Stuttgart, Novotel

I travelled to Stuttgart to support the Aussies in their last group match against Croatia in the World Cup. The city itself was fantastic, as was the atmosphere and the people. Everyone was very friendly, and a good time was impossible to avoid.

Having said this, at any other time the Novotel may have annoyed me a lot more than it did. There was nothing special about it. It isn't convenient to the trains and it's a decent taxi ride to the city centre. There's a bus that stops outside the hotel, so it's not too bad, but the website advertised a pool, and we planned a 4 day weekend around the World Cup match, a day trip to the Black Forest and a lazy day in the pool. When we arrived, not only was the pool empty of water (partially full of dirt), but it was boarded up. It didn't look like it had been used in a very long time, and it didn't look like there were any plans to change that fact.

This is the second European hotel I've visited in the past 3 months that has had a pool out of action. In the middle of summer, with tourists flocking to Germany from all over the world, I thought it was a bit of a joke (and not the funny kind).

Aside from this, the €13 breakfast is way overpriced. The minibar in our room was locked, and when we asked for a key we were told that it had been lost.

I'm also in the habit of leaving the "Do not disturb" sign on my room so cleaners don't come in and help themselves to my stuff (it works sometimes), but at the Stuttgart Novotel they completely ignored it, and someone came in and stole a handful of change I had left on the counter, and even went through my bags! There was nothing taken, but the obvious invasion of privacy ticked me off.