Basic train station, not a lot of facilities and shops but has a nice big Kiosk on the main…read moreplatform. I was disappointed that everything here is closed early, even on a Friday evening. Had to catch a train at 9.24 pm and the only two places open in the entire station was the Kiosk and Doner Company. Not great selection to pick up snacks for a 3 hour train journey home.......

This hotel came highly rated by my travel agent and the pictures looked nice so here I am a week…read morelater in my room at Hotel Bad Boekelo. First a disclaimer: I spend a lot of time in hotels for work but mostly in the US. I should concede that I don't really have a good grasp yet on what exactly the European hotel experience is, or should be. But here are my observations anyhow. The building itself is a nice but starting to show its age. It is advertised as more of a resort destination rather than a hotel and the buildings are more spread out over the bucolic and park-like property. An odd but delightful brass panel in the ground rings a bell as you walk over it to enter the building. A person was at the check-in desk when I entered and he was pleasant and efficient. Original art and modern architectural features and furniture set the mood of the place. Bad Boekelo is set in a rural area about 25 minutes outside of Enschede and if you want to spend the day biking or hiking around the countryside I can imagine this would be perfect. I am here for business in town so being 25 Euro by taxi away from Enschede is inconvenient. And the taxis here only take cash. The Grolsch brewery is nearby and I was lucky enough to have their Weizen on tap at the hotel bar. Amazing. The bathrooms in my room was modern and clean although instead of shampoo, soap, and conditioner there is a pump of body wash in the shower. Notably absent were washcloths. I had to use a large hand towel in the shower this morning to wash, this is frankly stupid and inconvenient. The room itself is spartan but modern. The "queen-sized" bed was two single beds pushed together and instead of a queen-sized duvet it had two single-sized duvets. This seemed kind of cheap but the beds and pillows were very comfortable to sleep in. The TV was an old CRT model which was strange as it was small but perhaps this is the norm for European hotels whereas American hotels tend to all have larger LCD TVs. Not watching TV in my hotel rooms this wasn't a big deal. Here's where it all falls apart at Hotel Bad Boekelo: The carpets. Every carpet I saw, especially in the hallways and specifically my room - were stained and dirty. Having stains all over your carpets is a sure sign that a hotel has stopped really trying. There is no surer sign of new owners, or just cheap owners, than old stained carpets. Again I'm comparing to American hotels here - but still even the lower quality hotels in the US have almost always had clean or new carpet. A hotel and especially it's room should feel clean. A hotel guest wants to feel like the space they've paid for is hygienic, not dirty. I don't know what the stains on my room's carpets are but I tend to imagine they are from an unsavory source. Just saying - it IS a hotel room after all. The furniture in the lobby is also starting to look a little worn. There is no iron or ironing board in my room (but there is a trouser press that I have seen only in other European hotel rooms), no coffee maker, no washcloths, no alarm clock (?!?), and my burger last night was raw in the middle. They don't clean the carpets or have all the amenities you may be expecting if you're used to US hotel rooms, but despite it all it is after all just a hotel room. If you're ok with it being a little dirty around the edges - for a relaxing weekend or a business meeting I think you could do worse though I probably won't stay here again. If the quality of the building and amenities was at the level of the service, this place would easily rate 4 stars.

Very relaxing hotel. This was my second stay here and I really like this hotel. The rooms are very…read morebig and comfortable. The breakfast is excellent with lots of delicious options to choose from. Lots of parking is available as well. There is also a restaurant as well. I ate dinner there the first night. It was good but not great. It was a little on the expensive side as well.

The Ritz Carlton of the Epe area, Schepers enjoys a prominent and high profile location overlooking…read morethe edge of downtown Epe. Atmosphere is relaxed and wait staff were as attentive and professional as I have come to expect in this region. A dual language menu was offered immediately upon my being seated. I arrived without a reservation on a Sunday evening and was quickly seated in my requested smoking area. The smoking section looks to be comprised of the five booths in the bar area, four of which were occupied by the time I finished eating. A reservation might be required on a busier evening than Sunday to insure table availability This is my first post-Yelp member visit, though I have eaten here once before. We brought our two dogs with us on the previous visit. They were welcomed and, as is customary in all dog friendly venues here, were provided with a bowl of water. If memory serves, they were also treated to a couple doggie biscuits by the jovial German woman who seated us on that occasion. My dinner this evening consisted of a starter bowl of Tomato soup, which arrived shortly after a small basket of bread and butter were delivered to my table. It was served piping hot and made for a delicious pre-meal appetizer. My sirloin (rumpsteak) was cooked as ordered (medium). It was covered in a mustard/peppercorn sauce and set atop a bed of crisp-cooked French style green beans. The hotel/bar restaurant sits on a very pastoral and well manicured bit of land with ample parking. About the bill, and the standards of Germans in regard to tipping: Tomato soup, one beer, one Coke and one latte, along with the sirloin ordered as main course (and served with fried potatoes in a side dish) was under €34. Tipping ten percent makes you a bit prominent in an area where locals often leave half that. Tipping at a fifteen percent or more on any consistent basis as a regular customer is likely to get you treated with God status in most places by staff while saddled with lunatic American spendthrift status by the indigenous population. Being a waiter in Germany is a career path that starts late in high school and ends in a respectable job with a living wage and affordable healthcare as a minimum. In the US, the Federal Minimum wage law for waiters who receive tips is $2.13 per hour (€1.55/hour!). I'm almost certain that such a compensation system would be considered a criminal enterprise around here. When you leave a tip here, it's going to fund the waiters next travel vacation. In the US, it's something I always left a bit more of because I knew the waitstaff needed it as a large part of their basic economic survival. At the end of the day, I tip a bit less here in Germany, but I feel a whole lot better about doing it. Enjoy.