Mintrops Concierge Hotel in Essen

I booked this hotel for early November (Booking reference XOBAWRZF-1), together with a colleague. We each made our own non-refundable reservation — a choice I make often when I am certain of my travel plans. I am fully aware of what that rate implies, and I accept that the mistake was entirely mine.
Over six weeks before the stay, I realised — due to a simple date selection error in the Booking.com calendar — that I had booked the wrong day. I informed the hotel immediately, explaining clearly that I would not be able to use the room under any circumstance, as I was travelling on completely different dates. This was not a last-minute change of mind.
The hotel is located directly opposite the main Congress Centre, in an area that routinely sells out well in advance. It was evident that the room could have been resold within minutes, at no loss whatsoever — in fact, quite possibly at a higher rate. I even appeared at the hotel physically, on the actual date of my trip, explaining the situation while having to stay across the street instead, at a hotel costing nearly three times more.
Still, every response I have received — via Booking, by phone, and in person — has been identical: a categorical and impersonal “no”. Not a hesitation, not a single attempt to consider the particulars of the case. Not policy — reflex. A kind of insistence that one must be made to remember the mistake, even when there is no conceivable cost or inconvenience to the hotel.
I have travelled extensively for work, and I cannot recall an approach this inflexible in a situation declared with such advance notice and with such obvious absence of harm. I was not asking for privilege — only for humanity.
And the message communicated, in the end, is not “we have rules”, but rather:
“even when it costs us nothing to assist you, we will choose not to.”
That is the difference between a hotel — and a system that simply punishes.

Didn't book it myself and unfortunately it was not a nice surprise. No AC, cleaning on demand only, poor breakfast... It looks more like a student residence than a hotel... definitely not a 4 stars as you can expect it.