Review: Brunfels Hotel Mainz, Hyatt Unbound Collection (Charming, Mostly)

For the last hotel stay of my two-part birthday trip to the Golden Triangle, my dad and I spent a few nights at the 127-key Brunfels Mainz, part of Hyatt Unbound Collection. This came after spending a few nights at the nearby Kennedy 89 Frankfurt, also part of Hyatt Unbound Collection, which I’ve already reviewed.

For those not familiar, Mainz is a city near Frankfurt. Initially our plan was to fly somewhere else after Frankfurt, though we had the most uncharacteristically nice spring weather for Germany, so we just decided to stay in the area, as you can’t beat sunny skies and moderate temperatures.

I’ve been looking forward to staying at Brunfels Mainz since it opened around the middle of 2024, as a conversion of the former Hilton Mainz. All-in-all, I found the hotel to be more charming than you’d expect based on the exterior, and I’d gladly return. That being said, I can’t say that the hotel “wowed” me, either, with a few shortcomings, including the very small gym, and the location that I don’t personally prefer.

Booking Brunfels Hotel Mainz

I booked our two rooms at Brunfels Mainz using cash, at the rate of around €150 per room per night. I booked through the Hyatt Prive program, which offers extra perks, like complimentary breakfast, a property credit, a room upgrade, etc. That’s obviously quite a reasonable price, especially for a booking that comes with extra benefits.

If you are using World of Hyatt points for your stay at Brunfels Mainz, this is a Category 3 property, and with Hyatt’s award chart changes, a stay will cost you anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 points per night.

Brunfels Hotel Mainz location

Brunfels Hotel is located in central Mainz, within walking distance of the Old Town, and most of the sights you’d want to see. Now, personally I prefer the location of the Hyatt Regency, which is set along the river, as this property is located away from the river and on a side street. But still, you’re within walking distance of anywhere in town you could want to go.

Mainz is located under 40 minutes from Frankfurt Airport (FRA), whether traveling by car or train, so it’s very easy to get to. Some people who have an overnight layover at Frankfurt Airport may even prefer to visit Mainz over Frankfurt. Personally, I consider Mainz to be relatively cute, but not necessarily some destination everyone should visit.

The hotel’s exterior is rather uninspiring, and doesn’t really make a great first impression, to be honest. As mentioned above, this is the former Hilton, and almost nothing changed about the exterior since the rebranding. On the plus side, it’s a different story inside.

There is a cute sitting area right by the driveway, though I imagine most people would prefer to sit in the courtyard, weather permitting.

Brunfels Hotel Mainz lobby & check-in

While I found the exterior of Brunfels Hotel Mainz to be rather uninspiring, it was a completely different story inside the hotel — I thought the lobby was cute, and that it had a lot of personality, and a fun and bright vibe. The lobby has a bunch of seating for a hotel of this size, and that’s largely because all of the seating in the lobby can also make up part of the lobby bar (though you can sit there even without ordering anything).

Reception is located immediately inside the entrance to the hotel and to the right, and there are two podiums. The check-in process was efficient, and my dad and I were informed we had both been upgraded to junior suites, presumably due to a combination of the Hyatt Prive booking, plus my World of Hyatt Globalist status.

With keys in hand, we headed to the elevators, located immediately next to reception. As you can see here, the hotel really puts some effort into design, and I appreciate that.

Brunfels Hotel Mainz junior suite

Brunfels Hotel Mainz has a total of five floors, and my dad and I were assigned junior suites across from one another on the fourth floor.

Specifically, I was assigned room 422, located at the end of one of the halls and on the left. For what it’s worth, junior suites are marketed as being 355 square feet (33 square meters), so I’d say they’re taking quite some liberties by calling these rooms any sort of a suite. That’s not to say they’re not nice, but this is more in line with what you’d expect from a standard room.

My junior suite featured an entryway with the bathroom to the right, and the rest of the room straight ahead.

The room had a king size bed with four pillows, which was a little hard for my liking, but not terrible. It also had a couch at the foot of the bed, along with a wall-mounted TV across from it. I found the design to be quite charming, because the room felt classic and like it had a sense of place, without feeling outdated. The sloped ceiling also added a cute attic-like touch to the experience.

Near the TV was an additional seat, and then over along the wall was a small desk with a chair, which is also where the Nespresso coffee machine was located, along with a selection of tea.

