Guesthouse and International Meeting Center (IBZ)

The Guesthouse in L2 was established in 1982 with funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Ekkehard Foundation of the Land of Baden-Württemberg. Since 2011, the Guesthouse/IBZ is a member of the network of IBZ and Guesthouses in Germany.

The building in Mannheim’s Quadrat (square) M2 was given to the University of Mannheim as an endowment in October 1994. A generous donation made it possible to remodel the building to accommodate international scholars.
 
The Ekkehard Foundation holds the booking right for one three-room apartment each in the Guesthouses in L2 and M2 for international students in their funding program.

Use the International Meeting Center (Internationales Begegnungszentrum, IBZ) on the ground floor of the Guesthouse in L2 to connect with other international scholars and exchange experiences in research and life in Mannheim. The IBZ has an area of about 300 square meters and offers a common room with seating and tables for large groups of people, a kitchen, and a garden with a barbecue grill. The IBZ is where brunches and Christmas parties for international scholars take place, but it can also be booked for other events.

The Guesthouse in L2 is an International Meeting Center (Internationales Begegnungszentrum, IBZ) that comprises a meeting space with a large common room and a coffee bar and kitchen (about 300 qm) in addition to the apartments.

The meeting space is primarily available to residents of the Guesthouses. You are welcome to use these facilities to hold meetings, cook a meal for your friends and colleagues, or celebrate together. If you would like to use the IBZ, please register at the Guesthouse Administration.

Accredited student organizations (e.g. AEGEE Mannheim or VISUM) as well as the chairs of the University of Mannheim are welcome to use the IBZ as venue for intercultural events as well. Please send your booking request to the Guesthouse Administration.

Please adhere to the following regulations as they facilitate the processing of your request.

Please refer to the price list for the exact rates. Please be aware that it is not possible to book a specific apartment. We will offer you an apartment that is available during the desired period of time and that suits your needs best.

Minimum rental period

The minimum rental period is 14 days. If the rental period is longer than 14 days but shorter than a month, the rent is charged per day.
 

Payment

You may pay the rent and the security deposit either cash or by bank transfer or credit card (VISA or MasterCard).
 

Security deposit

If you are going to stay at the Guesthouse for more than two months, you are obliged to pay a security deposit to the amount of EUR 400. You may either pay the security deposit in cash or transfer the deposit to the bank account of the University of Mannheim along with the first monthly rent. After your stay in the Guesthouse, we can only reimburse your security deposit once you have handed in the Deposit Reimbursement Form.

Sample rental agreement

Please have a look at the sample rental agreement where you will find the terms & conditions for renting an apartment.
 

Overnight guests and extra beds

As a rule, the apartments of the Guesthouses of the University of Mannheim may only be occupied by the number of people indicated in the tenancy agreement. One-room apartments may only be occupied by one person. As regards the bigger apartments, the number of people allowed to live in them depends on the number of beds available in the respective apartment (i.e. 2–4 persons). 

Overnight guests (e.g. friends and/or relatives) of course have the possibility to rent an extra bed (cot and bed linens). A fee is required to cover the additional costs incurring for an additional person (electricity, heating, water) as well as the costs of installing the additional bed and washing the bed linens.

Rent per day: EUR 10
The fee will be charged per day, so the minimum rate for one night is EUR 20 (for example: 1 night from 3 April to 4 April = 2 days = EUR 20)

Special prices:
• Long-term use of an extra bed (for an additional person) from the 16th day onward: EUR 150 per month
• Use of an extra bed as a substitute for an existing bed (meaning no additional person): EUR 1 per day / EUR 30 per month
 

Children

As part of the university’s family-friendly policies, the following special prices for accompanying children have been set:

Children (up to 11 years of age): A lump sum of EUR 20 per child is to be paid only once irrespective of the rental period.

This sum includes a travel cot and a highchair for younger children. If the child is too big for the baby cot, an extra bed will be provided. Thanks to generous donations from our university staff members, we are also able to offer further children's equipment (e.g. a children's bike, a children's car seat, etc.). Moreover, a playroom for children is located on the 4th floor of the Guesthouse in L2, 2-4. Here, children will find many toys that they may also take to their apartment (but please return them prior to your check-out).

Please note: Since the lump sum for children is intended to cover the incurring additional costs of the child, it will be charged regardless of whether you bring your own travel cot or not.

All apartments are fully furnished with a bed, towels, closet, desk, dinner table, chairs, television set and telephone. Fresh bedding is provided and will be washed periodically.

Except for apartment 12 in L2, all apartments have a kitchen. The standard equipment includes: refrigerator, hot plate, cookware, dishes, cutlery, glasses, and cups.

The bathrooms of the apartments are cleaned regularly by the maintenance staff.

A laundry room with three washing machines and three tumble dryers is situated in the basement of the Guesthouse in building L2, 2-4. The fees for a washing load or a dryer load can be payed with ecUM- or Mensa-Card at a terminal in the laundry room.

Wireless Internet access is available in all apartments of the Guesthouse.

Here, you can find an exemplary inventory list for a 1-room apartment as well as several floor plans of different apartments.

The handbook of the Guesthouse contains many valuable tips with regard to your accommodation and living in the city center. How does the phone and the Internet connection work? How to separate the waste? Where to find English speaking doctors? These and many more questions are answered in the handbook of the Guesthouse. You will find a display copy of the handbook in your apartment in the Guesthouse. If you would like to have a look at it in advance, just download the PDF.

You have several options for parking your car: If you would like to leave your car directly in front of the Guesthouse where you stay, you will need to apply for a resident parking permit (“Bewohnerparkausweis”) at the city of Mannheim. This will be valid for a particular zone. However, you will not be allocated a specific parking space. If you want your car to be better protected, you can rent a parking space in one of the city’s many parking garages and your spot will be reserved only for your car.
 

