Don't take the maps at HOTELS.COM seriously
 

We made a reservation through hotels.com for a property in Cologne shown on the online map as a short U-Bahn ride south from the railroad station.

We got off the tube at the Neumarkt stop and followed the map a block or two south. Imagine our surprise when no one in the neighborhood had even heard of the address! A call to the hotel quickly solved the problem, and we easily got to the hotel - <u>north</u> of the city center, on the <u>other</u> side of the river!

Moral: if you plan to get to your hotel by yourself, make sure it's where you think it is.

(Duh.)

Is it at all possible that you read the map incorrectly or is that totally out of the question?

Those maps are rarely, ever to scale so i can easily understand your misinterpretation of a &quot;short U-Bahn ride.&quot;

Totally out of the question. The property was shown on a street map (not a schematic).

Do you understand what &quot;the other side of the river&quot; means?

Well, wouldn't the easiest way to resolve this to do give the name of the hotel in Cologne and the hotels.com link and everyone will then see for themselves? Furthermore, they'll know which hotel there has a wrong (?) map associated with it.

All for a good cause, I say -- unless, for some reason, R. doesn't want the name of the hotel known.

I was in Cologne very briefly. Surprised that you stayed in the other side of the river, but I guess if the map was wrong....

Wouldn't it depend on which side of the river you are on? Very confusing.

I don't know why, bu that reminds me of a dumb blonde story I saw play itself out in a college math class.

Instructor: Miss Jones, I'm not sure why you are having trouble determining the value of X.

Miss Jones: Well, it wouldn't as confusing if you didn't keep changing it every day.

Well, my guess would be that the other side of the river, which I guess is the Rhine, is the side which is not the side whether the city center (Cathedral, the Museums, etc.) are located.

That's my personal interpretation.

So that's why I suggested posting the hotels.com -- that takes a couple of seconds and seeing is believing.

posting the hotels.com link, I meant to say.

It was the Best Western Premier Park Consul, at Clevischer Ring 121. Our room was modern, spacious, and immaculate.

I don't see it on hotels.com any more.

It is on the other side of the river from where the hotels.com map showed it, which was south of the Neumarkt U-Bahn stop. So instead of being south of the Hauptbahnhof, it was north of it, and east of the Rhine.

Great, thanks. Well, at least the room was nice.

Actually, I guess one of the most important things is probably to have a good map that will get you to your hotel. When I was in Madrid this summer I had trouble, as I foolishly thought a cab driver could find our hotel (Suecia). Finally I got off the cab and navigated the area by foot. Another time I was in Tokyo, and I could not find our hotel that was a mere two blocks away (and language was a big problem).

A good map would have solved the problem.

A good map would have helped me a lot,too! ;)

On a subsequent trip, I had Microsoft Pocket Streets on my iPAQ with me. Type in the name of the property, and the software pinpoints it on the map. I marked all of our accommodations with &quot;pushpins&quot; before leaving home.

MPS will also locate street addresses that way. With the GPS presenting a &quot;You Are Here&quot; target, getting to &quot;there&quot; is greatly facilitated. I'll never go anywhere without it again.

<i>p.s.</i> The software and maps are free.

That's why most online map sites carry a disclaimer about accuracy!

Disclaimers are included for legal protection. They say nothing about the accuracy of the content.

Hi Robe,

Your experience (I've had it myself) is one reason why I contact the hotel for directions on how to find them.

((I))