Just today, a remote colleague mentioned staying at whatever hotel near the office. I had never heard of it: as a local, I don't tend to use the hotels here!

Seems like a really weird choice of question. Thinking of germans, a bakery seems more likely something they'd know of; perhaps a supermarket works more internationally (I'm sure there's exceptions to that as well). Maybe the distance in driving, cycling, or public transport minutes to surrounding cities could be a universal question to ask