopping mall, more or less. The rooms are accessible only via security-coded elevators rising above the stores.
The neighborhood around the hotel is generally interesting. There's a tram stop just across the road (very handy) and more than a few shopping and/or eating opportunities nearby - including annual Christmas markets! The famous cathedral and the mammoth train station are both within a 10-minute walk.
- Maritim Hotel Cologne
