GEKKO HOUSE

A new hotel in an old city, Gekko House reflects the changing face of Frankfurt—it’s a space that embodies the future of the city, linking the industrial with the urbane and providing a design-driven landing place for the international traveler.

If you’ve had access to a TV over the last couple of decades, you most likely associate the word “Gekko” with one of two iconic slogans in pop culture: “Greed is Good” or “Save 15% or More on Car Insurance.” Gekko House, an industrial-chic hotel in Frankfurt, throws the third tagline into the mix: the succinct and hard to refute “Life is Crazy.”

As a traveler visiting Gekko House, you could take that message in a few directions: “What am I doing in Germany?? Life is crazy!” Or maybe, “Life is crazy, but at least I’m staying in this rad hotel.” Assuming you’ve got a decent reason for being in Frankfurt in the first place, your response will likely trend towards the latter—the rooms in Gekko House offer an excellent foil for whatever craziness you’ve got going on at the moment. Raw concrete accent walls and herringbone parquet floors set the stage for ultra-comfortable beds, oversized lounge chairs, and fuzzy throws. A soothing palette of vert de Terre, mauve, and forest green cover the remaining walls and furnishings, toughened up a bit with industrial hardware and hand-blown Edison bulbs.

With 128 guest rooms ranging from the cozy Superior to the more spacious Select Balcony and Junior Suites, there’s plenty of options to choose from based on your duration of stay or the size of your traveling party. All rooms come equipped with a Marshall Bluetooth speaker and a Nespresso machine, and some have freestanding bathtubs. Instead of a minibar, Gekko House offers curated vending machines in the lobby and there’s a tablet in each room with local insider tips and recommendations, should you choose to explore Frankfurt.

And we do recommend that you check out the city, ranked as one of Germany’s most desirable to live in and visit. The New York Times profiled Frankfurt for their “36 Hours In…” series back in 2007, and at that time it was in the process of reinventing itself after a failed bid to unseat London as the financial capital of Europe. With banks making way for cultural development over the last decade, Frankfurt has come into its own as an arts destination as well as a seat of finance. Some of Germany’s best museums line the south bank of the Main River; a meticulously restored medieval quarter, one of the largest in the region, provides classic charm; river cruises offer landmark tours similar to what you might find in Chicago.

There’s also a tie-in to Chicago back at the hotel—the on-site restaurant is Chicago Williams BBQ, a “serious grill” where you can get your heaping meat plate fix. Frankfurt is widely known for its sausage links, but at Chicago Williams, you can find more Americanized staples such as beef brisket, pulled pork, fried chicken, and pastrami. A smaller menu (mostly alcohol and sandwiches) is available on the associated Chicago Roof, a rooftop garden where hotel guests are invited to take in views of the city skyline and relax in an informal setting.

It may seem a little incongruous at first glance, having an American BBQ joint in an industrial hotel in the heart of Germany’s sleek financial capital, but when you consider the Gekko House slogan, it all works.