Every year we plan a few big trips together, Timothy and I. When we heard ÖBB’s proposal to launch Nightjet service to Brussels in December 2019 we jumped on the occasion and included a ride back home from Austria to Belgium on the Nightjet after our autumn Berlin, Czechia and Slovakia trip. However as we all know in early 2020 an annoying new coronavirus COVID-19, appeared and shook up travel all over the world. We changed our plans to an itinerary in ‘safe’ Germany including stops in Leipzig, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Munich, Lindau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen from where we would take a short train ride to Innsbruck to board our Nightjet back home.
For our stay in Regensburg we selected the Eurostars Park Hotel Maximilian. It’s a classical hotel located at the opposite end of the city park from the station, right at the entrance of the town centre. Upon entering you could see some magnificent spaces. Check-in was very swift and friendly and we received our roomkeys upon arrival, they were still the real kind of keys with a very heavy key hanger.
Before we could enter the room we had to break the seal, as all rooms where sealed up after cleaning and disinfecting to prove they adhered to strict corona procedures. I must say that this hotel was the hotel taking the entire corona precautions the most serious of the entire trip.
The room itself was large and spacious, the tall ceiling and big windows giving an even extra spacious feeling. The bed was very comfortable and the power plugs at both side of the bed allowed us to charge our devices. The decoration of the room however looked a bit mismatched at times, like there was no general plan and they just put in whatever they had. Due to the corona virus the minibar was empty and not in use but there were two complimentary bottles of water and no coffee or tea facilities.
The bathroom was divided into two distinct rooms. The toilet had its separate room with its own sink. The bathroom itself contained a bath, double sinks and plenty of space to store stuff. Remarkably there was a bidet situated in the main bathroom, quite a trek from the toilet, it doesn’t make sense to me to put it there. The toiletries provided where all in big dispensers, but they did an effort on making them look more upscale by design.
As it is only a small and basic hotel there weren’t much other facilities, there was no gym, no hotel bar nor an on-site restaurant. In the morning they luckily did serve breakfast. To avoid people clashing into each other you had to select one of two breakfast times in the morning, either 7:00 or 9:00. They also made sure that there was one way traffic by letting people enter the breakfast area by passing through the magnificent grand banquet hall.
The breakfast area itself was also a grand and beautiful room overlooking the garden and park outside. Breakfast was an assisted buffet where you could pick whatever you wanted by looking through the glass walls and the breakfast attendant plating it for you. The food offering was good and diverse, ranging from hot items over cold cuts, vegetables and fruits to bread, pastries and yoghurts. Coffee and tea where brought to your table.
We had a good stay in the Eurostars Park Hotel Maximilian, while the hotel wasn’t anything special it provided a good location and a solid product. Cleanliness and corona regulations where adhered very thoroughly and sanitation wise this probably was the hotel where we felt safest.
How strict do you think hotels should handle corona measures? Let us know In the comments below!
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