Renting a parking space in a parking garage

There are several parking lots and garages next to the University of Mannheim where you can rent a parking space, which is then exclusively reserved for you. Prices vary depending on how long you would like to rent the parking space and the location of the specific parking lot. For long-term parking, we recommend to opt for the parking garage beneath the university's cafeteria (Mensa).

If you are traveling by car, we recommend downloading and printing the PDF “Parking at the University”, which contains all important information about parking in the parking garage beneath the university’s cafeteria (Mensa).

Parking in the parking zone around the Guesthouse

You can apply for a so-called resident parking permit (“Bewohnerparkausweis”) for L2/M2 at the citizen's service office (Bürgerdienst) in K7. This parking permit is issued specifically for your car and must always be visibly placed beneath the windshield. The parking permit is valid for one calendar year (01.01. – 31.12) in the zones indicated here.

As city center resident, you can purchase day-long guest parking passes for your company for EUR 2.60 per pass at the parking authority Mannheimer Parkhausbetriebe (MPB) in C 1, 13 -15, 68159 Mannheim. These parking passes are valid for 24 hours. On presentation of your resident parking permit or registration certificate you are allowed to purchase up to 40 day-long parking passes per year. This applies even if you do not have a car registered under your name.

Please note that you can only apply for a resident parking permit if you have declared your residence at the university’s Guesthouse as your main residence in Germany. For international guests who are registered in Mannheim only, the Guesthouse is automatically considered the main residence. German guests who have their main residence in another part of Germany have to relocate their main residence to Mannheim in order to apply for a resident parking permit. To do this, please register at one of the citizen's service offices.
 

Parking on the grounds of the university

As an employee of the University of Mannheim, you may rent a parking space on the premises of the university for a specific fee. Please contact Division VI. However, please be aware that there may be a fairly long waiting list for these parking spots.
 

Further parking options in Mannheim

Parking garage in N1

Parking garage in C1
 

Green zone – environmental badges

Please be aware that driving in the green zone in Mannheim (marked by signs) requires an environmental badge. Further information can be found in the environmental badges section.

In order to reduce the amount of traffic-related emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in major German cities, so-called green zones (“Umweltzonen”) have been set up in many cities in the last few years; these are marked by corresponding road signs. For further information about environmental badges and marked green zones please visit the website of the Federal Ministry for the Environment (only available in German).

You are only permitted to drive in these zones, if your car has a proven environmental badge that is visibly attached to the windshield. Depending on their specific exhaust emissions, vehicles are assigned to one of three categories that are marked by red, yellow and green badges respectively. There are several signs indicating which badge you need in order to enter and drive within the green zone.

Vehicles without an environmental badge are not allowed to pass the green zone, otherwise the driver has to pay a penalty and gets a penalty point in the Register of Driver Fitness of the Federal Motor Transport Authority in Flensburg, even if the vehicle would be allowed to pass the green zone based on its emission levels.

This also applies to all foreign-registered vehicles, such as cars, trucks and buses, and both for business and leisure travelers.

For this reason, we advise all drivers to inform themselves about the environmental badge and to purchase it on time. The Guesthouses of the University of Mannheim are located within the green zone. Therefore, it is advisable to order the badge online in advance if traveling by car.
 

Where can I purchase the environmental badge?

You can buy the environmental badge at each one of the 16 citizen's service offices in Mannheim, at all vehicle registration centers, the TÜV, DEKRA, and all garages authorized to do general inspections as well as in other testing organizations and in the “building and environment” advisory center located in the Collini-Center.
 

Can I order the environmental badge from my home country?

You can order the environmental badge online via the website Umwelt-Plakette.de. The badge will then be sent to you by mail. Shipment usually takes 3–5 days.

Here, you will find a map of the green zone in Mannheim.

Further links on this topic:

http://www.mannheim.de/plakette

http://www.stuttgart.de/umweltzone

Since 1 November 2015, presentation of a so-called 'Wohnungsgeberbestätigung' (landlord's confirmation of residence) pursuant to the new Bundesmeldegesetz (Federal Citizens' Registration Act) is required when registering or de-registering one's residence at one of the city’s citizen's service offices.  

Tenants of the Guesthouse may turn to the Guesthouse Administration to obtain such a confirmation. Please contact us in advance so that we can prepare the document for you.

Located right in the heart of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, Mannheim is a very accessible city: Whether by train (ICE), by plane (Frankfurt am Main) or by car – direct connections and short routes are guaranteed.

International guests can reach Mannheim via Frankfurt Airport. From there, the Deutsche Bahn ICE train will take you to Mannheim main station in just 30 minutes.

Mannheim main station is a transportation hub in the immediate vicinity of the University of Mannheim. Please visit the Deutsche Bahn website for further information on available connections and to have your individual timetable created.

It takes only about 10 minutes to walk from Mannheim main station to the Welcome Center and the Guesthouses. To get from the station to the university you may as well take streetcar line 1 (direction “Schönau”) or streetcar line 5 (direction “Heidelberg”). Please get off at the stop “Schloss”. Please visit the VRN website to see available streetcar connections and create a personal timetable.

A convenient alternative to the train is a pick-up shuttle service which will take you directly from Frankfurt Airport to the Welcome Center / Guesthouse or another address of your choice. For information on different shuttle service providers please see our brochure “Directions“.

For moving into a Guesthouse apartment, the Guesthouse Administration will usually arrange an exact move-in date with you one week in advance. If you arrive outside our working hours, the apartment key will be deposited for you at the Reception Desk of the University of Mannheim – so you can move in at any time whether it be day or night.