The Qvest, a member of Design Hotels, Cologne, Germany 🇩🇪 – Overnight stay at an old monastery

Have you ever wanted to spend the night in an old monastery? One that has been beautifully renovated and furnished with design classics from days gone by? If so, the Design Hotel The Qvist in Cologne is a perfect fit for you. What is it like, and is it worth it? Read for your self to find out!

Review #70

And at this point: News, news, news!

You can now book hotels directly through us via our booking enquiry form. In many cases, this will entitle you to additional perks such as room upgrades, breakfast and hotel credit, without costing you any more.

Unfortunately, The Qvest does not offer any additional benefits when you book, but by booking with us, you are still supporting us at EVRYWHRE. A very small part of the commission remains with us, but you won’t pay any extra for it. This enables us to continue our work and provide you with great flight and hotel reviews.

Location

Located in the very heart of Cologne city centre, The Qvest hotel is still an insider tip. Just a 15-minute walk from the main railway station, it is located opposite the beautiful Gereon Church on an intimate, small square in a quiet residential area of the city.

Getting there

Most of you will travel to Cologne by train or car, but you can also fly to Cologne/Bonn Airport. From there, it’s easy to take the S-Bahn to Cologne Central Station.

If you are arriving by car, you can park in the on-site underground car park for 30 euros per day.

How to get to the hotel

The easiest way to reach The Qvest from the main railway station is by taxi — Uber or a similar service is also an option — or by foot. The hotel is rather inconvenient to reach by public transport, so walking is quicker and simpler.

We treated ourselves to an Uber for the outward journey and arrived at the hotel in just three minutes.

Check-in

The day before our arrival, we received a link from the hotel via mail, which we used to check in directly. Unfortunately, it is not possible to communicate with the hotel via the Bonvoy app at all Design Hotels.

Upon arrival we first had to call the lady for the final check-in at the hotel – another couple of guests were already waiting in front of us. A few minutes later, the receptionist arrived and checked us in straight away.

We were greeted in a friendly manner and given some information about the hotel. And were also informed that the hotel doors would be locked at 10.30pm and that reception would no longer be staffed after this time. After that you can enter the hotel via the side entrance using your Room Key Card.

Thanks to our Bonvoy Titanium status, we were able to delay our check-out time from 11:00 to 12:00 free of charge. However, there was no welcome drink or anything similar. Unfortunately, we also did not receive a voucher for a cocktail in the hotel’s own bar. Of course, this is not standard practice at all hotels, and Design Hotels usually do not offer such amenities. Nevertheless, it always feels a little disappointing.

Breakfast was not included in our booking, and Design Hotel guests are not offered this complimentary as an additional park. Instead, they are automatically credited 1000 points as compensation. At check-in, we were asked whether we wanted breakfast at the hotel, as the hotel prefers to know the day before so they can prepare accordingly. However, at 24 euros per person, breakfast was too expensive for us, so we decided against it.

We were given our key cards and left to find our own way to our room. Incidentally, we received no assistance with our luggage during the entire arrival and check-in process.

Interestingly, the room key cards were not branded at all – not what you would expect from a design hotel. Wouldn’t you agree?

The Qvest at a glance

The four-star Design Hotel The Qvest offers 34 rooms and suites, including the enormous and truly unique Salon Suite, which has even been used to shoot two episodes of the famous “Tatort” series. Due to the historic nature of the building, all rooms are individually designed and furnished.

Located within the walls of the former St Gereon monastery convent, the hotel was converted and designed by Michael Kaune, publisher of the lifestyle magazine Qvest, in 2014. Previously, the building housed the Cologne City Archive and later the company library of a large corporation.

Opposite St Gereon’s Church, on a small, quiet square in the city centre, the neo-Gothic 1897 building boasts classic pointed vaults and beautiful lancet windows.

On 16 December 2024, Design Hotels was bought by Marriott Bonvoy, and all hotels within the brand could decide whether to be marketed and bookable via the site. The Qvest opted to do so and, according to the colleagues on site, has already reaped the benefits in the short time since.

Although the hotel is in the centre of the city at Gereonskloster, it is still very secluded and most people who live in the area don’t even know it exists. The new sales channel therefore gives the hotel more reach – and we have also become aware of The Qvest through the Bonvoy App!

Suite

We booked a Doubleroom L and expected to be put into one, as the hotel was fully booked at the time of our stay, according to the website. Two weeks before our arrival, a lower room category than the one we had booked was no longer available. However, we were pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to an Altbau Suite at check-in!

So Suite no. 206 will be ours for the night.

Welcome

Unfortunately, there was no welcome gift waiting for us in our suite, despite our status as this is not usually the case with Design Hotels.

Living room

The entire space is one large room with two enormous original glazed windows overlooking the square in front of the hotel. While the windows are beautiful, they are unfortunately single-glazed, so neither the cold nor outside noise are kept out. Nevertheless, it was quiet during our stay and we were not disturbed at night as there is never anything much going on in the square in front of the hotel.

A built-in wardrobe serves as a room divider and is located directly to the left of the room door. Here you will find everything you would expect from a hotel room wardrobe. This includes bathrobes and hangers for your clothes. In addition to the safe, there is also a minibar (for an additional fee) and snacks.

