Hyatt Regency Cologne — Hotel in Cologne

We would like to warn other guests who stay here for the staff members of this hotel. Unfortunately some staff members feel the need to steal deposit money from customers (they ask for a deposit but they don't give you a receipt nor do they put it in the system). When you try to get your deposit back it becomes impossible. We talked to the accountant, a gentleman who is extremely rude and angry. He denied the whole thing and just said they never take deposits!! He refused to watch the security footage of the payment. He promised to call us back but never did. So we tried to call the hotel. But as soon as the people from the reception recognised our voice they hung up on us!! This happened about 9 times and eventually we gave up. We called back the next day, and the guy from the reception who picked up simply told us: "We spoke to our colleague and she denies the allegations. So you have two options, you can either trust me, or I have to put you through to the manager." So we told him to connect us to the manager. We discussed the matter with her, and also urged her to just watch the security footage, since it will show that we paid the deposit. But also she refused vehemently to look at the footage. She called the next day and told us she talked to the receptionist, and she denied she had taken our money and since there was no receipt or excess money in the cash drawer we never maid the payment and hence she could not give us back our deposit. Again we asked her to watch the security footage. She eventually said she would do that. She called us back and told us she couldn't see that we paid the deposit money. It wasn't about the money at this point anymore, but about the fact that we were being called liars and they were stealing from customers and everyone was covering it up. We told her we would put a lawyer on this case and go to the police in order to get the security footage of the payment. She suddenly told us she would watch the footage again but that the "IT-guy" was on holiday for a week so we would hear back from her in a week. I'm not sure why she would need the IT-guy to look at the footage "again" since she was so adamant about the fact that she had watched it carefully and she could not see we made a payment for the deposit. However, only a few hours later she called us back and told us she wanted to give us back our deposit money! No manager in their right mind would view security footage which clearly shows that NO deposit has been made, and STILL decide to "refund" the amount. All of a sudden, as we told them our plans of getting a law firm and the police involved, we were called back and refunded the money within 3 hours! The most bizar thing is we wanted to check in at The Wellem by Hyatt a few days later, and there was a lady who was extremely upset and was pretty much yelling at the reception (the whole team including the security staff was gathered there) that someone from the reception had signed off her package (the person who had delivered the package had told her it was signed off at the reception) and they all denied this had happened. And also she was telling them they should watch the security footage, and they were telling her that no one from the reception had signed it off and there was nothing to see on the security footage. Obviously after seeing this whole scene we decided not to stay there, since it seems like the Hyatt has an overall lying and stealing staff members problem. We tried to highlight this matter to the head office (legal department) in Chicago. We sent them a letter and an email explaining the whole ordeal in detail to make sure other guests are protected and the staff members who are in on this scam get fired. We called them several times and asked them if they could look into this matter. We never got any response back from them so I guess the safety of their customers is of no...

Preliminary remark: I am a frequent guest in 5-star hotels, mostly in suites due to the nature of my position. I specifically chose the Hyatt because it was close to where I work in Cologne. Our group of companies has so far booked around 400 overnight stays per year in hotels of the Hyatt Group.

For job reasons, I was staying in the Orchid Suite for several days in November. As expected, the reception was friendly and courteous, there were restrictions in the service due to the lockdown, but of course this does not have a negative impact on my rating. As expected, the room was large and well equipped. Another positive thing to note about the hotel is that we were able to park our bikes in a storage room in the lobby and were therefore able to use them easily at any time.

To our stay, it must be added that my assistant was in contact with the hotel weeks before our arrival to ensure that all of our requirements were communicated in advance and that everything went smoothly as agreed. For this we had a contact person in the hotel. I do not want to go into all of the failures here, but only as an example: We had asked that two work tables be provided in my suite for my employees and me. That shouldn't be a problem in a hotel with a conference area, at least you would think. There were no tables in the suite when I arrived and when asked, we were told that the hotel did not have any tables. In the end, my assistant had to take the search into her own hands, which wasn't a problem, because there were dozens of stacked tables in the room where our bicycles were parked.

What was particularly remarkable about this stay was that our contact person in the hotel could not be reached by phone or email during our entire stay.

As usual with our productions, we signed a cost assumption as agreed with our contact person and deposited a credit card as security. One day before our departure, we were informed that the accounting department had not accepted the costs. Without prior agreement, the credit card was then charged and we only received an invoice upon request. Unfortunately, the invoice initially had little to do with the debits (one reason why we do that with the assumption of costs) and items were posted to companies unknown to us. According to the accounting department, these foreign company names were stored in our master data. The final clarification of the positions took until mid-December.

There was no final clarification with our contact person because our proposed dates were pushed on and communication there was more than slow. There was no attempt by the hotel to limit the damage or to accommodate. Not even a word of apology that things hadn't gone so well. Our contact person was never at a loss for excuses. We didn't feel like customers, but rather as supplicants.

All in all: I wanted to rate my stay with 3 stars, after all, I had a nice suite and in the end we somehow managed to do our job. On the other hand, after staying in a 5-star hotel, I have never left with such a bad feeling. And when I realize that I'm a guest in a suite in a 5-star hotel - and I know what it looks like in other hotels of this category - and not in a 2-3 star motel, then unfortunately I can give only the lowest rating. The Hyatt has been on our blacklist...

I stayed at Hyatt twice back in March. My first stay was great, I felt well treated and I loved all the Club Lounge features. The food in the restaurant was expensive but delicious, my room was neat and super comfortable and I had a wonderful time all around. I would have given my review five stars if it hadn't been for my second stay a week after. I was given the same room, which I appreciated, but my whole experience was ruined by one rude and arrogant staff member. She was one of the front desk agents working on the sixth floor in the Club Lounge and I found nothing more annoying than having her run around in noise high heels early in the morning when breakfast took place. She had a fake smile and I could tell I was not privileged to more because I was not one of the rich people among the guests. When I stood in her way to get some coffee at the buffet she gave me an annoyed and rather aggressive look and I was so taken aback by her unprofessional demeanor, I went back to my room to calm down. When I came back I saw her in the hallway and she gave me that fake smile again like what had happened didn't even take place. What an awful employee! I believe she was working at Hyatt for quite some time and had some sort of "status" because when I complained about her when I checked out, I was laughed at by a young front desk agent who didn't believe me and took HER side claiming she couldn't imagine her ever being like that. Now being from the same line of work I knew exactly she was playing me especially when she said she would pass it along. Yes, when I checked out the front desk was really busy but an experience that had started out so beautifully was destroyed by this one blond and stuck up employee who would have never treated me like this if I had been someone with money. And the same goes for the front desk agent who surely would have taken my complaint seriously if I had been a celebrity or some rich person. I will never return to Hyatt and find it absolutely disappointing for a five-star hotel to have such awful and unprofessional employees. And as a German myself and having worked at German hotels, I just find such behavior...