good location just a couple of stops on the train to the centre, hotel staff very friendly, room very comfortable and clean, wouldnt say it was 4 star though, but good value for money.

We got this hotel as part of a special offer advertised on Travelzoo and it was fantastic value for money. We stayed for three nights and could have done with more time to see all that Berlin has to offer. The hotel is just outside the ity centre in a very pleasant residential district. I even saw a red squirrel crossing the street outside on my last day. In spite of this relative tranquility there are good local shops and even a currywurst stall close by in case you need a quick snack/fix of this delicious Berlin delicacy. The hotel does not do lunch or evening meals but does do an excellent breakfast buffet. The receptionists recommended the Wirtshaus zum Nussbaum 15 minutes walk or two Metro stops away at the Bundesplatz for traditional German food in the evening. It was so good we ate there on two of our three nights but you need to take a hearty appetite as portions are more than generous. The Metro is two minutes walk from the hotel and links you into the very good public transport system. The Kurfurstendamm with its shops and tour buses is two stops away.

There is no airport shuttle but you can getthere on public transport (S and U Bahn) from Schonefeld with a couple of changes and at a cost of a few Euros with a day or Welcome ticket. Certainly puts the rip-off prices charged byt train operators for the London airport "expresses" into perspective.

Rooms were clean and comfortable and service efficient and pleasant. All in all a very pleasant stay for a reasonable price

We stayed here for 3 nights, the location was good, plenty of bars and restaurants which are cheaper than the centre of Berlin which is only a couple of stops away by train. The staff were all very friendly, the rooms clean and bright and the breakfast was very good and plenty of it. We bought a 15 euro travel ticket each morning from reception which was valid all day for upto 5 people and visited different towns each of which had their own christmas market. Potsdam is well worth a visit, very pretty town and has the summer palace which is also worth a visit.

When I've stayed in another city I do typically look for a hotel that is a brand name of 3 star quality or better and is outside of the centre of town (15 minutes by U-Bahn from Zoo Station and maybe about 30 from Potsdamer Platz in this case). Basically this hotel ticks the box for all of the above but I wouldn't say that it is any better than average as an overall experience. I would have no issues with staying here again (if/when I go back to Berlin) but I would also look around first

Staff: All of them were very bi-lingual and spoke good English (to the point where they couldn't understand why I bothered to speak German but tolerated the fact that I was keen to improve my own language skills). In fairness I didn't ask anything about the local area so I don't know what they would have been like in that respect.
Room: Single Room/Non-Smoking with standard Best Western fittings. It wasn't unclean or obviously worn but you could see it had been while since the last re-fit (the last Best Western I'd stayed in had only been refitted in the last 6 months so the difference was obvious). Key point: if you are offered the quite side of the hotel there is a charge for this (I didn't ask what the charge was when offered it so accept that it was a 50/50 as I'd accepted it and didn't complain) and had a 40 euro addition to my bill when checking out. Other issue is that there are no safes in the rooms but a deposit box option at the front desk which was fine and easy to use (I believe this is to do with German laws on liability so may be consistent elsewhere).
Hotel: As above the facilities and fixings were fine and nothing to complain about. My brochure listed it as a 4* but I would say it is probably closer to a 3*+. The lifts weren't exactly fast but were no different to any other hotels I've stayed in.
Breakfast: was fine and was the standard Best Western deal, with a few tweaks. Point of note the croissants didn't seem to get replaced (virtually everything else did) and I wasn't exactly late down for Breakfast but only got a couple on the last day (it seems like they were very popular with the Germans).
Sleep: I slept no differently to what I do at home so I can only class this as average (I usually tend to sleep in a touch later in hotels). Was unimpressed with what ever woke me up on Tuesday at 7:00am (there was a conference room on my floor but there was the possibility that it was something outside so I can't mark this down).
Location: Is outside of the centre of town so it met my requirements but it may not be ideal for others (the U-Bahn is 100 metres from the hotel which will get you to the heart of the city within 30 minutes). Make sure you take the front of the U9 train when heading towards the Rathaus Stiglitz and the back when heading towards Osloer Strasse or otherwise you will come out of the wrong exit that will put you at the wrong end of the block (you want to head towards the ADAC building).
Value: was good considering what you got for it, on reflection I wouldn't have taken the quiet room upgrade as I don't think that there would have been much benefit.

Stay: September 2011
Time: 4 Nights B&B (excluding sleep I was probably in the Hotel for only 3-4 hours per day)
Room: Solo, Non-Smoking on the quiet side of the Hotel