Holiday Inn – the niu, Dwarf Berlin Schöneberg [Master Thread]
What is your IHG One Rewards status?
Diamond Inner Circle Royal Ambassador
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay
Very mixed feelings.
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked cheapest rate and was given a Queen standard, corner room on high floor (there is only one room category at this property)
How are the rooms?
Around 19sqm large.
Not massive, but pleasantly designed.
Bed, which is comfortable, is actually the addition of two separate beds.
Super tiny table and chair.
Small bathroom with walk-in shower.
Niu branded toiletries (whose rather disgusting fragrance is somewhere between cheap multivitamin fruit juice and children's medicine). Only a single dispenser for shampoo/shower gel. No conditioning shampoo. No tissues.
Underfloor heating.
Mirror with Bluetooth speaker
No bathrobe
Flat screen television set with large selection of international channels.
Chromecast.
No fridge, no coffee machine, no kettle. No telephone.
No bottled water.
USB power socket next to the bed.
View over district. Very quiet
No Free PressReader
How is the exec. lounge?
N/A
What was good and what was bad?
GOOD
- Small but pleasant room
- Rather good breakfast and very efficient staff to clean tables quickly
- 3-minute walk from Schöneberg S-Bahn station
BAD
- The check-in experience was simply calamitous (and a reminder that, even in a hotel where the services are basic, they can be mediocre throughout the customer experience).
More than 4 years after the Covid, you are welcomed behind a plexiglass panel, which already indicates a poor desire to connect with customers.
The receptionist barely says hello and obviously doesn't smile.
She hands you a piece of paper to sign behind the Plexiglas glass, as a Soviet administration would have done in the 80s.
She asks me to re-sign because I haven't signed in the right place.
She says: "In your file, I see that you want amenities.
I reply: I'd like breakfast
- Are you sure?
- I do believe so.
The next morning, of course, my name won't appear on the list of breakfast guests, and the member of staff breakfast will insist that I sign a document saying that I've had breakfast, rather than just checking with her colleague 3 meters away.
I asked if I could have a late check-out until 2pm. After checking, I was told yes.
- I said: have you adjusted the key accordingly?
- Oh yes, you're right.
Obviously, the next morning, despite the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, the cleaning staff entered the room twice (at 12.30 and 1.20pm, when the other rooms hadn't yet been cleaned).
I was given a key and finally made my way to my room, only to find that there was no electricity.
I went back down to reception (impossible to phone, there's no phone in the room).
The receptionist said to me: - Did you put the key in the switch?
- Yes (take me for an idiot)
- I go with you to make sure.
On the way to the room, she said to me: Ah yes, this room has a problem with the electricity (very nice of her to give it to me).
She arrived in the room to find that, obviously, there was no power.
I said: I think it's a fuse problem.
She replied: I don't know that word.
We went back down to reception.
Her colleague climbed back up with me to check out the technical room and finally, 20 minutes after my check-in, I went to sleep.
Value for $ or IHG One Rewards Club? Would you return?
The hotel is very inexpensive, the room quite nice despite the small size, the location convenient and the breakfast good.
But the service is so appalling that it will take me some time to try a stay at any Niu property again (which is closer to a Holiday Inn Express in terms of facilities than a state-of-the-art Holiday Inn: the hotel does not have a fitness centre and the restaurant only serves pizzas or flammenkuches).
Exterior
Lobby
Lobby bar
Access to the rooms
Bedroom
Bathroom
View from the room
Breakfast
Last edited by nicolas75; Oct 6, 2024 at 3:00 am