Sorry but we cannot accept any kind of living animals like cats, dogs, birds, rats, ... in the Hostel. But you’re very welcome to bring your plush animals with you.

Bedlinen are included in the bed/room rate.

You don’t need to ask for a bottom bed because we don’t have any bunk beds at all but all single beds (except in Dobulerooms). All Doublerooms ensuite are equipped with one queensize bed (140 x 200 cm), our Twinrooms are all with common bathroom.

Breakfast is not included but we offer breakfast daily between 8:00 to 11:00 (Sat and Sun until 13:00) You can choose between the all-you-can-eat-buffet for 10,- € or a small one for 4,- €.

Always a big story, not only in Hostels! Like almost every Accomodation provider – from Budget to 5-Star-Hotels - we have had these bad experiences as well. An affection of Bedbugs is not a question of cleanliness or Hygiene, Bugs are simply brought in through travellers (usually undetected) from other places.

So the question is how to react if a room is affected? Usually Hotels/Hostels fail to disclose an affection of Bedbugs to keep their image up. Sorry, but we did the same mistake. Now we know better how important it is to act transparent. Everybody who was in contact with Bugs needs to know it to avoid spreading out Bugs to other places. Whenever we get informed about an affection we immediately close the room and order „Schädlingsbekämpfung Krings“, a vermin exterminator with a long experience who has the professional knowledge to eliminate bugs.

Bedbugs are usually not dangerous for humans but everybody’s reaction is different, from small red pimples to larger allergic reactions. If you or your luggage is affected it is necessary to heat your things (washing machine with min. 50 degrees or dryer with min, 45 degrees Celsius for at least 30 minutes) or freeze them (-17 degrees Celsius for at least 10h)! Otherwise you help Bugs to spread out to other places.

Please believe us, we are doing our very best to avoid Bedbugs! But we need your cooperation!

We want to get you as a satisfied customer who loves to stay again with us one day. Therefore we always try to handle cancellations for you as easy and pleasureful as possible. But when you’ve booked, you’ve accepted our cancellation policy. So please read it before you book or ask by email for individual cancellation policy. (no complains afterwards).

After the first 2 Constitutions for the Cologne city tax were rejected by the higher administrative Court, our City council adopted a third trial on 13th November 2014 which affects since 1st of December 2014! We (like probably all other Hotels and Hostels in Cologne as well) were informed by a letter which we received on Monday, 24th of November, just one week prior to affection! So please understand that we were not able to inform everybody (most of you got an email from us) who had a booking with us in advance about these extra costs. We also will need a while before we get used to it and will be able to answer detailed questions.

During the last few years or during the former Constitutions we never charged any City tax because we were sure it will be rejected by the Higher Administrative Court (and we were right!). With the new trial we hope the same but we are not able to take the risk not to charge you. If it will be rejected as well every guest who paid the tax has the claim to get his refund!

Until then we have to charge every Guest who is not staying for business/job/vocational education this 5 % Citytax on the accommodation rate. People who are staying for business/job/vocational education can avoid this tax by doing the following procedure. You will see our City Council is doing it’s best to make it as difficult as it could be to be exempt of the City tax. They do not provide this form in english, nor do they accept any translated version, it must be the form in german!

Self-employed: Download and fill out the form “Gewerbetreibende-Freiberufler.pdf”. You also can fill it out when you arrive here at the hostel. We can provide you the form and assist you. Important: You need to know your tax-number!

Employed: Download and fill out the form “abhängig Beschäftigte.pdf”. You also can fill it out when you arrive here at the hostel. We can provide you the form and assist you. Important: In addition you need a confirmation on your employers business letter where he confirms your name, day of arrival and departure and that your stay is for business/job/vocational education reason. This letter also needs to be signed by your employer.

Important for both: Every guest needs his own form (employers letter), it’s not allowed to confirm for more than one person on one form/letter!

Our luggage room is ONLY FOR OUR HOSTELGUESTS from 00:00 on the day of arrival until 23:00 on the day of departure. Please accept, we are not a storehouse (not even against payment)! We need our lockers for our guests! After check out we consider everything left behind in a locker (also if a locker is locked) as waste and will dispose it. No claim for refund!

Many people like to book through online booking portals like Agoda, Booking, Expedia, Gomio, Hostelbookers, Hostelsclub, Hostelworld, etc. Please don’t forget: These booking portals are doing a good Job but they don’t provide their service for free. They charge us a commission for their service. Like you can imagine, this ends up in higher prices you would finally have to cover. That’s why we always offer the cheapest rates on our website (or by email)!

Due to technical premises we offer our beds on all booking portals parallel, means you can book the same room on several portals at the same time. That’s why we never offer all our availabilities online (to avoid overbookings). When you see no availabilities it’s always worth to send an individual email with your request.

European Commission official website: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/main/index.cfm?event=main.home.chooseLanguage

Sorry, but we don’t have parking facilties. Due to our central location just 150 m from Cologne Central Station we recommend to get here by train. If you need to bring your car you have several options like.

Due to several experiences we are asking for a prepayment to secure your booking. Usually we’ll send you the invoice as your official booking confirmation and ask to cover the invoice latest one week prior to arrival by credit card (we need your credit card number with expiry date by email or phone) or by bank transfer (only if you have a bank account in the EC, otherwise YOU would have to cover – if the occasion arises - all bank fees as well).

It’s our big purpose to care for your security in the house. We have an electronic keycard system which gives you access to the room only for the period you are booked in. So only people which are booked in have access to the room. But in dormitories you share the room with other guests and you never know if somebody left the room without closing the door properly. That’s why even a locker in the room cannot give your belongings the necessary security. So we decided to offer our free lockers on the corridor where our video-surveillance system cares for your safety.

Smoking is not only forbidden in Bars, Restaurants and Hotels in whole North-Rhine-Westphalia (like in almost whole Germany) but also in our place. But we know the needs of smokers and are happy to offer our beergarden for smokers. You can also smoke in front of the door but please keep quiet after 10pm.

For yours and our security the whole building is equipped and surveilled by a Smoke Detection System. Never try to manipulate one of the smoke detectors! This would not be a trivial offence but a crime which will lead to a police report, a banning from the hostel without any refund and should the occasion arise a damage compensation (the last one who did was charged about 900 €!).

In Single-, Double-/Twin- and Triplerooms towels are included in the room rate. If you’ve booked in a 4-, 5- or 6-bed-room you should bring your own towel or rent one for 1 € cleaning fee.