Berlin Luxury Hotels

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Sep 5, 2016, 11:34 am

#31

uggboy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by offerendum

Interesting! Even friends who are not used to luxury hotels found it mediocre. Always mentioned it as a upscale business hotel. Perhaps I should try it one day

You might try it. Our stay was flawless. Superb design, service, room product, location, F&B etc. A superb hotel, it's a luxury hotel IMHO.

The Grand Hyatt feels like a "grand design hotel", actually designed by Tony Chi.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Sep 5, 2016, 6:10 pm

#32

MarkP24

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uggboy

Das Stue is a beautiful design-led luxury hotel with 78 rooms/suites, the building was the former Royal Danish Embassy. We've stayed there in an Embassy Room with balcony and enjoyed this luxury hotel. It's different from the others mentioned. Location wise it's overlooking the Tiergarten within walking distance of the Kurfurstendamm. F&B is a strong point here too, very memorable. A true luxury boutique property with interior designs by Patricia Urquiola [public spaces] and LVG Arquitectura [the rooms].

Our stay at the Grand Hyatt Berlin was flawless, beautiful design in our Grand King Room, gorgeous lobby, efficient and friendly services and overall a beautiful grand property in good location within walking distance to the Brandenburg Gate and near to the Postsdamer Platz. F&B by the way was also memorable. While some see the Grand Hyatt Berlin as an upper-upscale hotel, for us at least it's a true luxury hotel designed by Tony Chi.

We haven't stayed at the Westin, but we've had a look, it has a gorgeous location in the "action" of the tourist areas most in demand and it offers a stunning atrium. It's a Westin branded grand hotel and I guess it's geared more towards business, but could be good for tourists too. Interesting opening info: The hotel was opened as the Grand Hotel Berlin on August 1, 1987 by East German leader Erich Honecker as part of the city-wide celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin. It was only open to foreign guests, as it did not accept East German Marks, only Western hard currencies.
See:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Westin_Grand_Berlin

While the Hotel Adlon Kempinski might be the most famous hotel on your list, it's iconic and probably the most famous hotel in the whole of Germany for some, we enjoyed our stay for the most part in an Executive room which felt large and traditional, but we'd a few service inconsistencies [incl. wrong items charged on our bill, despite they said it's waived it wasn't] which marred our impression/feel about this property, while the location is superb beside the Brandenburg Gate, this also means lots of people in the lobby, it's a large property /385 rooms/ and especially the check-in areas and lobby/atrium were always busy when we walked trough. It's an efficient grand luxury hotel, but it wasn't the "warmest" nor "the friendliest" hotel IMHO. F&B was good, but yet again we didn't feel the "warmth" at this property, lets say it was more efficient and good, rather then super friendly and outstanding.

Edit: There's a building site right now at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin [as reported on TA] incl. the main entrance/lobby areas. [Sep. 2016] This could stretch into 2017. They refresh certain areas of this iconic hotel in anticipation of the 10 years "New Adlon" celebrations in 2017. The hotel was re-opened in 1997 and was since then even featured in a German TV Documentation series/behind the scenes documentation which made it for some even more famous, in the meantime the hotel became of course even busier with visitors, all of them want to have a look at this grand hotel by the Brandenburg Gate. While lots of visitors aren't a bad thing at all, but we found their people flow through the lobby influenced actual staying guests in a somewhat negative way.

In regards of the Waldorf Astoria Berlin, we haven't stayed but we walked past the property, it's located in a modern high-rise, we don't like the location, the hotel is located in Berlin West, which is actually a good thing IMHO, but it's located on a traffic island with strong car traffic on several sides of the hotel and it's busy there in this area which feels more "medium scale" than "upscale" to us. This marred our view about this hotel, but our understanding is once inside all should be good and luxurious again, for some this hotel could be worth it. Depends IMHO.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Thanks for the synopsis, and very interesting tidbit on the Westin, and thanks to everyone else who weighed in. Much appreciated!

Sep 5, 2016, 6:42 pm

#33

uggboy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkP24

Thanks for the synopsis, and very interesting tidbit on the Westin, and thanks to everyone else who weighed in. Much appreciated!

Glad we could help here on FT, please let us know which hotel/hotels you've decided upon for your stay in Berlin and report/share with us your experiences after your stay here in this thread with us. Berlin offers some interesting hotels and in itself is a very interesting city to visit. Enjoy.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Sep 5, 2016, 7:36 pm

#34

MarkP24

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uggboy

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Thanks! Will do!