Unfortunately, the bed was rather hard, so neither of us slept very well here. There are two smaller duvets available at The Qvest. I personally found the duvets too light for the cold season and would have preferred them to be heavier, but that’s of course a matter of personal taste. However, the two feather pillows of different sizes available to each sleeper are wonderfully soft and light.

As there is no air conditioning in the room itself, regulating the temperature can be difficult. As the room features very high ceilings, it always feels cool around the floor, even though the heating was running all the time. Consequently, the air is very dry, and we were both quite thirsty in the morning. We’re not sure how the temperature is supposed to be regulated in summer.

Opposite the bed is a seating area with two armchairs, and on the table there is a coffee machine and a kettle, along with everything you need to make coffee and tea. The telephone is also located here.

The TV is located in front of the window right next to the bed and between the two windows is a desk with a beautiful table lamp.

Unfortunately, the doors cannot be locked from the inside in any way. We found this to be very strange and it also made me feel a quite uncomfortable.

Bathroom

The bathroom is located in a corner of the large room and has no ceiling. There is a small extractor fan here that activates when the light is switched on. Otherwise, it’s impossible to create a different temperature in the bathroom to the rest of the room. As I’m very sensitive to the cold, I didn’t even dare to take a shower as I´m quite sure to feel freezing afterwards.

Turndown

Unfortunately, the The Qvest does not offer any turndown service.

In the morning

You can only darken the room with these long curtains, which are not really blackout curtains, so it is rather bright in the morning even when they are closed.

View

The really beautiful view from our room is of the square in front of the hotel and the church opposite.

Special features

Library

On the second floor of the building, at the top of the beautiful grand staircase, there is a small library containing design books and inspiring magazines. You can browse these in the adjoining reading corner.

Bar

At the time of our stay, Bar Rossi on the mezzanine floor of The Qvest was mainly used as a breakfast room and is outside of breakfast times currently only staffed by reception staff, except during peak and trade fair periods. Only coffee specialities, simple long drinks and alcoholic beverages can therefore be enjoyed there during reception opening hours. However, food is not available.

There are plans to install outdoor seating at the square in front of the hotel, which will hopefully increase the bar’s popularity and raise its profile in the neighbourhood. The square is beautiful in both winter and summer time, is always worth a visit, and the bar certainly deserves to be more popular.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at The Qvest from 07:00 to 10:00, which was not included in our room rate. Despite our Titanium status with Marriott Bonvoy, Design Hotels do not automatically include breakfast for status members. As we would have had to be ready for breakfast by 10:00 at the latest, we decided not to have breakfast at the hotel.

The Qvest offers an étagère with a variety of cold cuts and cheeses at breakfast, as well as a small but delicious buffet. Various egg dishes and coffee specialities are freshly prepared and served at your table. All of this costs 24 euros per person. Next time, we’ll try the breakfast for you! We promise!

Check-out

Everything was ready for check-out at midday and we only had to pay the city tax. While we were there, we got chatting to the super friendly receptionist, who even took us to take a look at the ground-floor suite and the really impressive Salon Suite on the second floor. You can see the latter in our YouTube review.

Costs

We paid 187 euros, plus just under 10 euros city tax, for this one night in an Doubleroom L.

Departure and onward journey

We then walked the short distance back to the station, arriving at Cologne Central Station in under 15 minutes. We travelled back home from there.

Conclusion

The Qvest is a fantastic and true Design Hotel. We felt very comfortable here and would definitely like to come back. The location is beautiful, and the rooms’ interior design is unique. It lacks a gym and a fully-fledged bar, but the latter seems to be in the works. It would be amazing if there were also a small spa in the basement. However, we knew in advance that this wellness facility would not be available, so that was perfectly fine with us.

Recommendation

We can definitely recommend The Qvest to couples, solo and business travellers. Families are also in good hands here. However, there is only one suite on the ground floor which can accommodate three people. Accordingly, if you are travelling with children, you would have to book more than one room, unless three of you would like to fit in the suite.

Rating

We rate The Qvest as a lifestyle hotel on our scale. It lacks a few amenities, such as a spa, gym and restaurant, to make it a five-star luxury hotel, but otherwise it is really nice and pleasant.

Hotel Homepage

The Qvest – a member of Design Hotels

As mentioned above, you can now book hotels, including The Qvest, through us via our booking enquiry. Alternatively, you can use the link to the hotel’s homepage to book directly. In both cases, we receive a small commission that enables us to continue providing this service for free. Ultimately, neither booking method will cost you any more than if you book elsewhere, but you will be supporting us rather than an anonymous booking platform.

Thank you in advance for considering us! You’re great! And of course, we would be even happier if you booked through us and became part of our EVRYWHRE crew!

Rating

We award The Qvest 9 out of 10 possible points for our stay.

We deducted half a point for the single-glazed windows, which made it difficult to regulate the temperature, and another half a point for the lack of facilities, including a gym, spa and full bar. While we find all three points justifiable, they do mean that the hotel experience is not quite as high quality as it could be.

Go there?

Definitely. The Qvest is a great hotel that we can absolutely recommend, provided you don’t mind the lack of facilities. We will definitely be back.

YouTube Review

If you’d like to find out more about The Qvest and see what the Salon Suite looks like inside, check out our YouTube review! Have fun watching it!