Cologne in October, Trade Fairs and Hotel Availability
 

Hi
Hoping for any local knowledge available.
Have booked a long weekend in Cologne the first weekend in October (4th through 7th) and am seeing virtually nothing in terms of hotel availability.
Do the trade fairs just block book the major hotels, and, if so, how likely is it that rooms become generally available nearer the time?
Any suggestions welcome?
Thanks
William

Did you try www.hrs.de?

Looks like several available (in German).

I see the following trade events listed for October:

10/7-10/10 Internat'l fair for Assembly, Tech and Automation
10/5-10/9 Anuga - Gourmet and Deli Products
10/11-10/12 Marathon (sports) expo
10/11-10/13 Esoteric Fair
So, only the food event should interfere!

PS: You'll just miss rapper Wiz Khalifa on October 2 ;-))

http://www.hrs.de/web3/init.do;jsess...d=ZW5fX05FWFQ-

English available!

The Anuga is bad news. I think it's a big trade fair.

My experience from other German cities with big trade fair events is that many hotels exist only because of them. There isn't enough businness for all oof them during normal weeks but the hotels make their profits during the few weeks when they're completely booked out for double or triple the normal room price.

Since these weeks are their profit makers, most hotels are extremely reluctant to allow soft bookings or to go down with the high prices even for regular customers.

I don't know the hotel scene in Cologne from own experience but I doubt that it's different from other German cities.

Anuga IS a BIG fair.
You may want to check hotels in nearby Bonn and also Düsseldorf.
Commuter rail connections are plenty and affordable.

I just looked up the Anuga and it's big. Last time it had about 6.500 companies presenting and 150.000 visitors, all of them from the industry, i.e. only a part is from around Cologne and sleeping at home.

If you can't change the weekend, you might think about booking a room in Bonn not too far from the railway stattion. You're in 25 minutes in Cologne and the hotels in Bonn don't seem to have trade fair prices. But I wouldn't wait too long, I'd be surprised if Bonn isn't booked out prior to October.

Cowboy, sorry, I didn't see your comment before posting.

The Anuga is a huge fair.. friends of mine attending the fair, only found accommodation is Bochum a few years ago....

Rooms during these fairs are usually booked months in advance...

Again, I am getting 21 available offers for rooms in Cologne hotels for the dates quoted, using the above-referenced site....!

mokka4

Yes you are getting 21 available offers for rooms during the Anuga, but have a look at the rate of these offers....

For the specific dates that the OP mentioned, a 3 star hotel in the old city is selling a room for 617 Euro per night....
A 1 star hotel with bad reviews is going for 240 Euro per night...

Why should someone pay these ridiculous prices if not attending the fair? ( and even visitors of the Anuga would rather book a room in Düsseldorf or elsewhere to avoid paying for overrated mediocre hotels)