Sep 26, 2016, 12:45 pm

#35

uggboy

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Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin, Germany, [REVIEW:PHOTOS:VIDEOS]

April 2016, 2 nights /3 days

Shortly after the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin opened its doors for the first time in over fifty years in 1997 we visited it and were impressed by the grand lobby. We swore we would stay there at some stage. Our dream came finally true in April 2016.

We arrived by train from Hamburg and took a taxi from the main train station. It was maybe half an hour before official check in time. Our Executive Room - an entrance category room - wasn't ready yet. We went for a walk, taking in the sights of the Brandenburg Gate, which is just a few steps from the hotel and the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe. When we returned it was after check in time now, but our room was still not ready. We went around the block again to get another perspective of this landmark hotel and finally the room was ready.

|| HOTEL ADLON KEMPINSKI || BERLIN || GERMANY || OUR STAY INCL. EXECUTIVE ROOM, EXTERIOR, INTERIOR, IN-ROOM BREAKFAST AND OUR DINNER AT QUARRE RESTAURANT || APRIL 2016 || A BEAUTIFUL LANDMARK HOTEL IN THE HEART OF BERLIN || HIGHLY RECOMMENDED || by UggBoy UggGirl, on Flickr

The area surrounding the reception was crowded and the Lobby Lounge and Bar was also nearby, which would lead to a security issue later. I will come back to the incident in a few moments.

We had chosen the entrance category room, because we liked the looks and design from images on their website.

The walk to the room was long and it was located in the new wing, the Kempinski Palais. We didn't mind, since there were photographs of former famous guests, an attractive indoor garden area and the stunning lobby with a cupola and elephant fountain all which beckons to be explored.

Our room we received was luxurious as expected with its own hallway and the furniture was top notch and classical. The color scheme was different shades of brown, beige, grey and green.

We were located beside the British Embassy and had views over the roof tops of Berlin and the TV tower in the distance.

The large wardrobe contained the safe and minibar. There were some interesting items in the minibar, like vodka, brewed in Berlin, Thomas Henry soft drinks (Ginger Ale, Bitters, Tonic), Talent iced tea and Charitea, a selection of Ruinart Champagne half bottles, Berliner Kindl beer and sweets, like yogurt gums, gummi bears and jelly beans.
The soft drinks and beer started from 5.50 Euro (ca. 6.25 USD), the Champagne from 65 Euro (ca. 73.80 USD) and the sweets from 6 Euro (ca. 6.85 USD). We had some of the gummi bears which had been packaged especially for the hotl. They were lovely.

There was also a club chair and coffee table, a writing desk with a tablet. At first the tablet wasn't working, because it hadn't been plugged in, but after this if functioned well. The writing desk had two chairs.

The large bed was comfortable and allowed for a good night’s rest. Inside the top drawer of the night stands on each side were switches for the lights and to raise or lower the automatic blinds.

We appreciated turn down left a large bottle of Evian water every night and that the wakeup call each morning was personalized with tea or coffee and a pastry provided and was punctual on the dot.

The environmentally friendly message was on a little felt tree shaped figure. It had to be placed on the bed, if the linens shouldn't be changed.

Artwork consisted of four etchings of Italian landmarks and a flower and bird painting in the bathroom.

Of course there was also entertainment including My Kempinski, fashion and life style magazines and the LHW catalogue and a flat screen with regional and international channels. They could be sorted by language or alphabetical, because there were so many.

In room dining was 24 hours available and we used it for one dinner and two breakfasts during our two night stay.

We had the vegetable curry with rice, the Adlon currywurst with Havellaender apple fed pork and fruit salad "Three Flavors". All was very good. It cost 51 Euro (ca. 57.95 USD).

We tried two different breakfasts. One was the Continental with hot chocolate, carrot juice, bread and pastry selection, butter, Rosenrot & Feengreen jams, Berlin honey, Nutella, cheese, cold cuts and fresh fruit salad. We had a French Toast with it as well. All was beautifully presented and delicious. It cost 41 Euro / ca. 46.60 USD per person.

The other was the European, which was the same as the Continental, but included a hot dish - our choice was the egg white omelette with Nuremberg sausage - and gravad lax, smoked trout and mackerel. It cost 47 Euro / ca. 53.40 USD).

We enjoyed our meals through room service, it represnts good quality and value IMHO.

The bathroom was large with separate bath tub and shower, double sinks and Kempinski own branded toiletries, which we liked.

The toilet and shower were in separate cubicles and there was storage space under the sinks.

