OK. I am a weather wimp. I can't sleep if it's at all hot, and I also can't sleep if noisy so I can't sleep with windows open unless in the middle of nowhere (Soglio)

Any recommendations for places to stay in Bodensee area with AC?

Konstanz/Meersburg area preferred over Lindau as we need to drive to Zurich Airport our last day.

Wish I could be of help but we have only stayed at the charming Gasthof zum Baeren in Meersburg and the lakeside Hotel Ochsen in Uberlingern. Neither had AC but we didn't miss it as we were there in September and it wasn't warm or noisy. I could heartily recommend either hotel if you decide that you can do w/o AC.

But on the chance that we ever have a noisy room, we always travel with earplugs and those seem to do the trick.

Thanks bettyk, we will be there the beginning of July, and I can't wear earplugs

Good luck with the A/C.
Inns/hotels in German speaking regions, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, don't usually come with A/C even higher end ones. I have only seen them at high end international business hotel chains like Sheraton. Of course, the locals would say it is not needed (from their point of view) and that is why the rooms don't come with them. My experience spending restless hot nights in Europe were in Austria and Switzerland and also in Germany. I now take a mini USB fan when I travel to these areas in summer.

It can become very hot there - we stayed in Meersburg for several nights at a darling boutique hotel.. a few years ago that had nice cool AC.

I am drawing a blank on the name,.... I will post back!

http://www.booking.com/hotel/de/drei...val=1#policies

We loved this hotel, but it does not list AC, please double check! I really remember it being nice and cool on a hot July day!

The Hotel Bayerische Hof has A/C (klimanlage) in most of its guest rooms.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...#comments-open. Sorry, I could not find an English lanuage version.

It's the top hotel in Lindau. The owners, , the Stolze family, owns two hotels next to each other - - - the Bayerischer Hof and the Reutemann-Seegarten. Both overlook the harbor. I have stayed at both and they are exvellent, but the B..Hof obviously is the more expensive.

The Ibis in Konstanz is quite new and has A/C. I stayed nearby, the location is ok.

http://www.ibis.com/gb/hotel-7290-ib...nz/index.shtml

Most of the suites in Hotel zum Schiff in Meersburg have A/C.

Reminds me of an awful business trip to Friedrichshafen a few summers ago. My local contact booked me into a hotel room built into the attic space with no a/c. Couldn't sleep for 3 days and ended up in a zombie-like state, due to the high temperatures - or more accurately the temperature combiuned with very high humidity levels. I'd say it's essential to find a hotel with a/c if staying in this area during the summer months.

It's fairly easy to find hotels with A/C on Lake Constance.
Go to hrs.com (which is the largest hotel search website for the German-speaking countries)
Switch language to English, if necessary
Put in your travel dates, and number of rooms you need.
Type "Lake Constance" in search box
A drop down menu will appear and you can choose under "Regions" which part of the lake you want to stay - German, Swiss or Austrian
When the search results are shown, scroll down until you see on the left side the items "Hotel facilities"
Tick "Air Condition"
Done.

Wrenwood, there is a reason some hotels in southern Germany have A/C despite people saying "it isn't needed" (if that is so why have hotels paid to install it?) and for one reason if not the heat: the humidity.

SW Germany is the nation's "hotspot".
Obviously you do not need A/C from October till April,
But it can get easily hot as 90F (as right now) during the rest of the year - and also very humid.
Most locals who say that A/C is not needed in summer seem to forget that it is a different matter if you live in your own house which you may be able to ventilate enough by simply opening all windows. Or if you have to stay in a hotel room with just one window to open.

Thanks for all the help, I did a lot of checking, many places were all booked up already. Couldn't find anything that ticked all the right boxes.

I finally gave up on the Bodensee area, so we decided we will spend our last 3 nights in Weggis on Lake Lucerne. We stayed ther once 7 years ago and have always wanted to go back. We will not have AC, so I hope it is relatively cool!

I use the search feature on booking.com and tick the air conditioning box rather than get into arguments with strangers about whether or not there should be the option of air con in my room.