Check out a hotel before you check in
The IndependentSign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In Lodz’s handsome main boulevard, the Hotel Grand lived up to its name: a magnificent marble staircase led to a well-appointed room with weapons-grade WiFi and a Baltic-sized bath. The well-appointed ground floor filled with cheerful, chatty fellow guests and the proprietor herself: generously tattooed and delighted to make scrambled eggs to order, as well as delivering extra coffee well after 9am. The philosophy of the hotel’s founder, Thomas Tänzer, is stencilled on the glass doors: “We don’t do hotels; we are in the entertainment industry.” When I walked into the assigned room, 509, I was surprised to find a rumpled bed, casually strewn towels and half-consumed bottles.
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