Café Kaftan - pension

Pros +

• Short walk from station and main square in Koln. Got a decent breakfast in the morning, ham and scrambled eggs, juice and coffee.
• Close to the railway station which was a walking distance. Quiet overnight but see below.

Cons -

• If I'd known there were no reception staff I might have looked elsewhere, but once I got in the room, it was excellent. The key safe outside has a touchscreen, which is very difficult to see in the afternoon sun. Eventually, I got the key and then discovered that none of the doors have key holes it's just for the front door. I need a keycard, back to the key safe. The next problem was none of the room doors have a number. Had to try every door until one opened. After checking in I received an email telling me the opening times for the cafe, but it was closed all afternoon and evening, I was pleased to find someone there in the morning but looked like it was closed again when I left. The first floor rooms are being refurbished, looks like the higher floors have already been done. The lack of door numbers and reduced cafe opening may be connected with the refurbishment and therefore temporary.
• We had a struggle getting the key initially as there was no one at the property so it was a case of emailing the contact on the form who then sent a code back by email - if your phone doesn't work you are snookered because no one answered the contact telephone number when we tried. Despite the booking being for bed and breakfast there was no breakfast so I'd like some money back please. There was no one from the hotel there in the morning to serve anything whatsoever and to be honest it didn't really look as if there was any intention to do so. But the biggest problem was that we were woken up at 06.40 by the builders coming into the property unannounced and who proceeded to drill holes and knock things about in the wall of the adjacent room. If you were doing a refurbishment you should not have been open to the public to take bookings. I think we were the only people staying that night and the builders looked a bit surprised when we appeared!!!