Since the Adlon is a grand hotel it has many amenities, including diverse restaurants, lounges and bars including Le Petit Felix, Restaurant Quarré (where we had dinner and a review is going to follow.), Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer and Sra Bua by Tim Raue.

Of course there is also a spa and a clef d'or concierge service desk.

Now to our problems with security and billing.

The TV has the function to connect you to your invoice. We checked it one morning and were surprised to find a charge from the Lobby Bar on it, since we had not used it. When I called reception I was thanked for informing them and promised this would be removed. Checking again later on the TV it was not showing anymore. We thought this was now done and dusted.

Wrong!

We believe someone must have overheard our name and room number, when checking in and used it. This is easily possible, since there were so many people lingering about near reception. A fraudster could easily pretend to wait for someone or to be in the queue. Our name was dropped quite frequently. Of course I understand this is a sign of luxury, but prefer not to be addressed by it due to privacy concerns.

When checking out we received a printout of the bill and the incorrect charges were still there. It was a bit disappointing.

We believe the layout of the lobby should be rethought or only staying guests and customers with a restaurant reservation allowed entry. This may change, because the Adlon Hotel Kempinski is going through a renovation currently as of Sep. 2016.

Another thing we disliked was the prohibition of taking photographs in the lobby. Security was discreet about telling my fiancé he wasn't allowed to use his camera, so that was good. As soon as we were advised he stopped doing so and never used it again in the public space, so the reminder on another occasion was unnecessary and not appreciated.

Having now experience with a few Kempinski hotels/resorts around the world and there were always some issues we came to the conclusion that this hotel chain is not really suitable for us and probably will not stay with them again in our future with the execption in markets where Kempinski operates hotels and it looks like there's no suitable alternative available. However, overall we might not "gel" with Kempinski and what they offer and how they offer their product.

Would we recommend this particular hotel to a friend? Maybe, depends on the occasion. ^
Would we want to stay again at this particular hotel in our future? Maybe yes, maybe not, as we experienced some serious flaws at this hotel, but equally we experienced also some "highs" at this hotel, interestingly we equally stayed at Das Stue [earlier in 2015] and the Grand Hyatt [after the Adlon] in Berlin, both of which are flawless in what we experienced with them in terms of especially service, design, F&B and room product. ^

Here are some of our images we took during our stay at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin, Germany, April 2016:

Quarre at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin, Germany

April 2016, Our Dinner experiences:

During our stay at the Adlon Hotel Kempinski in Berlin in April 2016 - please see review - , we booked a table for our dinner in advance at Quarre which is the casual, yet upscale brasserie at this famous landmark hotel.

Quarre is in a corner location. One side offers views over the Brandenburg Gate. It also has outdoor seating, which was in high demand, during our stay as the weather was sunny and people enjoyed the outdoors.

|| Restaurant Quarré at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski || 14 G. M. POINTS || OUR MEMORABLE DINNER IN BERLIN || GERMANY || OUR DUB-AMS-[RTM]-AMS-HAM-[TXL]-DUB-TOUR-APRIL 2016 || by UggBoy UggGirl, on Flickr

Sadly, the maître d' didn't make us feel like we were a valued guest and seemed unpleasantly surprised we were joining them for dinner.

Our table was in a more private location, which we appreciated. There was no view to the Brandenburg Gate, though but since we value privacy it was okay for our evening.

The interior felt like a Mediterranean villa.

At first there were only a few fellow diners, but the room filled quickly up with couples and a larger group.

We were given the menu and offered drinks to start with. We chose Liz water and shared two bottles during the meal.

The waiter was professional and efficient, but again lacked somewhat the warmth we had been expecting while dinning at such a famous hotel.

Our dinner included two Brandenburger Buffalo Mozzarella with roasted vegetables, one Wiener Schnitzel, one Pistachio Polenta, mushrooms and lemon and one Rocky Slide Brownie.

The mozzarella was interesting, because it was already melted and added a nice contrast to the vegetables. He said the Wiener Schnitzel was one of the best he had so far and the polenta was nice too.

Together with the dessert we ordered a hot chocolate and green tea.

The Rocky Slide Brownie was not entirely to our liking. It was a bit too sweet for us. It looked great and was creatively presented, though. We would try another dessert option should we eat at this brasserie again on another occasion when in Berlin.

The bill came in at 120 Euro / ca. 137 USD.

We enjoyed the atmosphere and the quality of the food, so we would return, but we hope that next time we would receive a warmer welcome/service which actually matches a hotel of this caliber and heritage.

