I have visited Berlin several times but that was my first in Hotel 1A apartment. This time I wanted specifically to stay in Prenzlauer Berg since I was visiting a friend that stayed in the area and I wanted to be close.
My reservation was about two double rooms for an eight night stay. Since there was not a 24 hour reception and I was arriving late at evening I had asked my friend to go in advance and collect the keys for the rooms.
When the date arrived my friend went to pick up the keys but she came up with an unpleasant surprise. The hotel could verify just the one of the two reservations and they could give the keys for just one of the two double rooms. The incident happened just 2 hours before the departure of my flight. At the time my friend called me I was in the airport, about to check in. The hotel insisted that it was not their mistake but mine.
I had to call booking.com, which was the provider of the room. Booking com had informed me that it was 100 per cent mistake of the hotel and they called the hotel to solve the problem. It was after 1 hour and several calls from booking com that hotel 1a apartment realize that they had lost the confirmation fax of my reservation. And it was after one more hour that they gave me a solution.
Their first proposal was to put 2 extra beds and to have me share the second double room with my friends. Of course I refused so then they proposed me to go and stay in an other hotel in a double room with shared bathroom. No need to mention that my original reservation was about a double room with a private bathroom.
After several calls they finally accepted to put me in an other-more expensive- hotel in the area.
If I knew what I would have to put through I would have never made the first reservation. This hotel is totally unprofessional. I was truly lucky to have my friend there otherwise I would have arrived in Berlin around midnight and I would have been in a foreign city without a place to stay. My advise<<STAY AWAY>>!!!!!!!!!

As there is no breakfast room, this place would hardly qualify as a hotel, but who cares? Places to have breakfast are all around. At some of these, they serve breakfast until the end of the afternoon. The rooms at the 1A are nice and clean and come with a fridge and a (small) television. Free coffee is available in the reception area day and night. Tram and U-bahn (Underground, although it is running overground on a monumental viaduct just around the corner) give easy access to many of the famous city centre sites, like Hackescher Markt, Alexanderplatz, Potsdammer Platz. However, the area around the 1A is worth a visit in its own right, with many 'Gründerzeit' or art nouveau dwellings.

My partner and I stayed at 1A twice; the first was for a span of a week and later, an overnight stay (en route to Amsterdam). The first stay was in Room 4, a spacious room with medium sized bathroom. It was cleaned everyday and quiet - very ideal. The overnight stay was in Room 9; it was more spacious than Room 4 but the bathroom was smaller. Room 9 was also a little more noisy as the room was facing the street but it didn't bother us too much.

Overall I found 1A Apartment to be great value for money. Ralph, the person in charge, was helpful when needed and mostly left us on our own - which was an ideal arrangement for me personally. Location of 1A was great; 5 minutes walk from Shoenhauser Allee station with lots of shops and restaurants all around. Convenient.

I previously stayed in August 2008 and was most impressed by the large bedroom and equally large bathroom I had. My previous comments still apply, but this time with one bad point: the small washbasin in the small bathroom had a large-ish glass shelf above it which made it difficult to brush my teeth properly. Aside from that I do like this place. Had 3 excellent day trips to Lubbenau, Leipzig and Dresden (thoroughly recommend Dresden)