Accommodation 

Gastwerk Hotel Hamburg

Gastwerk Hotel is one of six Design Hotels-members in the German city of Hamburg. Gastwerk has 141 rooms total and room rates as low as 120 Euros pr. night, mainly due to it’s location 5 kilometres from the centre of Hamburg. Gastwerk is a converted 19-th century gasworks and the design is really unique as I have not seen similar in other hotels. While I was waiting for my room to be ready upon check in, I had a walk around the hotel and the lobby and public areas are very impressive. The check in process went very easy and I received the room key right away. I stayed in a standard room which had a nice design feature as the flatscreen Tv was freestanding. The bed was very comfortable, internet fast and complimentary. Gastwerk receive a high number of business travelers and I was happy to find a working desk with good comfort. The only thing I didn’t like about the room was the bathroom. Some of the rooms have renovated bathroom, but mine was quite old. Basic looking sink and with the shower inside the bathtub. The shower had bad water pressure which I always find quite annoying.

Service is always the most important thing in a hotel and it was generally very good, but for me quite impersonal. In most Design Hotels the staff tries hard to make the experience personalized, but not here. Also, the service could have been more helpful in some areas. Examples would be priting  of boarding pass and delivery of ice, but was in both cases asked to come to reception instead of having it delivered to the room. Gastwerks facilities are impressive with a bar, restaurant, business center, meeting facilities and a beautifull Moroccan themed spa.
To sum up, I can highly recommend Gastwerk as a very interesting design experience, but with a big minus for the location. The train station is 10 minutes walk away and it takes around 20 minutes getting to the centre of Hamburg. The rates are great value though, so if you can live with the location I am sure you will have a great time here.



























My opinion: Good+ experience.