Sofitel Munich Bayerpost

In short: a nice hotel. We had an imperfect experience which was handled wonderfully by hotel management. I would happily choose to book here again and would advise friends and family to do the same. Rating is based on value/price. — The longer version: Sections below are separated with “~ Section title ~”. ~ Lobby and check in ~ My girlfriend and I stayed here on vacation for 4 nights. The Sofitel is listed as a 5-star hotel, however based on the size of the property and the price I expected a 4-star experience. While I would not go as far as to say this hotel gave a true “5-star feel”, it exceeded my preconceived expectations. Upon first walking in, there are many check-in desks in a large lobby. The decor is nice, but the sheer size of the hotel does provide a large-scale, rather impersonal feel. We had very little wait time to check in, and two very friendly members of staff explained hotel benefits provided due to a Chase credit card partnership. There was a conference at the hotel while we were there which was not disruptive, but did add to the corporate feel. ~ The room ~ Photos attached. Our room was lovely and faced an interior courtyard. The sounds of the city were all but gone and the room was comfortable. The thermostat (located on one side of the bed) was simple to operate – something not to be taken for granted at modern hotels. There are three main things I would change about the room in order of importance: A hotel bedroom and bathroom should always have solid walls and doors between them. Why anyone would opt for glass between the bedroom and bathroom (along with glass doors which provide very little privacy) is beyond me. Yes, it looks modern. However it is impractical. This design was not a surprise as I had seen photos, but I still can’t fathom who actually likes privacy-free bathrooms. It felt like there was a down pillow-topper on the mattress which felt somewhat cloud-like. Unfortunately it was a bit worn down leaving a large hump in the middle of the bed which was hard to cross. I like the mattress pad, but they need to be changed more frequently. There are many light zones and switches in the room which can be controlled in multiple areas (including from the bed). I love that there was a button to turn off all lights, but barring this none of the switches were labeled. This made controlling the lights a guessing game. Not too annoying, but it would be better if the switches were labeled. One other area of improvement is turndown service. It was provided once (on the evening after the incident outlined in the section below), but not every evening. I believe turndown service goes a long way to making an upscale hotel feel as such, and I would suggest it be included. ~ The problem and how the hotel handled it ~ Unfortunately our experience at Sofitel Munich was not without an incredibly frustrating issue. We happened to arrive on a night where venues all around the city were hosting music into the night. The Sofitel was listed as hosting a guitar player/singer and a jazz band in the lobby. It was nice to hear this music when walking through and we were unable to hear this from our room. However… There was also an event in the basement (possibly private?) which played EDM (electronic dance music) until 3am (this was the stop time I was provided when I called). We were able to hear the bass clearly from the fifth floor which prevented us from being able to fall asleep before a pre-booked early train the next morning. I called the lobby three times from the in-room phone and once from my cell phone over a period of about 20 minutes before I finally got someone to pick up (I failed to let management know about this, so hopefully this is resolved after they see the review - someone should always be around to pick up the phone). The woman I spoke with didn’t know of an EDM event so security was sent up to check neighboring rooms. Security knocked on my door for some reason so I had to get out of bed to speak with them. After 10 minutes nothing had changed, so I called back and was informed that security had found nothing, but that there was an event on the -1 level of the hotel. Earplugs were sent up which sadly did not stop the low frequency of the music. My AirPods Pro noise cancelling saved the day and I finally slept around 2am. - The next morning before setting off exploring, I sat down with the on-duty manager (I sadly did not catch his name but he was very nice) and calmly explained what had happened. He was very apologetic and noted everything down. We planned to get up the following morning to do laundry before more exploration, and instead asked if the hotel would be able to handle the laundry so we could sleep in. He had to check if housekeeping had capacity, so I asked for them to please leave a note in our room letting us know. When we returned in the evening a very nice handwritten card was waiting for us apologizing for the noise and informing us that the hotel would be able to handle laundry so we could sleep. It was accompanied by tea and macaroons - and turndown service. The hotel handled the issue in a classy way and we were grateful for that. My suggestion for Sofitel is that all loud events cease by 11pm at the latest. Better still, don’t allow events which may disrupt your guests (but I understand that events = revenue). ~ Breakfast ~ Our breakfast was included so we ate at the hotel. Overall it was fine and did the job. I wasn’t amazed nor upset by the spread (unless I’m allowed to be upset that there was no smoked salmon, then I am upset). The coffee was not good and came from a full-auto espresso machine. The breakfast dining area felt a bit cramped and was fairly busy. Many Americans at this hotel, so if you want a local feel it’s best to eat elsewhere. Get the orange juice - it’s freshly squeezed and incredibly good. ~ The bar ~ We had on-site credit from the hotel so we had drinks at the bar on two different nights. Without the credit I would not drink here, it’s rather boring and incredibly slow. Seriously, the bar was empty and drinks took a very long time during both visits. This desperately needs to be improved. ~The spa ~ The spa was very nice and we went two different evenings. The spa closes at 9pm which is a bit early in my opinion (10pm would be preferred so you can get a full day of touring + dinner before relaxing) and kids are not allowed after 7pm. The heated (85F) spiral pool is excellent and has air jets and a big waterfall which can be turned on and off on demand via underwater buttons on the wall. There are two saunas, a steam room, foot baths, showers, and a relaxation room in the “textile-free” area. This means no personal clothing, but you may stay wrapped in a towel… Or not if you so choose.