Courtyard Munich City East

"The hotel has convenient access to the train station, although getting into the city centre is a bit of a trek. Breakfast was OK, but several reception issues let the stay down. My check-in was delayed supposedly so they could “give me an upgrade”. When I eventually received my room, it appeared no different in size or floor from my colleague’s standard room. More concerningly, it was already occupied: I had been given keys to someone else’s room. This was a real shock and a serious security and privacy concern. Reception then allocated me another room, which also did not appear to be an upgrade. Service at reception was slow. I was also charged more than the listed price for beer. I noticed and raised the discrepancy after paying, but was still left overcharged. At checkout, staff could not locate my colleague’s stored bags. It turned out they had attached mismatched numbered tags, causing considerable stress while the bags were tracked down. Overall, convenient transport links and an acceptable breakfast could not make up for the room access mistake and repeated problems at reception."

"5 stars for a Courtyard. We stayed 5 nights and have been to many Courtyards, primarily in the US. This is probably the nicest we’ve ever stayed in; has to be in the top 10% of the brand. Truly a great stay. We were thrilled to find a 5 for 4 points stay during the first week of Oktoberfest; a great redemption value. Highlights: - The fundamentals of the room were outstanding. New, or at least unblemished, finishes. Room size about what you see in USA, and thus large for Europe. Immaculately clean. Plenty of room to open 2 suitcases and still use the rest of the room. Good amount of counter space in the bathroom. Room had mini-fridge and in-room safe. - Good Bonvoy perks. We’re lifetime platinum from our working years, yet don’t spend nearly so many nights in hotels nowadays. Almost laughed out loud when the front desk proactively apologized for not being able to offer a room upgrade (did we mention it was a points stay during Oktoberfest!)…not sure who would expect such a thing. Still, ended up on a higher floor. - Continental breakfast was very good. We opted for the Bonvoy daily food and beverage credit (20 euro per couple), which essentially covered 1 of our two breakfast buffets. So for 18 euro out of pocket, two of us had a hearty breakfast. They also have a full, hot items buffet for a higher cost. - We found the location fine/good enough. We’re aware there are fancier neighborhoods, yet we found that with the Munich East Train Station just a 5-minute walk, we could easily get anywhere. For example, Marienplatz is about 4 stops away on any of 5 S-Bahn trains (never waited more than 2 or 3 minutes for one) and there were multiple ways to get to the Oktoberfest grounds including the direct U-5 or connecting to U-3 or U-6 at Marienplatz (for Oktoberfesters, we recommend the latter…far less crowded). Lots of restaurants within a 15-minute walk of the hotel. Similarly, the main train station is about 3 stops away for Munich East station on the same S-Bahn lines. Other notes: - Perhaps our only ding on this hotel was communication. We tried emailing months in advance to find out if there was a trachten vendor at the hotel during Oktoberfest and did not receive a reply. Similarly, we IM’d them via the Bonvoy app on the day of arrival to inquire about possibly getting in the room early and did not receive a response. We did need to wait for the room (which is fine…they were a full house), yet no text to alert us when the room became ready. - And FWIW, there was, in fact a trachten vendor with a pop up store in the lobby. By then we’d made other arrangements. Bottom line is we were thrilled with our stay, and plan to return with friends to a future Oktoberfest. The underlying quality of the rooms, public spaces, and breakfast buffet were all much superior to any Courtyard we’ve stayed at in USA."

"Not a great hotel, especially for Marriott elites. The rooms are small and despite being recently updated the bathrooms are old with grime on the tiles in the shower. Breakfast was not included despite being Platinum (an increasingly annoying trend for Marriott hotels). Had to contact the hotel to get telephone charges reversed - all to the same number during a time I was not in the room so I suspect the cleaning staff used the phone while cleaning the room. The hotel is walking distance to Ostbahnhof station which is well connected to central Munich but the area itself is very average. The stay was a redemption which was a reasonable number of points, especially during Oktoberfest. I would have given the hotel 1 star if it had not been a good value redemption during a time where hotel prices are high. Lots of better options throughout Munich. Unless there’s a reason to stay near Ostbahnhof, choose something else in a more central part of Munich."