Country
Germany
City
Frankfurt
Hotel
Marriott International
Notes
The Good
- Modern rooms with well-designed suites
- 24/7 gym, as many travellers expect
The Bad
- Away from the city centre
X-Factor
- Nice views towards Main River and Frankfurt's CBD
Introduction
Marriott's "simple, yet full-service" Delta Hotels brand made its first foray into Europe this year with a 223-room property planting its flag in Frankfurt Offenbach, which the chain pegs as offering a "modern take on comfort."
As part of the Marriott Rewards hotel loyalty program, members can earn and redeem points at this Delta Hotels by Marriott Frankfurt Offenbach location, with status members enjoying all their usual benefits including complimentary breakfast and room upgrades for eligible travellers.
Here's what the hotel has to offer in Germany's financial capital.
Location & Impressions
Situated in Offenbach am Main – technically just outside the Frankfurt city area, but only by a couple of blocks – the hotel is a 20-30-minute drive from Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and about 10-15 minutes by car to the Frankfurt CBD.
By public transport, Offenbach (Main) Kaiserlei railway station is five minutes on foot for the S-Bahn, including services to and from Frankfurt Airport, although Google Maps is your friend here until you get closer to the hotel:
Once inside, you're greeted by a modern lobby with reception to the left, and an easy-to-follow path in the centre taking you to the lift lobby:
As the hotel sits on the banks of the Main River, many rooms afford nice views towards the water and Frankfurt's CBD, but in terms of the local area, there really isn't much here, aside from a few corporate offices (Honeywell, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai), and a McDonalds McCafe.
That means taking a car or train any time you leave the hotel – and to make matters worse, if your stay aligns with maintenance works on Frankfurt's S-Bahn tunnel, which has been closed several times this year already and can remain shut for weeks at a time, expect to spend an hour getting to and from the CBD.
As it happened, my stay coincided with one of these closures, and after Google Maps suggested it'd be faster for me to walk into the city (an hour each way) than take the train, I planned ahead and took the opportunity to stretch my legs after several international flights the same week, finding a nice walking path along the riverside past a number of restaurants, bars and cafes that I'd have otherwise never discovered.
While delays like this aren't strictly the hotel's fault, it's something for business travellers to keep in mind, because even if this property has lower room rates than one in the city centre, amounts spend on taxi fares to and from every day during times like this could negate any potential savings.
Room
On this visit, I stayed in a King Suite (skyline view) room on the top floor of the hotel, divided into two distinct areas: a living/meeting space, and the bedroom, which can be closed off for privacy when hosting guests.
Also for privacy's sake, the main lounge space features its own bathroom, so there's no need for business associates to wander through your bedroom.
The lounge area offers tea- and coffee-making facilities, a mini fridge...
... a wall-mounted HDTV (with another in the bedroom)...
... a corner for entertaining with a sink and two hot plates – although with no cooking equipment provided, this went unused...
... and a sofa:
Through the bedroom door, a king bed...
... with convenient access to power on each side...
... joined by a TV-facing lounge chair nearby, with a small beverage table:
The room continues with a walk-in closet on one side, with both hanging space and a shelf for your suitcase (just hidden from view, to the left)...
... and at the other end, an open bathroom...
... with a walk-in rainfall shower:
The bedroom and the living space have separate air conditioning controls, although in theory, you'll need to keep your key inserted by the front door for these to remain switched on.
How that's supposed to work for guests who check-in online and use their mobile phone as their room key, we'll never know, but as you've probably figured out by now, you can usually stash a business card into the same reader (or even a folded piece of paper) to achieve the same result. For example:
Work
The main living space is also where you'll find the room's working desk, although with a skyline view, I quickly moved the chair around to the opposite side to face the window and enjoy the backdrop.
One of my regular gripes with desks in hotel rooms is that power points often aren't found anywhere nearby: or if they are, they're too far away for a regular laptop cord to comfortably reach the desk.
That's not a problem here, as you can retrieve a power board from down the side and plug in, no matter what type of laptop or cable you've packed. The second outlet also proved useful for keeping my smartphone accessible while recharging at the same desk.
Sure, you could travel with a power strip or extension cord in your suitcase as a 'just in case', but you shouldn't have to, and it's great to see this hotel recognise this.
Tests of the hotel's complimentary WiFi revealed downloads of 17-34Mbps and uploads of 10-32Mbps throughout the stay, which is more than acceptable for most tasks.
Eat
Platinum Elite and Platinum Premier Elite members of Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards are treated to complimentary daily breakfast at Eastside Restaurant...
... where friendly staff take coffee orders from your seat (no 'latte tax' here), and you can also request omelettes and French toast made fresh to order.
There's also a buffet included in the same breakfast, offering a variety of pastries...
... meats, cheeses, yoghurt, salads...
... and hot items which vary from day to day such as eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, hash browns and so on, along with a variety of juices.
There's no Executive Lounge here for top-tier travellers, although the nearby Eastside Terrace provides a great place to relax after work – also part of the hotel:
I stopped by for a nice glass of 6pm wine...
... and a fresh chicken Caesar salad, which was great:
I also tried the Wiener schnitzel on another evening, which was quite tasty, but rather oily as is to be expected, so went for a two-hour walk into the city and back while the sun was still up to burn off some of the calories.
As flagged earlier in this review, there isn't much else nearby the hotel, so unless you wander along the river or head into the city, it's really this or McDonalds!
Relax
If you don't have time to keep the calories off by exploring the city, a 24-hour fitness centre awaits...
... or if you're returning to the hotel in the evening after a busy day of meetings, the skyline-view rooms live up to their name:
All in all, quite a nice hotel, and one I'd visit again if the room rate were significantly lower than a comparable property in Frankfurt's CBD – but perhaps just not when the Frankfurt city tunnel is closed for maintenance again, which makes getting around town (and between the hotel and the airport) particularly chaotic.
Chris Chamberlin was a guest of Delta Hotels by Marriott Frankfurt Offenbach.
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Sep 2018
Total posts 153
I never quite understand why it's branded Delta, any relations to the airline?
04 Dec 2013
Total posts 156
The S-Bahn tunnel has shut for a few weeks during the summer holidays for the last two years but you're highly unlikely to have problems outside of that.
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