I spent three nights at the Arona Atrium in Russelsheim and arrived very late on the first evening, having travelled all day. I asked at the front desk if I could have room service (I hadn't eaten since breakfast) and was shocked to find out that the hotel does not have a restaurant and could not provide room service; not what you'd expect from a 4* hotel. The hotel provides a breakfast buffet, but nothing else.

The hotel advertises that they offer free tea and coffee 24 hours a day, and this is so, but you have to go to reception to get it; there are no tea and coffee making facilities in the rooms. On my first night Bernd Schaefer, the Night Receptionist, made a large cup of tea and managed to conjure a sandwich out of thin air for me, and did so with consummate charm and superb service - it really saved the day.

The breakfast buffet was good, with a wide selection of fare from scrambled eggs to fruit and pastries with plenty of coffee to accompany. A word of warning to English tea addicts, like myself - don't bother trying as the best you'll get is a cup of pale, beige hot water so it's best to stick to coffee.

The room was large and airy, with a desk, comfortable chair and variety of lighting. Sadly, the bed let things down badly; it was low and the mattress was poor quality, meaning that it was possible to feel every spring and metal component - happily exhaustion cured that problem.

The bathroom in the Arona Atrium was surprisingly large (you'd fit about three Travel Inn bathrooms into the same space), with a powerful shower and lots of hot water. There is no air conditioning in the hotel and no hot air extraction from the bathroom, so it does get steamy, but given the choice of a nice big bathroom or a noisy extractor, I'd opt for the big bathroom every time.

The hotel is located in the centre of Russelsheim and my room was on the second floor beside a pedestrianised street. The small square opposite my window seemed to be the place for drunks to gather and on the second night there was a fracas, which went on for some time, drowning out a fairly loud television. The difficulty was that I had to chose between overheating in a quieter room with the window closed or endure the noise, and the lack of air conditioning in the rooms was a real drawback in this instance.

The hotel, and most of Russelsheim, is directly under the flight path of aircraft taking off from Frankfurt airport and there is constant noise from jets, even with the windows closed. There's nothing that can be done if you have to stay in Russelsheim, but if it's your first trip, it's worth taking ear plugs for the first night if you are unused to loud aircraft noise.

The most notable thing about the Arona Atruim were the staff; without exception they were friendly and helpful. As already mentioned, the Night Receptionist came to the rescue on the first evening and every other member of staff had a ready smile and couldn't do enough to help. During the aforementioned fracas, one of the female staff came out of the hotel to ask the two brawling men to stop because they were disturbing the guests, and this seemed to be indicative of the pride they took in their work and in the hotel.

The hotel offers free 24/7 internet access, for which you have to collect a code and password from the front desk; great in principle, but sadly the Arona servers don't seem to like iPads and I couldn't get any access whatsoever, so take something a bit more basic if a connection is vital to you.