Thanks to this still being a recently updated hotel, I was happy to see the bedside charging options, including AC power outlets, plus USB-A and USB-C outlets. It’s so rare to see all those options, even for newly built hotels.

Back toward the entrance was the bathroom and closet area.

The bathroom was compact but nicely appointed, with a sink, a toilet, and a walk-in shower with two shower head options.

Toiletries were in hotel branded reusable bottles.

The closet area had a minibar with complimentary drinks, which was refilled daily. While not the most extensive minibar, this is a lovely free treat, so is much appreciated.

My room faced some nearby buildings, with the Old Town visible in the distance.

Soon after arriving in my room, I was given a welcome amenity, consisting of two white chocolates plus an apple with “B” stamped on it.

Wi-Fi in the room was fast and free, and I also found the air conditioning to be excellent, at least by German standards. All-in-all I found the room to be quite nice, though admittedly for a junior suite, I didn’t find it to be terribly spacious.

Brunfels Hotel Mainz gym

Brunfels Hotel Mainz has a gym on the lobby level, accessible by guests 24/7. The gym has good quality equipment, though is very compact, and has no windows. I realize this is a relatively small hotel, but this is a gym that I almost felt claustrophobic in while alone, let alone when someone else was in there as well.

Unsurprisingly, the hotel doesn’t have a pool or spa.

Brunfels Hotel Mainz restaurant & bar

Brunfels Hotel Mainz has a straightforward food & beverage concept:

• Restaurant Brunfels is the all-day dining restaurant on the lobby level, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, primarily serving German food
• Brunfels Bar is the lobby bar that’s open from late in the morning until late at night, and you can come here for a drink or snack

Restaurant Brunfels is quite an elegant space, with indoor seating, as well as a gorgeous outdoor terrace, which was ideal for the weather we had. The restaurant serves breakfast from 6:30AM until 10:30AM (7AM until 11:30AM on weekends), lunch from 12:30PM until 3PM, and dinner from 6PM until 9:30PM.

Since breakfast was included for us, we ate here each morning. The breakfast concept is that there’s a buffet, and that can then be supplemented by a selection of a la carte items.

The breakfast buffet had a variety of freshly baked bread and pastries, fruit, yogurt, muesli, cold cuts, cheese, veggies, cereal, and juice.

On top of that, you can find the a la carte selection that’s included with breakfast below.

Over the course of our stay, I tried the veggie omelet, shakshuka, and the waffles, all of which were very good, and nicely presented.

I also enjoyed the coffee being served.

Since we had credits to spend, we also had lunch here one day, and dinner the other day. There was a bit of a quirk, though, as it seems the chef was sick, or something. The first night we tried to eat there at around 6:30PM, only to see a small number of tables occupied, but to be told that they couldn’t accommodate anyone else that night due to the chef being sick.

Then the next night we were told that they were open, but were serving a more limited menu. I get stuff happens, but it’s not exactly ideal when a hotel’s single dining outlet isn’t operating at full service for the duration of a stay.

Still, we enjoyed the things we ate, and you can find the full menu here. For lunch, I had the potato pancakes with trout, while my dad had the maultaschen (essentially a German ravioli dish).

Then for dinner the other night, I had the roasted catch of the day (in this case, halibut), while my dad had the beef tartare, and then we split a (massive slice of) blueberry cheesecake for dessert.

Next, the hotel has Brunfels Bar, which is open daily from 10:30AM until 12AM (and until 1AM on weekends). This is the lobby bar, so in addition to plenty of seating throughout the lobby, there’s also a proper bar with high-top seating.

The bartender made an absolutely phenomenal dirty martini, which is sometimes hard to get in Germany, in my experience, so top marks to him.

Bottom line

Brunfels Hotel Mainz is a solid hotel with charming interior design, and a good restaurant and bar. In general I’m a fan of this property, and prefer it to the Hyatt Regency Mainz in terms of its more intimate vibe, plus less generic design.

The only thing I’d say is that I don’t love the hotel’s location — it’s not bad, it’s just that I prefer being on the river. Furthermore, the hotel is lacking a bit when it comes to amenities, and I even found the gym to be uncomfortably small.

But all-in-all, I like this property, and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something less generic than the nearby Hyatt Regency.

What’s your take on Brunfels Hotel Mainz?