We choose the 5 star Arabella through bookings.com for only 2 reasons: 1) they mentioned bicycles availble ( and Mucnich is a great biking city) and the lovely pool for the chidlren.

Well, there were no bikes, never had been and they were less than helpful and so there was no biking as was the plan. The pool area was indeed very nice for the family to enjoy.

The 5 star room was so hot! They claim there was AC but I ended up sweating all night and opening the window to the noisy city. The housekeeper checked it and said it seemed ok. I hate sweating when I pay that much money! Well, the front desk donated a token 30 Euros to my disapointment. I thought this was miniscule considing the circles under my eyes for the lack of sleep due to the heat and they also agreed that the bicycles was an error and then tried to say that I should get my money back from the "Booking. com" folks. I looked at her increduosly .. "oh passing the buck is what we say in our country". She got the point. Oh well, so I write this review. This hotel is no 5 star in my book..... Poor service, the door man chats on his cell phone and the roooms are hot and they won't compensate you adequately when thee is a problem !! In this case money and genuine concern could have tempered the situation.

I rarely book a hotel through a booking agency preferring usually to contact the hotel direct. On this occasion I did book through an agency but the room that I was allocated was not in the main tower but in a separate unit at the rear. We arrived in the room in the evening but it soon became apparent that the room could have been cleaner. The most disturbing point was the dirt/dust or whatever that coming from a loose panel in the ceiling, it certainly did not look healthy. During the evening my eyes began to sting. The next morning I complained to the reception and the lady was most helpful and courteous. We were allocated a room in the main tower block which was much better. The style of the decor was similar to the previous room but slightly larger with a separate shower unit. The breakfast range was excellent.
The hotel is about 10 mins from the centre by the underground and the station is close to the hotel, however it would appear that the last train on this particular line leaves the city centre around 8.30pm.

Although I arrived fairly late in the evening (about 21:30) check in was quick and friendly. The collection of classic cars dotted around the lobby and public areas makes a pleasant change from the usual hotel decor.

In my room I was pleased to see that the TV guide had already been opened to today's page- it is small touches like that which reveal a hotel's attention to detail. The room was clean and nicely decorated with a high speed internet connection on the desk and a power point located right next to it- again, attention to detail.

The double bed was huge and comfortable and actually fitted with two single duvets to save 2am tugs of war over the bedding. I was also delighted to notice that the double glazing was very effective at keeping noise out but that (praise be!) the window actually opened! I would much rather sleep with an open window than leave an air conditioning unit on all night.

I tried the "Bavarian" restaurant downstairs ("Paulaner's Wirtshaus") for dinner and while the food and service were very good I found the whole setting a little bit fake. Still, it makes a change form the usual bland business hotel restaurants.

The swimming pool and gym are both very attractive and clean, with the gym featuring fairly modern equipment- so no excuse not to work off the previous night's sausages.

Breakfast was a most impressive buffet- it isn't cheap if not included in the room rate but it does feature every food you could think of and some you couldn't. Well worth getting up for.

The concierge was friendly and helpful with a street map of Munich and directions to the nearest underground station, which is only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. After a couple of hours walking around the city I headed back to the hotel where the checkout was again friendly and efficient.

All in all a clean, efficient and fairly friendly business hotel well situated for both the city center and the airport. Recommended.

There is not much to say about the 5 stars of this hotel, they deserve them, this is as luxurious as they come. I found the staff to be very friendly (albeit a bit cold and anonymous at times) but the high level of courtesy is something I have not had in a long time.

The lobby is very impressive and everything is very neat. The room was ok in size (I understand that this is considered big for Munich) and was located on the 10th floor and very quiet.

Overall I can repeat pretty much everything good that has been said so far, but I want to list some of my not so good observations, maybe this will be helpful for other travelers:

- This is not a hotel to bring little kids: Out of 47 TV channels none was cartoon TV or similar (weird, channel 13 was supposed to be Super RTL, which shows cartoons all day, but that was scrambled while we were there). Only the Paulaner restaurant in the basement is something you want to bring your 3 year old to, and they happened to be hopelessly booked out when we tried. As someone mentioned before, the mini bar is computerized, it charges the second someone takes something out of the fridge .. explain that to a 3 year old on treasure hunt ... it also means that you cannot empty the fridge and use the space for the typical toddler snacks that families have with them while traveling. The TV also looks like it is over 15 years old, but since it fits so well in the furniture, one wonders when they will upgrade it. Families with kids also bring A/V entertainment in form of video games or portable hard drives with all the kid's TV shows ... it has been a long time since I had come across a TV where I could not plug in my TVIX.

- One day our room was not made when we returned at 15:30 .. a quick call to guest services promised that someone would come . the lady came at 16:30 ... by that time the aforementioned toddler was about to have a nap, but that chance was gone with the commotion.

- Bathrobes were not in the room as promised when we arrived .. again .. call 99 .. they showed up in 10 mins .. not a biggy

- Money Matters ... this being a high class hotel ... when you happen to have scored a cool rate through one of the many online booking sites, you will still be surprised what else you might end up paying: 17€ for 24 h online access, 3€ to call a toll-free number, 4.70€ for a small beer from the mini bar (instead: go to the Paulaner, which has a non advertised bar and a large beer for 3.50€), how about some lamb chops for 31€ from the room service menu plus 5€ to bring it up? I also kept 2€ coins on me for tipping .. but I had the feeling that most staff was expecting the feel of a 5€ bill coming with the secret handshake. The breakfast at 23€ seems excessive, instead go to the close by supermarket or bakery and have a great "Butter Brez'n" (or as some earlier reviewer mentioned: have Weißwurst, Hefeweizen and Pretzl for breakfast)

All and all I really enjoyed the stay, but I would have probably been disappointed if I had paid the 400€ per night as our booking website said that this would be the regular price.

The mix of other guests is very international and fun to observe.

The level of customer care is also reflected in the comments here BY the hotel, dealing with very individual customer complaints.

When reading the reviews, check carefully if people are talking about THIS hotel, as there is another Araballa Sheraton (but not GRAND) across the street ... and this hotel is no where near the airport, as one review makes it appear.