Fairmont Vier Jahreszeiten Hotel

Location Around 30km (or a 20 minute, €20 cab ride) from Hamburg Airport, the Vier Jahreszeiten boasts the best position in this wealthy city's label-dripping shopping and business district. The only thing between the hotel's guests and the Inner Alster Lake shore is a crescent of parked Bentleys and Mercs.

Ambience Antiques worth more than Airbuses, Persian rugs and marble, marble, marble. While Fairmont has invested in high-speed, high-tech communications – there is free Wi-fieverywhere – Vier Jahreszeiten is firmly on the side of traditional comfort rather than the cutting edge. Expect plenty of CEOs and second wives carrying shopping bags with rope handles.

Guestrooms A range of rooms and suites in various sizes but all comfortable in a Laura von Ashley kind of way. High design is certainly not a talking point here, although the absence of flatscreen TVs (for probably another year) might well be. Bathrooms are well appointed rather than amazing. Complimentary mineral water and 24-hour room service.

Service: A rule-of-thumb is: five-star luxury + German = impeccable service. This is a particularly well-run, friendly hotel (with a high staffto- guest ratio) that doesn't feel like a chain.

Can I work here? In-room desks are fine, with ISDN lines and free Wi-Fi. Small but adequate business centre with five rooms for conferences and meetings. The hotel's branded '1897 InStyle Catering Service' can provide corporate refreshments for off-site events. Helpful multilingual staff. Express check-out.

Can I live here? Immaculately clean rooftop spa and a wide choice of restaurants and bars. The Art Deco-themed Jahreszeiten Grill offers superb Hanseatic dining, lots of dark wood and a view of the Alster. The European-Asian fused cuisine of Doc Cheng's attracts a younger, trendier crowd.

Worth noting Although this is Hamburg's most expensive hotel, with an average nightly tariff of €275, there are usually special corporate packages on offer. BF
Neuer Jungfernstieg 9-14, Hamburg, Germany D-20354
+49 (0) 40 34940
www.fairmont.com/hamburg