In terms of convenience, the hotel's location a few hundred meters from Leipzig's main station couldn't be better.

The hotel itself is what you'd expect from a Holiday Inn: a clean, functional building offering rooms at reasonable prices. My room was small but quiet and everything worked well enough.

The service was, frankly, a little hit-and-miss. One lady on reception was really helpful in showing me how to use public transport, while one of her male colleagues ignored me for about ten minutes when I tried to check out. At the time, he was dealing with another custumer, so he should have asked a colleague for help (he didn't apologise for the delay).

You get that you pay for, I guess, and this hotel offers decent value for money for anyone travelling to Leipzig.

Close to the train station, which has multilevel shopping open until 9pm; and 4 blocks from the city center and restaurants. Bathroom was small, but very clean. Free internet, great breakfast, helpful staff.

Spent 1 night at this hotel and is perfect for a stop over trip. The cost is cheaper than any other decent hotel in the area. Directly across the street from the train station.

We stayed here for 2 nights with our children (aged 6 and 11) in November 2009. We asked for a family room and were offered a 2-room suite, which we were happy to take.

On arriving, we found reception to be slow but very helpful. It didn't help that we arrived just as a group of about 12 people were checking in. There were two staff at the desk and both spoke (at least) German and English.

Our room was on the 7th floor but the lifts only run to the 6th floor so we had to climb 1 flight of stairs. Not a problem, except that the 6th was a smoking floor and really did smell very very bad (to us non-smokers). We preferred to walk up from the 5th which was non-smoking.

Our family room was a bit of a disappointment as each room had 2 narrow single beds in it. My husband and I giggled as we fell asleep, feeling like we were in a holiday camp or hostel. The beds weren't terribly comfortable and the windows opened fully, which didn't seem very safe in what was billed as a family room. The room size was fine and the bathroom was clean and adequate. Minibar prices and pay-per-view prices seemed about the same as we'd seen elsewhere - we didn't use either, so can't confirm. The room had to be manually locked from the inside, and we were not given a key for the children's room - all access was through ours. I'm not sure whether this is good (kids can't get out without our knowing) or bad (emergencies or fires) so mention it so you can make up your own mind.

It really was an older-style hotel, though, and not what we expect from the Holiday Inn brand (maybe this is what Garden Court means?). I felt that it was about 20% overpriced for what we actually got, although maybe Leipzig is just a very expensive city to visit.

We ate in the bar the first night - very basic choices of food. Pizza wasn't terribly nice, the Frikadellen (rissoles) were cold but nice. I think the guy at the bar was probably a trainee - he didn't seem very confident.

We decided to forage for breakfast and were very glad that we did - what looks like a standard European railway station, just opposite the hotel, was actually home to a 2-storey shopping mall. Lots of bakeries for breakfast pastries, the standard fast food outlets (pizza hut, mcdonalds) and we had a great meal at the AsiaHung chinese take-away. (I especially recommend the orange chicken). For souvenir hunters, there is a shop on the lower level of the mall which sells the most beautiful carved wooden decorations from the Erzgebirge region - the "Chistmas Pyramids" are just gorgeous. There are also at least 2 supermarkets.

Parking cost 9 Euros a day which seemed a bit of a cheek, as it was in a grotty back courtyard behind the hotel. We made sure to take all our valuables inside with us!

All in all, if I had been expecting a budget hotel I would have been happy, but I was expecting a little more and didn't get it. The location is excellent, though, and Leipzig was a very interesting city to spend time in. We especially found the Stasi Museum to be fascinating (albeit rather depressing/worrying) and also did a morning trip to the Escape museum at Colditz Castle (recommended if you are at all interested in this time).