Schlosshotel Hugenpoet in Essen

This property is not what they advertise it to be. The photos on the Instagram and Hotel Website are false and misleading as well as the unwarranted Five Star rating. In reality it is a One Star Hotel, or as we now refer it: The Creepy Castle; it is poorly staffed and poorly run, it's grossly neglected, dirty, serves barely tolerable food in their Bistro prepared by filthy cooks who do not adhere to basic personal hygiene or food handling safety laws and access to their rooms is prohibitive requiring a lengthy journey up steep marble stairs followed by steep narrow winding stairs. We were in the Ustinov Suite, which unbeknownst to us was located on the fourth floor which was difficult to access, it had not been prepared; there were no pillows on the bed, the Duvet was loosely thrown on the bed sideways and was rumpled up, the room was bare, cold and disturbingly neglected. There was an old, musty odour to the room. The phones in our room did not work so we had to navigate four flights of treacherous and dangerous stairs to speak to reception, the tiny elevator was broken and I had to wonder what if we were handicapped and unable to walk up stairs? We checked in at 8 p.m. after a long flight and immediately called other hotels to find a room but they were all booked, so we were forced to stay at the Creepy Castle. We were forced to dine at the Bistro.....not good. The Bistro cook had black greasy shoulder length hair swinging loosely in his face, he wore dirty clothing and looked unwashed; he picked up our Schnitzel in his bare ungloved hands to plate it causing us to lose our appetites. The only thing that kept us sane that disturbing night was our cocktails. It was a long unsettling night. Something is deeply wrong at this property. For anyone that decides to pursue it, I suspect there are a host of legal violations here. Not recommended.

Disappointing Stay – Definitely Not Worth Five Stars

We stayed at this hotel for three nights and deliberately booked a villa, expecting a high-end experience. Unfortunately, our expectations were not met in several key areas.

The problems started at check-in: we were about to be given the wrong room – not the villa we had booked. This only came to light when they tried to take us to the incorrect room. There was no real apology, and the front desk staff seemed disorganized and unprofessional.

Throughout our entire stay, we barely saw any staff. There was no help with luggage – completely unacceptable for a supposed five-star hotel.

Breakfast was another disappointment. At first, only toast was available; no white bread. After several back-and-forths, they finally managed to bring some. Overall, the service was inattentive and far below five-star standards.

The villa itself was spacious, but clearly outdated and not properly cleaned. Dust had accumulated on many of the surfaces – not what you would expect in this price range.

Dinner at the restaurant was equally underwhelming. We ordered caviar, which was initially served warm. Only after we asked was it properly presented on ice. The so-called “potato-radish salad” consisted of plain potatoes with exactly two slices of radish – more garnish than salad.

One particularly strange detail: the slippers in our room had the logo of a completely different hotel. I’ve never seen anything like that before – it felt careless and unprofessional.

To sum up, we were thoroughly disappointed with our stay. It is completely unclear to us how this hotel could possibly be listed among the 101 best hotels in Germany. It certainly does not live up to the standards of a five-star establishment, and we cannot recommend it.