Although arriving late due to trafficjams, we had a great reception and a great in-room dinner. The staff at this hotel realy knows what is required after a day's travel.
The rooms were spacious and well furnished.
The breakfast was super, lots of choices and great home made stuff.
We will absolutely be back.

This Castle is really a fairy tale. No better place to be for a wedding, honeymoon, or (as we did) to celebrate a marriage date. The rooms are really superior and spacious, with fress fruit and a complimentary minibar. The staff was very polite and helpfull. Breakfast is a feast for the eye and champaign of their own domain is included. This is really a 5 star place. Though we did not try the 2 restaurants ourselves we learned from other guests that these are superp too. There is a very nice 'Kamin' bar with an excellent choice of cigars. All in all a prefect place if you want some real luxury.

We booked Schloss Bensberg as a last-minute birthday treat and, on the whole, had a wonderful time. The staff were friendly and helpful and we were very impressed with the level of service we experienced - from the front desk to the spa to the bar, we felt like valued guests.

We were pleased with our room, we found it to be clean and comfortable with a nice big bed and soft sheets and we enjoyed the little touches such as complimentary fruit and mini bar. The turndown was also good, and the complimentary Sunday paper appreciated.

After a light lunch in the lounge bar (accompanied by live piano music), we spent a couple of hours in the spa, which was a nicely relaxing experience - we each enjoyed a treatment, a swim in the pool and a stint in the steam room/sauna. Then it was time for a cocktail before dinner. All in all, a perfect Saturday afternoon!

Unfortunately that was where our stay started to go downhill and I must come to the negative part of my review - our evening meal. As mentioned above, we booked our stay a little last-minute, probably around 7-10 days before, and we did stay on a Saturday night so we appreciated that the place would be busy. However, as soon as we had placed the booking for the room, we called to try to book a table for dinner. We wanted to eat in the Italian restaurant (Enoteca) however we were told that it was fully booked. They were already so fully booked, they couldn't even fit in hotel guests. At that time, we were told that they could accommodate us in another of their restaurants, the Jan Wellem, and we would have the same menu as Enoteca, so we agreed to this. Everything had been going so well in our stay until we turned up at Jan Wellem for our dinner. It is really no understatement to say that the restaurant was completely dead. When we arrived, there was one other couple dining. Throughout our meal, the maximum number of tables occupied never reached more than 4, and in a very large room, this means there is absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever. There were 3 staff serving, and whilst they did an excellent job of looking after us, they spent most of the time just hanging around looking slightly bored, as they didn't have any customers to serve! Given that this was supposed to be a celebratory birthday meal, I was rather disappointed. We spoke to the waiter to try to ascertain whether a move to the other restaurant might be possible as we couldn't understand how the other restaurants could be so booming but this one so quiet but all he said was that the other restaurants really were full and he was also surprised that Jan Wellem wasn't busier. What made the atmosphere even worse when we arrived was that they had some sort of trance music playing quite loudly, which wasn't really appropriate for the sort of dining experience they otherwise seemed to be striving towards. This was soon changed, but nothing could hide the absolute dearth of ambience in the place. It is such a shame that the hotel cannot accommodate its own guests for dinner in its restaurants, or that its "overflow" options are not up to the same standard as its other offerings. On top of our general amusement/discontent at the evening, we were then given what seemed to be a significantly abridged version of the Enoteca menu, which was also not what we had expected. To his credit, the waiter managed to produce the Enoteca menu for us but it just wasn't quite the dining experience we had hoped for. The food itself was fine but the evening had no sparkle.

Needless to say we did not necessarily feel like valued guests during this part of our stay and this experience definitely knocked a point or so from my rating for the hotel overall. Insult was added to injury when we showed up for breakfast the next day and Jan Wellem was so full that they had to seat us at the very back of the room, again in some sort of "overflow" section! They really could do better with this.

So, on the whole, it was a good stay and we enjoyed it, but we would advise caution when it comes to booking in for dinner!

I stayed here with friends to mainly enjoy the 3* restaurant. The venue is a little outside Cologne, but the views over the city is great.
Check in was very friendly but a little chaotic; rooms were not ready yet which was OK as we had other plans for the afternoon anyway. Our luggage was taken care off and brought to the room later.
When we arrived later in the evening, i was immediately offered my car to be parked in the garage.
The hotel building is a lovely castle with high ceilings and a baroque atmosphere which only disadvantage is that ways can be quite long :)
Our room was very spacious and nicely equipped, a lots of storage space and a big bathroom. We also got suprised by a bottle of champaign and fruit.
The SPA area is of medium size, the pool is not that large, but long enough to enjoy it; Sauna and steambath are great and spacious and not overcrowded (when we were there).
If you intend to make use of the spa more frequently, better ask for a room close to the spa elevator or stairs... otherwise you will have to walk quite a while in your bathrobe through the hallways. (our room was ideally located!)
Beds are very comfortable, sheets apparently so warm that we had to keep the window open the whole night. All doors throughout the hotel are massive wood, which you start to enjoy at the bathroom door with will not let a single sound trhrough once closed.
Turn down service is quit and ladies are firendly and professional. It also happens very rarely that i like the complementary bath & shower gels offered by hotels - here i loved them!
The breakfast selection is huge and matches the 5* hotel rating. Sitting in the airy breakfast room gave me some royal feeling...
A strong recommendation also for the Whsiky and Cigar bar - a stunning range of rare single malts and a good selection of Cigars, together with the professional service makes your evening a pleasant experience.
However, wherever there is a lot of light, you will find some shadow. And when a hotel is rated 5*, my level of critism is even higher:
- shoe shine service: shoes came back in questionable condition. shoe shine was on, but not polished and not everywhere. I had to do the polishing on my own
- some staff: confused or new. we had to spell our whiskey order to the young lady in the bar. In such a house i would expect the staff to know the menu (also drinks menu) by heart. And if not, then simply tell the guest with a smile that you are new and everything is fine :)
Some staff just miss this little luxury twist that make the difference to other excellent hotels. But to be fair, the majority has it! So keep on improving!
- the business concept seems to include some special offers which i appreciate, but my understanding for no free internet as well as for no free parking is limited.
Restaurants: The Trattoria Enoteca provides Italian style food with a nice choice. Ingredients are very good and this can be found on the invoice later. It's not cheap, but you get excellent quality and a charming service.
The fine dining restaurant Vendome is a story for its own (positive!). Will write a seperate review. In a nutshell: lines up to one of the best dining experiences i ever had. Mr Wissler and his crew are masters of precise cooking. Taste and texture of the single courses just blew me away. Moreover, i find the wine list fairly priced! (well, compare to other restaurants in the * - *** category)
To summarize my stay: a fantastic experience! The number of positive impressions easily dashes away the few minus points.