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The Hotel Watthalden is mainly a modern (2001)block next to what I suspect was the original hotel, which now houses conference and meeting facilities and the restaurants. The hotel building stands alone as a three star hotel and is delightfully well designed. Do German designers lead the pack in Europe now? They seem, from what I have seen before in Vienna, in Berlin and elsewhere, to be more innovative and creative than their US or UK counterparts, and of course light years ahead of the French. Despite being seven years old the building has flat screen TV’s, and for about £1.50 a night a fast internet connection.
It has comfort cooling rather than air conditioning and everything appears to be where it should be – sockets above the desk for the laptop, sensible wardrobe and luggage rack design, interesting use of lighting in the bathroom, nicely done case goods, all for a rate for two, including breakfast that is competitive with the budget chains. It also has some nice design in the public areas and good environmental touches too.
The hotel has solar panels on the roof, which is also a green roof, planted with sedums etc and also hosting a discreet and private sunbathing area - remember this was done about 7 years ago too, so was well in advance in the ‘green’ building trends of what is happening in the UK or the USA now. Whilst there is comfort cooling, windows are also open-able to take advantage of natural fresh air, and their large glass area minimises the need to use artificial light without being so large that the solar gain makes the room unacceptably warm.
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