Sonata City Hotel

Hotel

The staff was really friendly and helpful. The room was clean and the same for the toilet. I stayed for two nights in a four bed bedroom. The first night was good, the only thing that I can comment on is that the room did not have AC or even an fan so it was quite hot. However for the following night people in the hallway and outside would not quite down at all and it would be great if the hostel invested in more sound proof doors or actually enforce the "everyone most be silent after 22" since it completly wrecked my sleep.

The hostel is in a pleasant area, close to shops and bars. The rooms are clean and there is a cleaning service during the day.
Note: If you pay through the booking you will have to pay again on the spot as the amount of cash is first time in reserve in case you do not check in at the time. Reserved money according to hostesses returns three days, in fact a week or more.

Easily accessible by public transportation; clean and cozy. The staff were very accomodating and went above and beyond to ensure we had a great stay. Very safe too!

Good location, too few power sockets in the room though. And the ceiling was really low so it's easy to hit the head on the wall on the top bunk.

The room was tiny and the night box was screwed to the wall directly above the bed, which blocked a portion of the bed.
When the elevator was used it sounded as if an ice is driving through the room.
Admittedly, it was not particularly expensive but on the other hand I have also been cheaper slept and had a neater quarters.

The location was perfect, close to attractions and transport. The staff were friendly. The facilities were good, however, the bathroom felt like a sauna. Overall, I enjoyed my stay.

The location is great, the staff is friendly, there is a kitchen, washing machine, clothes dryer.

Before I booked this place I was hesitant as there seemed to be as many bad reviews as there were good ones, but I took the chance and it was well worth it. They are consistently the cheapest hostel in Cologne and they provide an amazing service. I have stayed here on and off for the majority of the 6 weeks I have spent here in Cologne and fully recommend a visit. I've been to several of them that had really bad Wi-Fi but it is great here (they have boosters on all floors for a solid signal). Rooms have decent lockers that you can put your own locks on EXCEPT it seems the 4 bed dorms don't have them so avoid these if you can. There is a small locker rack in the communal area which you might be able to use in a pinch but there are only 10 lockers for the whole hostel. One thing that had glowing reports on all the reviews was the staff, and they are totally accurate. The staff here are always happy and smiling and making jokes with you and going out of your way to be helpful. For Digital Nomads there are several areas you can set up your laptop if you need to get something done, at the unused bar (the bar is now just a fridge in the reception), sitting in the window looking out on the street or on the breakfast table down in the kitchen. Some of the rooms also have desks. I'm writing this right now from the corner of the bar.

I currently live in a single room. That has everything it takes. The bathroom is mini but in which I do not live;). Annoying is in fact the engine of the elevator. Maybe it makes sense to set it off from 0 a. M. To 6 a. M. Staff is super friendly. For a dirty self-catering kitchen The hostel can do nothing… only the guest.

The room stinks. It was sooo awful. Couldn't sleep there. We didn't get the money.

The price was good. For the price you can't expect anything else in the city centre of Cologne. The hotel was clean, the staff friendly and the procedure uncomplicated.

Not the best place I've stayed, but far enough from city center to be an fast commute and out of the city bustle when large events are happening, which was our main concern. There was nothing super personal about the place, and roommates were cool enough. But the elevator is still super loud, and bathroom had a funky smell.

The hotel is relatively not far from public transport stops (tram and bus) and two stops to the metro. Located on 6 floors compactly. When checking in, they asked to make a deposit again, although the funds were charged. Internet access has been offered. The single room is very compact and not affable in many ways. A strange shelf for the remote near the headboard interfered constantly, the mattress so-so. It's hard enough to wash your hands, except to wash your hands. Cleaning was carried out daily.

The hostel is clean, the furniture is tidy, The Wi-Fi works, s/y neat for those who didn't go to the 5 star hotel a great place. Nearby 2 supermarkets (shops in the airport do not work) stop of the 7th tram on / with which you can go to the airport for a few euros, but with a transfer to 161 buses and a transfer at the stop porz market.

Small but fine. Clean and quiet.

Very nice hostel, great value for money.