Would we recommend this restaurant to a friend? YES, it's good to be here beside the Branderburg Gate. ^
Would we want to enjoy lunch/dinner again at this restaurant? YES, but we hope for a warmer welcome/service next time and a different dessert. ^

Here are some of our images we took during our dinner at Quarre at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin, Germany in April 2016:

Last edited by uggboy; Sep 28, 2016 at 11:51 am Reason: Added our Quarre Dinner Experiences incl. Images

Sep 26, 2016, 2:42 pm

#36

offerendum

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Thanks uggboy! Often stay at the Adlon and will be there in a few weeks. Can´t understand why you took breakfast via room service as Adlon has one of the best buffets you find on the market. Also one of the best Virtuoso values, but I guess you aren´t a fan

Sep 26, 2016, 8:01 pm

#37

MarkP24

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Quote:

Originally Posted by uggboy

Fantastic review and great pictures! Thank you! I assume you did not receive an upgrade from the base level room?

Sep 27, 2016, 1:43 am

#38

offerendum

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkP24

Fantastic review and great pictures! Thank you! I assume you did not receive an upgrade from the base level room?

I guess uggboy didn´t book via any chanel which allows an upgrade. Virtuoso for example grants guaranteed upgrade, so you will never stay in a base room.

Sep 27, 2016, 4:21 am

#39

uggboy

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Quote:

Originally Posted by offerendum

Glad to hear that you stay at The Hotel Adlon Kempinski often. Thanks for your compliments offerendum. In regards to our breakfast, we enjoy some private time in the mornings we stay especially in superior luxury hotels. Our stay wasn't flawless, but we might would stay with them again in our future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkP24

Fantastic review and great pictures! Thank you! I assume you did not receive an upgrade from the base level room?

Thanks for your compliments MarkP24 in regards to our review. We booked deliberately the Executive room after long deliberation which room type we liked best in terms of design and setting at this particular hotel, but we might would also enjoy the Superior Executive room because of a larger seating area for two. No upgrades, but that's okay as we enjoyed our room which felt anyway above "base level".

Thank you both. Cheers & Safe Travels. ^

Oct 27, 2016, 7:53 pm

#40

MarkP24

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Waldorf Astoria Berlin & Grand Hyatt Berlin

I had a 2 night stay at both the Waldorf Astoria Berlin as well as the Grand Hyatt Berlin respectively.

The Waldorf Astoria stay was simply flawless!

The Grand Hyatt Berlin stay was unfortunately very disappointing. There were miscommunications by staff members, I was given one of the least desirable rooms in the hotel (even as a Hyatt Diamond, forget about an upgrade), soap stains in the bathroom upon arrival (at least it was only soap from a previous guest), and a courtyard view when the room is described as: - Tiergarten or City view Also, during my stay the concierge did not arrive until 10 AM, so either email in advance or don't plan anything until late morning.

As it happens, I know of another individual who stayed at both the Waldorf and Grand Hyatt, and he said "Without a doubt, the Waldorf is a class above the Grand Hyatt." I couldn't agree more!

Last edited by MarkP24; Oct 27, 2016 at 7:54 pm Reason: bolding for emphasis

Nov 14, 2016, 10:57 am

#41

offerendum

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At the Adlon at the moment. Full house with a NATO conference. Will report....

Nov 14, 2016, 12:37 pm

#42

ngfan

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Nice report as always, uggboy!!

For many years, I used to avoid the Adlon like the plague but in recent years I have been using it quite regularly when in Berlin, even if it is just for one night most of the time. That's mainly because it offers an excellent value when booked through Virtuoso: Usually the entry-level room rate is quite decent (and cheap compared to other famous cities elsewhere) and comes with the great buffet breakfast and an 85 Euro f&b credit which I always spend at the formidable Sra Bua by Tim Raue. And even better: I have always received the most generous upgrades of all my hotel stays ever - as described by offerendum above (mostly between four to six categories due to a combo of Virtuoso booking and a GHA Black status). After one night I usually move over to "das Stue" which is my fav hotel there.

Last edited by ngfan; Nov 14, 2016 at 12:42 pm

Nov 14, 2016, 12:58 pm

#43

offerendum

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I fear the stay will be affected by some inconvenience dur to "security reasons". Will see if it is Obama, as usual top secret. Nevertheless it sucks. At Sra Bua tonight, better than last time.

Last edited by offerendum; Nov 14, 2016 at 1:07 pm

Nov 16, 2016, 9:32 am

#44

offerendum

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Not able to enter the Adlon for around 1 hour, no further notice given. They have a tent and Champaign in paper cups. Never had such a worse stay! Asked the staff already if they expect me to pay the full price. Would you?