The George Hamburg

I am writing this because I wrote to the hotel telling them my concerns and as I expected…… absolutely nothing has happened no reply nothing but I knew this because I already told the receptionist when I checked out and all she did was shrug her shoulders but because I feel you should know how bad things actually are at your hotel and your staff obviously think that they are doing the customers a favour by letting them stay !! I have been coming to the George for over 10 years because I like the hotel and the area but my recent experience has probably meant it will be my last, again I am not expecting a reaction here because obviously nobody cares. NONE of the staff say hallo or acknowledge my presence when I am going through the hotel the receptionists are too busy looking into their computer screens, the bar staff can’t even remember me from a pre dinner drink and when I come back for a nightcap…… nobody cares ! On the 2/10 there was an alarm and we all had to leave the hotel and wait out in the cold while it was checked …… do you think that ANY of your staff said anything to us when we came back in , a sorry or an explanation…….. in other hotels where this has happened they always offer an Irish coffee in the bar or something……… but absolutely nothing or at least a “ sorry for the inconvenience “ …. Nobody cares. The rooms , restaurant and bar are all in need of refurbishment, everything is tired and worn out…… I suppose just like the staff ! They used to have candy in the reception and fresh flowers, bottles of water when you arrived…… obviously they are trying to save money so then the staff should be extra careful how they treat their customers but they don’t care. The only place in the hotel where the service was excellent was at breakfast the two waiters from the Philippines were wonderful and no matter how busy they were had a smile for every one, it’s a pity the kitchen couldn’t keep up with the amount of guests, no bacon and other products running out and why ? They know they have a full hotel, but a very nice breakfast buffet…… but again the restaurant looks tired and worn out for a 4 star hotel !!

Let me start with the most positive thing: the breakfast! To be honest, I ate worse for more money in even five star rated hotels. Despite of the fact that you get a mix of buffet and a la minute dishes, here you really cannot miss anything. A broad choice of various dishes, fruits, sausages, hot dishes, juices, teas, bread – just everything you expect is presented to you till 1pm in the afternoon. Wow! Everything got refilled immediately, there was nothing empty whatever time we showed up. Which leads me to the breakfast service: most friendly and attentive guys I ever met. There is nothing we could complain about. You got immediately seated and asked for your choices, you got picked up your dirty plates immediately and as mentioned before, they refilled everything immediately. An outstanding service, extra class! Continuing with the rooms, all very clean and cozy. We went for the S-Type rooms, which are small but still okay. All looks new, at least refurbished and really nice. The beds are comfortable, the room is nicely done. The bathroom is spacious and looks brand-new. The room-service is really quick and professional, highly appreciated. In general, the style of this hotel is absolutely modern and nicely done. The WiFi works perfectly. We were unsure about the AirCon. Not needed these days, but to cool down we were unable to activate it so we opened the window. Maybe it is disabled at winter time. The only major issue we experienced: the doors are not sound-proof and the wall between two S-Type rooms neither is kept sound-proof (only one side exists of a solid wall. We got the impression there is sound-leading connection between two rooms in this wall. I am pretty sure where the TVs are installed they drilled the connections deep enough to reach the back of the other side which leads to the sound-connecting from that TV of the other room for example. We were listening to the neighbors TV (room 424 was ours). However, since we always sleep with ear-plugs it was not such a big issue, but as mentioned before, the door is neither sound-proof. There is room for improvement. In general we would go again since the area where the hotel is located is nice and close to the train station and Alster. We can recommend this place for sure.

We stayed in the George for 3 nights with more than 30 persons. The location was OK, a 10 min walk to the centre. The rooms were smaller than most 4* hotels and if you looked closer not as clean as you hope. The bed had unpleasant pillows. The staff, especially in the hotelbar and with the breakfast were kind of rude. Not friendly at all. My employer payed for 30+ rooms but even though we were refused to enter the hotelbar, because it should become 'to busy'. At the hotel website they show the Campari Bar. This bar, even though it was nice weather, was closed the entire weekend