BotB

The hotel and staff are good, however, they do tend to do things by the book and are 'German' in following the rules...so wouldn't expect lounge access unless you book one category below exec entitled room and then get upgraded to it.

However, when we visited last Autumn as a trio, 2 diamonds and a blue...the blue could upgrade to exec lounge access for Euro 19 / day ISTR. You will have to decide which route you take but 19 Euro isn't bad if need be for lounge and drinks access here IMO and cheaper than the alternatives (buying drinks in bar or restaurant).

HTH

Delectatio

Thanks for your reply, we are planning to go in August. Booking one category lower than Executive is a good idea. Some hotels seem to have a policy of granting access to the lounge for Golds anyway but that doesn't seem to be the case here...

Penguinmoon

I have stayed three times in the past year (most recently DEC 2014). I have booked the cheapest room, and have been given access to the lounge as a gold each time.

tsastor

How do you upgrade to EL access? Is that part of nor1 @ this property? Or do you mean an upgrade to exec room?

BotB

My friend simply asked them in an email if this would be possible and they confirmed this was possible for Euro 19 / day. When we checked in, they again stated that access was possible for him for this 19 Euro.

He was blue and had booked a basic room so no other influencing factors that I am aware of.

Not seen this at any other property though.

tsastor

Thanks! If the food in the evening is as good as before and there is wine available, then together with afternoon cookies and coffee it is definitely worth it.
And with breakfast more than so.

bj27

Thumbs up to this property. ^

Booked a very low corporate rate (no points/stay credit, sub-100 euro) for two nights and was upgraded to a Domeview Executive Room as a Gold. Keep in mind this property seems to have a ton of different room categories, so YMMV.

Our room wasn't ready when we checked-in, so front desk gave us a key coded for just the Exec Lounge. Diamonds also have the option of checking in at the Exec Lounge.

The lounge here is one of the biggest and best I've seen in Europe (in my limited experience). Offers breakfast, afternoon tea, and then evening spread. Very large, lots of seating options (including a private boardroom and some other more private areas). Dining tables, high tables with bar stools, sofas, etc. Very extensive.

It would appear the pastries during afternoon tea are made in-house, as a nut allergy inquiry prompted an attendant to go ask the "pastry chef." They were also very tasty.

Can't comment to the lounge breakfast, as we took it in the restaurant as a Gold, which was pretty Hilton-standard. A lot of things at breakfast (jams, pastries, scones, etc.) are made in-house as well.

The second morning we had to depart very early for a 7:00am flight, and we inquired the night before about breakfast options. They put together two nice takeaway bags with yogurt, water, ham+cheese sandwich, banana, apple, granola bar, and utensils, all ready at the front desk the next morning when we were checking out at 4:15am. Nice start to the day.

The evening spread was pretty decent, with rotating options each night. Although it did seem they had an excess of chicken skewers as those appeared at breakfast the next morning as well. But either way, plenty of protein, crudite/veggie options, and carby options as well. One big thumbs up was the fact they had the heavyweight Hilton-branded takeaway cups for coffee or tea. Excellent! Note that as treppenlaeufer points out below, the spirits are on a top shelf above eye-level. Can't remember exactly what they were, but they were there.

A small detail I thought was funny--it appears that guests who have lounge access are given silver Hilton room keys, and those without are given normal blue ones, just from my observations at the front desk.

The health club is also very large and expansive, and felt more like a proper gym (although without a few typical pieces of equipment, like a bench press) and was never crowded.

Another note is about half our stay, the wi-fi (both in-lobby and in-room) simply did not work. Front desk knew about it but attributed it to the iBahn service provider... No use getting mad at the front desk but it was irritating. Lots of upset business people as well. Tried a couple solutions but it just flat out did not work. Hope they have remedied this.

We really enjoyed our stay, and felt very well looked after (besides the chronic wi-fi problem this property seems to have). Hope others find the same.

treppenlaeufer

Wow. have been there less than a month ago, still had spirits then (even if someone hidden, on a top shelf not immediately obvious to the guest).

Funnily enough on the German forums this property gets very mixed reviews, but so far I also approved of their product and think its superior to most German Hiltons.

bj27

^Come to think of it, I do remember seeing these on a top-shelf above eye-level. My apologies. I've edited my post.

Zurich

Yes, it is on the top shelf since they opened this "new" EL on ground floor. The offer has been reduced considerably (as everywhere in Europe) and the bubbly is hardly drinkable. Afternoon pastries has been reduced, too (unless they recently changed that).

What I do enjoy in the EL is the space and different seatings. It is a generous layout. Overall, it is my favorite Hilton hotel and I feel appreciated and welcome there. This keeps me returning year after year.

Football Fan

Why would you not have gotten points/stay credit just because your corporate rate is under 100 Euro? (Also, you could have easily checked out an hour later and still been too early for your flight...assuming you went to Tegel or Schoenefeld ).

tsastor

What means "reduced considerably"? Is there e.g. still gin/cognac and Bayleys?

bj27

To my understanding it's just the policy. Corporate understands rates can be lowered a bit in the absence of points accrual.

mphall

Has anyone take the public transportation to the Berlin Hilton? Any suggestions? Thank you.

jerry a. laska

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/ber...ons/index.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21584148-post362.html