Very small rooms with simple but clean and functional furnishings. If you especially need a bed for the night and a shower in the morning, but otherwise will not spend much time in the room, it is a convenient option close to the university.

The rooms are comfortable, safe for free, was in a room with 4 beds, in a shower room, toilet and wardrobe. There is a hairdryer for a deposit. Paying the room only in cash, which is not very convenient.

The hostel/hotel was not a great experience. They were very inflexible with changing the booking (with 1 weeks notice) during a busy peak time of Carnival they could have easily let us change the booking from 3 beds to 2 beds (dorm) however refused, despite being in popular demand for last min bookings (we heard the receptionists receive calls during carnival asking if beds were available). They also did not consider to put "like minded" people with us in our rooms. Both nights we had 60/70 year old women in our dorm — a contrast to two 24 year old females. The location was great and rooms were clean, however.

Very bad experience with groups of people making noise, could not sleep. Receptionists very unfrendly and didnt find my room in the check in. Had to make sure I had make an reservation if not I would sleep in the street. Nice shower tough.

I travel around the world and I am used to going to hostels and, by far, this is the worst hostel I have ever been to. They ignored our booking, and made a booking for rooms different from the one we requested, we asked for a room change and they did not give it to us. In addition, the treatment of both receptionists was very bad, since they did not give us any facility to solve our problem. Lastly, the rooms are not the ones in the photos. I do not recommend it to anyone, it's the worst hostel I've been to.

Room OK. Damage to Noise.

Dirty and noisy. I am housed on the 6th floor, right across from the elevator engine, the old elevator is quite noisy and I woke up at night about 6x. In addition, the TÜV of the elevator has expired since February 2017!
As you can see from the photos, the topic of cleanliness is probably secondary. Pubic hair and other hairs of the pretenants in the shower and in the bathroom.
Built-in and therefore unusable sockets.
The ventilation of the WCS remains approximately 10 to 15min long, although the light is already off and you switch on directly with the light. Therefore the ventilation is switched on even during a short stay and prevents you from sleeping because the ventilation is quite noisy. Parking is also an absolute disaster, recommended is a 900m (according to navigation), 600m according to the staff, remote parking for 4 €/24h directly at the university in Cologne. Where, of course, it is also a pure gamble to get a parking lot.
The elevator is also only up to the 5th floor, which is why you have to walk to the 6th floor. The room color is also quite getting used to, however, a matter of taste. The hotel is of course also very noisy, so you can hear almost everything. If someone runs down the stairwell, it sounds like someone is trampling in front of my door on the spot.

Way too expensive for what I got. Granted I did stay on NYE but not worth more than 20€ for a bed. No personal plugs or lights. No lockers, just shelves. About 5 min walk from a tram stop.

I do not know which rooms are shown on the website but certainly not the rooms available in the hostel these are small, old, worn and dirty.
In the shower one comes only with the meals Dimensions 90 60 90 Otherwise it will be tight.

Very good for the staff but the hotel must be restored from the bottom to the top (faded painting, antique furniture).

For one night okay in the dorm.
Unfortunately, in my dorm there was an older, drunk gentleman who smelled very uncomfortable. Prefer a single room to the heart of such guests. I worked in a hostel for a long time. I never would have checked into a mixed dorm.

Very bad. Pictures dont look like how it is in real. Very expensive, beds broken, small, …

The place is a little outdated and I found some… weird substance underneath my bed but it has a bar and restaurant and is good for a cheap stay.

I was only here one night and basically did nothing but sleep and have breakfast. Despite that, the hotel workers treated me great. The Wi-Fi goes quite well, the area where the establishment is full of gambling and restaurants at a good price and the center is 25m walk. Also, next to the reception you have a lounge with armchairs and free iced tea where you can stay quietly.

Good location, great customer service, very clean, good sleep — mattresses and pillows, not sure about the prices because the arrangements were made for me.

Smells in the room after urine and sweat even the new room has had stinging sweat smells. Have yourself a chlorine cleaner and Febres worried so you feel better.

Lots of noise from drunkards on the street late at night. Rooms are in bad maintenance state (broken showerhead stand, wall paint chipping everywhere). Other guests had access to our room by staff's mistake. On a positive note, staff are friendly.

