First of all, let me preface this review with the fact that is why in Erlangen to visit a friend who had accommodations for me. However, when the key broke in the lock at 11:00 p.m. on a Thursday night, I was forced to ask a taxi for a recommendation of an inexpensive hotel in the area that would be accepting booking at that hour. He suggested A. B. Hotel.

I arrived and was greeted by a very friendly gentleman. He spoke English well (which is good since my German in non-existent). He quickly booked me a room with breakfast for only 35 euro (Prices depends on season I take it so check beforehand. Either way, it is inexpensive)! What a deal! I wasn't expecting much for 35 euro since I had just come from Spain and paid 70 euro a night for a noisy, messy room, with no internet and NO buffet.

When I got to the room I found it to be very clean and cozy. The bed was the most comfortable one I have slept on in Europe so far (I don't like the REALLY firm mattresses so popular here) and it was the first night I woke up in a month without back or shoulder pain (I must say that I am an American and thus tend to like a medium mattress).

I awoke to sample their breakfast buffet which was simple, yet delicious and filling. I ate my fill of bread, cheese, meats, cereal, juice, and coffee. I was again greeted by very friendly staff who answered all my queries and directed my to the local Wasch Salon (Laundrymat), which was walking distance away.

In all I was VERY pleasantly surprised by my stay (so much so that I didn't mind at all when my friend said there would be some delays in getting the copy of the key to me). The hotel was clean, the buffet good, it was quiet, the bed was great, the staff very friendly and spoke English well, and the value for the money I felt was outstanding! I HIGHLY recommend this hotel if you are in Erlangen and don't want to blow the bank on fancy accommodations.

P.S. There is a nice Mexican restaurant right next to the hotel that I also recommend you take advantage of if you like Mexican food (I am from So Cal, so I LOVE Mexican food). Get the enchiladas de pollo or carne molida with the GREEN sauce and thank me later ;)

My girlfriend and I stayed in this hotel due to its seemingly central location and earlier reviews on this site and others claiming good value for money. Unfortunately, I have to disagree with those reviews, because in my opinion, good value involves reasonable (or better) quality at a lower cost than expected. The low(ish) cost was there; the quality was not.

We booked online. The internet site showed two different properties. We booked for one and found out upon our arrival that we had been assigned the other. This did not seem to interest the receptionist, who told us that the main building was full, so we would simply have to put up with the other building. This, having dragged our luggage from a pay-and-display car park, as no hotel parking is available.

This first impression of the staff was not made any better by her telling an elderly lady checking in at the same time that she had been given a room on the third floor and that there was no lift. No assistance was offered to her despite her informing the receptionist that she was physically unable to take her luggage up the stairs due to back problems. We found this attitude appalling. In the end, my girlfriend stepped in and helped her while I checked us in. I told the receptionist that I wished to speak to the manager; she informed me that he was not there but that we could make an appointment to speak to him when we checked out two days later.

Upon arriving at the room, we discovered a smoking room (this had not been communicated to us during the booking or check-in, and no option to choose had been offered; we had thus assumed all rooms to be non-smoking). The room was very small, the bed taking up about two thirds of it.The wardrobe on one side could not be opened fully because the door collided with the bed. The table with TV in front of the bed could not be sat at because there was no space to turn the chair to face it. In the bathroom, there was no ventilation, no window, and a hole in the ceiling from which loose cables were hanging. The towels were child-size and one of them was dirty with what appeared to be hair-dye on it.

On the room door, there was a sign informing customers to tell reception immediately if the towels were dirty (never a good sign!) or they would be charged for this afterwards! As we only discovered this after returning from our restaurant in the evening, we were unable to do so, but made sure to note it down for our meeting with the manager. We made sure to spend as little time as possible in the room until we checked out.

When we came to reception to do so, a different, but equally impolite receptionist told us that the manager was not there. We were unimpressed but insisted we had an appointment, so she called him and confirmed that he was on his way. After a while, a "gentleman" approached us, asking what we wanted. We asked him if he was the manager and he replied that he just worked there. We told him that we had an appointment with the manager and he asked when. We said "10 o clock" and he actually shouted "Well, it isn't even ten yet!" (it was five past) at my girlfriend, drawing the attention of a number of guests eating their breakfasts to the exchange. We had not complained about waiting and had said nothing to prompt this outburst from him. I told him we were not interested in speaking to him any further, prompting him to walk away, shaking his head.

Shortly afterwards, the manager (owner) arrived and took us to the back office. We described the problems above to him. He used this as an opportunity to complain to us about how difficult it was to get good staff. When we told him about the dirty towel, he called reception, telling the person at the other end "if the cleaners leave one more dirty towel, they can go home and not come back", looking at us for approval afterwards. Having told him about the encounter with his employee that morning, he picked up the phone again, saying of this employee: "he's not allowed in the building any more. Any if anyone else lets him in, they can go home as well!", again waiting for our encouragement. I told him that the purpose of the meeting was not to make heads roll, but to express our disappointment so that he could improve the standards. His compensation for our two-day nightmare? A coffee and a bread roll for the road.

Disclaimer: all of these events actually happened. Avoid this hotel unless there are NO alternatives available to you.