May 11

May 11 A Frank Stay in Frankfurt - Moxy Frankfurt City Center

We have written here before about the myriad of hotel brands, such as Sheraton and Courtyard. Instead of revitalizing old brands, which takes a lot of time, effort and negotiation, hotel chains tend to just create new ones. Moxy was first opened in Milan in 2014, and in my mind, was created when Marriott asked a bunch of consultants “how can we make a stereotypical millennial brand”. The result isn’t so bad if your like me, a single traveler that doesn’t have too much stuff. However, if you are used to a full service hotel, or have a larger group / family, then I would suggest staying clear of the hotel. Note we are talking today about the Moxy Frankfurt City Center, and not the Moxy Frankfurt Airport or Moxy Frankfurt East (though as a chain hotel, there aren’t that many differences between the hotels).

Location

Millennials tend to value convenience (although who doesn’t), and so most Moxy locations tend to be in city centers, or at least where things are “happening”. The Moxy Frankfurt City Center is located in the center of Frankfurt downtown, with many useful amenities or interesting landmarks close by.

This location was fantastic, as it was located right next to a U-Bahn station (Frankfurt Hauptwache), shopping mall called MyZeil, supermarket (Rewe) and town square with a variety of food choices (including Mcdonalds, Five Guys and Chipotle - Merica).

For those more well-heeled or have larger parties, there JW Marriott Hotel Frankfurt is right beside the Moxy Frankfurt City Center. However, on some dates the JW was more than twice the cost of the Moxy, so it may have made more sense just to book 2 rooms at the Moxy instead.

The Moxy actually is located in a side street right beside the Residence Inn Frankfurt City Center, which does help ensure that the hustle and bustle of the city doesn’t affect the guests too much.

Check In

You will either enjoy the surroundings at Moxy, or wonder what the heck are the kids into these days. Thankfully, I was the former (as I am pretty basic), and thought that the décor and wordplay on the lockers were playful.

Check in was done at a bar: no, I’m serious. In order to decrease the amount of workers (or “crew” in Moxy parlance) required, Moxy workers play both hotel workers and bartenders. That being said, I didn’t see any service issues, with the crew being both approachable and efficient.

Lobby and Breakfast

Why is there a whole section here on the lobby? Well, the idea with the lobby at Moxy’s is that instead of it being a drab, boring check in area, it is a place for people to congregate and meet others. To this end, I did see many people out of their rooms, with the lobby being lively well late into the night.

The lobby was split into several different areas, with locations for congregating, and more private spaces for doing work or eating. The chairs were reasonably comfortable, which was surprising as many hotels like Moxy prioritized form over function.

Besides liquor, there are also board games and reading materials, again highlighting the fact that the lobby is meant to be more than a check in area. Older people, or families, might not appreciate this vibe.

As a Titanium Member, I was given 9 euros daily credit to be used for food or drink. This could be consumed in liquid form at the bar (although this may be location dependent) or solid form at the breakfast or grab and go counters. The Grab and Go, which was available any time during the day, was outrageously priced: candy bars for several euros, and wine for more than 20! Definitely stock up at the nearby Rewe to avoid this, and remember most stores in Germany close on Sundays.

Breakfast was served early, from 6:00-10:00AM on weekdays, and half an hour alter on weekdays. But seriously, who on vacation wants to wake up at 6am! The continental breakfast was an equally outrageously priced at 15 euros; however, there was at least hot food.

I instead for a 1 euro snack from the local supermarket - I have no idea what it is, but it was delicious, likely because it contained enough sugar for a week.

The Room

While the hotel was full for the weekend, I was fortunate to be given a room on the highest floor. Bear in mind that the hotel has an extremely limited number of Moxyfied Family Sleeper, Larger Guest room, 1 Queen, Sofa bed, so upgrades were unlikely in any case. The entrance to the rooms reminded me of the entrance to an escape room, both in terms of the lighting and décor.

Normally elevators are not too notable, but in this case, Moxy tried to elevate them (GET IT) by adding a “story” of a bank heist in the mirrors.

It appears they spent all their money on the lobby, as the hallway turned out to be more drab: this may not be a bad thing, particularly as I assume may patrons probably want to go to sleep in their rooms as opposed to being screamed at by bright colors.

The view from the room wasn’t too good, especially as there were several other taller buildings nearby blocking the view. This is where the sheer height of the JW Marriott Frankfurt comes in handy.

I could tell the hotel was completed in 2018 as there were no keyslots, only contactless readers.

I was pleasantly surprised at the fact I got a welcome gift, even if it was a card and snack that probably costed less than 1 euro. The snack was actually pretty good!

I had a Moxy Sleeper, Guest room, 1 Queen, which was 183sqft, or in my mind about 50% smaller than a regular 300sqft hotel room. That being said, the overall room was skillfully designed, with minimum clutter and furniture. Hanging on the walls were several hangers, a drying rack and a small foldable table.

The table was only useful for putting things on, as the roundness precluded any ability to do work! Moxy’s design philosophy was to encourage people to go downstairs and mingle, so don’t expect too much from the room.

I do find it funny that there’s still a TV, given the various media pronouncements that Millennials don’t really watch TV. The main part of the room was a bed, which was nothing special and a bit on the hard side. I also didn’t quite like the sheets, which felt a bit too thin and raw. There was a weird either couch or table on the side of the bed - I just put my stuff there, and elected to go downstairs to do stuff.

Finally, there was the bathroom, which was functional abet small.

As you can see, this is a pretty basic, no frills room that was clean and well laid out. As for housekeeping, there was a sign that stated housekeeping was only once every couple days. However, I did come back to my room daily to find that the bed had been made and trash taken out, so who knows.

There unfortunately was no gym! The hotel did offer a discount at an overpriced training gym, but at 50 euros it was too expensive. One notable amenity, which I think actually should be offered at other hotels that are probably more leisure oriented, was that there was a separate room for the Iron as opposed to putting an Iron in every room. This would be both a cost and environmental coup, and make rooms appear a bit larger.

Final Thoughts

The Moxy brand straddles the fine line between trying to be hip and being overly obnoxious. As someone well within their target market, I quite enjoyed the hotel’s décor and ambiance. Concurrently, despite having staff put on multiple “hats”, the service was above average. I would recommend the Moxy to the value conscious customer who wants to the convenience of being downtown at a reasonable price. Just don’t eat the food from the hotel!