We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Munich for four nights in December, including Christmas Eve and Day. This was our third and best stay at what is one of our favorite hotels in the world!

We booked a Superior Junior Suite which was the category we had booked on a prior trip. In retrospect I think we must have been upgraded on the first trip as the room we were initially shown to was nowhere near as nice as the prior room. We asked to be shown other available room options and the lesson we learned is that the rooms vary hugely so don’t hesitate to ask to see others if you aren’t happy with yours. One other thing to note is that they do negotiate on rates, so do not hesitate to make them an offer.

We decided to splurge and ended up in the Tower Suite which was incredible. It is on the top floor and is the room with the round, glass ceiling you can see in the pictures of the hotel. The round room is the living room with a very large couch, 2 chairs, a cabinet with the bar and such, and a huge television. Because it is round, you have a 360 view of the city; you just have to walk from window to window.

In another area there is a dining table and desk which was nice, though we didn’t use it. Just inside the entry door is a half bath. The bedroom is entirely separate and felt very secluded. The full bath was off the bedroom. The only complaint we had about the room was that the main bath had just a single sink – really a minor thing.

Again, the room was awesome and was a nice treat for Christmas.

We were lucky enough to dine at Die Alm twice during our stay. Obviously it is a seasonal thing, but if you are thinking of going in the winter, make absolutely sure you go to Die Alm. It was one of our favorite parts of our stay. The food was great (the fondue in particular) and the ambience incredible. The manager and rest of the staff were incredibly friendly and great to chat with.

We had Christmas Eve dinner at Restaurant Mark’s. We were a little nervous based on the menu as it was very over the top gourmet, but it was one of the best meals we have ever had. It was truly amazing.

We also ate at the downstairs restaurant (Bistromo?) and it was fine, but not comparable at all to either Die Alm or Mark’s.

The breakfast at Mark’s is one of my favorites and it was just as good as I remembered.

We used the new fitness center which was very nice though small (and too warm). They did a nice job with the space.

The Lobby Lounge is a great place to hang out between touring. Given that the city pretty much shut down for the holiday, we spent plenty of time there.

In short, this was an incredible stay. Highly recommended and one of, if not the favorite hotel in the world (so far). If they had a spa, I probably wouldn’t leave.

Before you read this review which I have deliberated over for quite some time please be aware that I have booked this hotel for another short stay in early February.

I really wanted to give this excellent hotel full marks (as per last time we stayed) because our room and facilities were first class, reception staff, lobby bar staff and doormen were all professional and friendly and accommodating of our Bernese Mountain Dog and we would have enjoyed our stay immensely had it not been for our not so perfect dining experiences. To elaborate, we stayed for 2 nights on a bed and breakfast rate and breakfast on day 1, although very nice, was not without issue for the following issues ( among others):

We were not provided a la carte menus and were surprised when some time after being seated one of the waiting staff asked us if we would like to order additional items such as eggs or waffles without knowing what was available. Secondly I ordered English Breakfast tea and was served a very nice green tea, albeit not what I ordered. Our main gripe was being delivered the bill to sign whilst still eating breakfast. In fairness the second day was a much better experience and we were given menus following being seated.

We also booked dinner at Restaurant Mark's as a special treat since we occasionally like to splurge on the Michelin Star experience. When we were seated there were about 4 occupied tables in the restaurant and so it was not busy. At first everything was perfect and we ordered the tasting menu with accompanying wines. The food was superb, however the service was not as perfect as our experience on a previous visit 2 years ago, or as perfect as the service being afforded to the other tables, in particular the German couple sat next to us and a larger table of Russians. Examples included a bag table being offered to the lady at the next table despite not being offered to me (not a big issue), we were told that one of our accompanying wines was for 2 courses, which was not replenished between courses ( first time we have encountered this on a tasting menu). The waiting staff also forgot to serve our dessert wine which was delivered after our desserts were finished. Finally my husband ordered a coffee at the end of the meal which again was forgotten and only delivered some considerable time later when we reminded the waiting staff. Generally we enjoyed the meal, but were disappointed by the overall dining experience.

As mentioned earlier this is a wonderful hotel and despite considering the nearby Kempinski for our next trip ( based on the above dining experiences) we really didn't want to stay anywhere else and are looking forward to our next stay. To the hotel Management we would like to apologise for not bringing this to your attention during our stay, but as I said in my introduction, the reception and other hotel staff were excellent and we felt it would be unfair to them to complain about something which is outside their control, should you wish to contact us our details are on booking reference 525SB003260 (Byrne).

We finally found (near) perfection outside of Asia! Mandarin Oriental has clearly succeeded to transfer their top-class service levels (at least to Munich). As soon as we drove up to the entrance and gave our names, everyone throughout our stay addressed us by name. We were offered a nice welcome drink at the bar and let to the room. Unfortunately, and that was the only disappointment, the room smelled of cigarette smoke. Note to GM: “We sometimes allow our guests to smoke in their room, but always get it clean afterwards” is inconsistent with “All our rooms are non-smoking”. The situation was quickly rectified by moving us to a similar room on the top floor, followed by a written apology together with a small plate of sweets some times later. The room was spacious, the bathroom fantastic, the bed comfortable and the content of the mini-bar “free” (or lets say included in the room price). Both the fitness room (sufficient equipment) and the sauna are nicely designed, although the later could benefit from more space including a relaxation area. Whatever request we had it was swiftly taken care of and the diner in the restaurant was superb. EVERYONE of the staff tried to please and paired efficiency with friendliness. We have our own ranking list of hotels we visited and the Mandarin Oriental in Munich is tied right on the top. Net, if you can afford to splurge, there is no better hotel in Munich!

Five Star Superior ratings imply impressive buildings in prime locations, luxurious guestrooms, and terrific workout facilities. The superlative "magnificent", however, is reserved for those hotels that provide more than just bricks and mortar. The Mandarin Oriental Munich is such a hotel. Housed in surroundings that are strikingly impressive, one experiences the unremitting willingness of the complete staff to provide the highest level of customer service in every possible situation. This is indeed noteworthy and indicates that a highly skilled and effective leadership is at work behind the scenes!