Nightmare, the worst hotel/hostel I have ever been to in my entire life 1 — I had to wait one hour longer till my room was ready although I was told I can check in at 15 2 — I went up to my room put my stuff and went out in the city came back at night to find somebody sleeping in my bed and all other beds were occupied, went downstairs to talk with the guy, he was like sorry its a system error we can give you bed in 5 bed room dorm I was like no I booked ik 4 bed room dorm not 5 3-the worker come as early as 8:30 knocking on the door and waking everybody and asking whether not we have to check out 4 — they let somebody to check in at 5:30 so he came up and woke me up with lights on amd noise 5-internet keep disconnecting all the time amd slow 6 — the elevator is so loud that you cam hear it from you room 7 — cleaners and worker are super rude asking not to mess up the bed although the check out is at 11, and they start ask personal questions 8 — room smell like piss because there are drains opened in the bathroom Never never ever in my life, I couldn't sleep.

The staff is friendly and the location is very central. Unfortunately, this is the only positive thing you can say about this hotel. The rooms and the bathroom are extremely small and very old. Unfortunately, the check in did not work without a problem, although in advance everything was cleared by telephone.

Small room, old furniture, very small bathroom, breakfast just with very ordinary things, noisy… This hotel couldn't be recommended.

Room facilities Jugendherbergenlike, disturbing is the room service comes to the room unasked and even after discussion goes again.

Sucked. Expensive. No individual power socket in dorm room. Found out I was checked out by mistake the night before my actual check out.

We stayed one night. The reception was friendly and helpful. The Internet was not functioning for a few hours. We wanted to get eurail discount but there was no option to do so in the Meininger website.

AWFUL MANAGEMENT! AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE! Do not expect your reservation to be hold. Note: the people at the counter were very good people. The hostel management is the one that's wrong here. We made a reservation for a private 4-bed-room and gave notice of our late arrival, which was confirmed to be received. We got there and they had changed our reservation as they wished. Got a 3-bed-room and a 1-bed-room at the same price, which is clearly NOT what we had agreed at the moment of reservation. At the end only 3 people stayed at the hostel but we had to pay for 4 people anyway. According to their "hostel politics", you can change the amount of people until 6 pm of the day before. How are you supposed to give notice of your changes, if THEY don't give you notice of the change THEY made? We got a refund for only one night after 2 MONTHS. They took up to 10-15 days to answer our emails, even when we re-sent it several times. Of course, they do not give you a phone number. Final answer from the staff (copy-paste) : "Please send us your bank data to conclude. if you do not agree always remains the possibility of legal assistance. "

Unfortunately, was nothing. Shower clogged, messy, bad breakfast, each word of the neighbors to hear.

Broken elevator, made me use the stairs to the 4th floor. Terrible Internet connection on the rooms. Broken drying machine, lost 4 hours just to dry a batch of clothes. Terrible organization of beds inside the tiny room for the 5 bed room (I was on the 407 room) Not every bed had a power supply. You have to pay to use the Internet at a local PC that has a Debian 7 Linux disguised as Windows XP, that was the most cringeworthy thing I've ever seen in my life. Just terrible experience. Would not recommend. Would not go on any meininger again anywhere.

After staying at the near perfect London Meininger, and recently the Station Backpackers Hostel in Cologne (which was pretty great! ) I had high hopes. 4 bed dorms don't have lockups, only a central guest safe downstairs which requires you to leave items with staff. Comforter doesn't fit the length of the bed. On the plus side, room has a TV, facilities are clean and there are plenty of power points. Overall, meh.

I received an upgrade and the room was perfect. Comfortable beds, free hands and body soap, good shower, all perfectly clean. My only observation is that the hostel should provide more info for the costumers. The staff was nice and gentle, but they did not know how to inform us about attractions and things in the city. I missed that as I was a solo traveler and did not plan it an advance. I am used to go to hostels and get all the info there.

Just for beer drinking people, not for famalies, everything is broken and dirty. Towels. Sheeds, wascabin, toiletseat, tabels evreything is dirty or broken. breakfast is the only good thing. i have booked 2 rooms 207 and 508 both were the same quality, if you can speek about quality.