Hotel Mondial am Dom Cologne MGallery

I wanted to stay in Cologne for an extended weekend for R&R following some surgery I had in November. This hotel worked well for its proximity to the Old Town and that it had a spa. I had booked a Business room (because based on description it seemed certain it would had a standing shower and not a bathtub).

Check-in was fine, I was not greeted as a Gold (I was Gold at time of booking) but was told I was upgraded to a Deluxe room with Cathedral View and given the drink voucher. There was also an apple, two Lindor and a bottle of water as my Gold welcome gift. 

The upgrade is a bit fake, the hotel has 3 categories which are exactly the same rooms : normal, Business and Deluxe with view. The difference is Business has a Nespresso machine (the bathrobe is standard to all room as it is a Spa hotel) and Deluxe has a Cathedral view and a Nespresso machine, price hike per night is 80 EUR for each room category. Some of them are not refurbished and it seems to be the case of the Standard. 

The room was perfectly fine, modern and adequate. The bed was particularly comfortable (it might be a MyBed), the desk on the small side. The bathroom was fine, although the shower pressure was a bit weak for my taste. Also the lack of kettle and tea bags is really baffling. 

There are some design issues : no plugs near the desk, this is always annoying, just one plug on each side of the bed. The do not disturb sign is hooked just under the hook for the coat, so once you hook a coat it can not be seen. So I spend the stay thinking there was no DND sign in the room. 

There are some elements that are not modern at all: the TV might be a large screen but is old. Usually now it is easy to set up hotel TV to stream music from a phone or a tablet but this one had no such features. The safe is an old model without any display of the code or status. 

Service was good albeit nothing stands out. Breakfast is 100% a buffet, not even coffee is served on order, there are coffee machines. The breakfast buffet is quite nice, good quality and enough choices. There was quite a lot of cold cuts available, and more cheese than usual. On the other hands, the cereal quality was not great, too much sugar. 

Location is by the Dom, so can not be beaten really. Very easy walking access from the main train station. There are of course busses, tram and subway nearby. Despite its central location, the hotel is quiet. 

Overall the stay was OK but I was not impressed, it missed a Wow factor specially for a MGallery which are supposed to be somewhat boutique.