Berlin Travel Guide - Page 4
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Westin Berlin Tries to Wipe Away Traces of Communism with Heavenly Beds
It's kind of hard to fathom that there's a Westin Hotel in Berlin. But one frequent guest assures that the place is modernized and that some rooms have been entirely renovated, despite the building having been built in the "Eastern Germany Days."
I was here many times before and have seen all kind of rooms (make sure, you get an renovated one with Heavenly Bed!). Due to my SPG Platinum Status, this time I had a corner suite with a great view, but it was a old interior... Try the breakfast, its fantastic, but expensive (€25). Beside the location the best thing is the atrium lobby ... very old fashioned, but a great spot!
Indeed, the hotel gets pretty stellar reviews with the location, off Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse, being the first thing mentioned. As with all old hotels, beware the small rooms especially the ones built during Communist days.
Related Stories:
· Westin Grand Berlin [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Berlin Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Bleibtreu's Big Apple Inspiration
Staying true to Berliner form, the Bleibtreu is very cool, hip, and stylish. Located in the center of Berlin and surrounded by the poshest of boutiques, the hotel keeps up with the pace of the city with its original but functional design.
Rooms are loaded with the necessities including WiFi and the all-so-indulgent remote lighting so you can set it to your pleasure. The design of the rooms will not let you forget that you've chosen a cool boutique hotel as well. They've gone so far as to have their furniture specially made not only just for them, but also to be ecologically-friendly which we presume is a notch better than environmentally-friendly.
GenArt Pulse recently recommended the place and added that not only is the lighting set to your desires but it also has happy lights for those dismal winter days in Berlin and comfort foods.
With just 60 rooms, this slick guest house offers the usual high end fare plus furniture designed especially for the hotel and made in accordance with ecological standards. Bleibtreu also offers a "New York Deli" full of bagels, heroes and other fattening Big Apple fare.
The reviews are in for this place and they're great. Rooms start at 129 euros and again, with free WiFi, we're thinking that's better than we'll ever do in the real Big Apple.
Related Stories:
· Schnell Schnell onto Berlin [GenArt Pulse]
· Bleibtreu Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Cool Hotels / → All Tags
Lux 11: Cooler Than You
Could Berlin be any more hip and minimalist? Smack dab in the middle of the Mitte district (think a counterpart to NYC's Meat Packing District) is the Lux 11 Hotel, a perfect example of Berliner style: simple but luxurious and cooler than cool.
The best feature may be the chance to live like a local. The rooms are more like apartments than hotel rooms with plasma TVs, WiFi, kitchenettes and of course, more minimalist chic. You can even pick a floor plan from the boutique hotel's website.
Another restaurant lounge within the hotel should be finished soon but for the meantime guests can indulge in the signature Aveda Salon.
With rooms around 115 euros/night for a "smart room" and considering all the in-room amenities, a nice long jaunt in Germany's capital sounds not only uber-cool, but uber-realistic.
Related Stories:
· Lux 11: New and Stylish Boutique Hotel [Enter Berlin]
· Lux 11 reviews [HotelChatter]
Tags: Hotel Technology / → All Tags
Suite Gear: Hotel Adlon Kempinski
No longer worry about hotel safety, just check into Berlin's Hotel Adlon Kempinski.
Located at the feet of Brandenburg Gate in the middle of Berlin, the hotel was constructed in 1907 with the support of Kaiser Wilhelm II. It impressed the Kaiser, and now it impresses anyone with a bounty on their head.
Staying in the hotel's newly refurbished Presidential Suite, also means privacy from paparazzi: the suite has two private elevators with direct access to an underground garage. As for those who worry about being bombed anywhere they hide (ahem, Osama), this suite has been designed to withstand outside attack with bulletproof windows, doors and walls.
But it doesn't stop there. Dick Cheney would admire the room's own security hub with video monitoring, power supply, and telecommunications system with secure DECT handsets. The hotel's general manager notes
The need for security and the expectations regarding equipment levels have grown tangibly, and we are meeting that challenge.
Could this be the start of the latest trend?
Related Stories:
· The safest hotel room in the world? [The Times]
· How To Have A Safe Stay [Hotel Chatter]
Tags: Hotel Heaven / → All Tags
"On the Eighth Day God Created the Ritz Carlton Bed"
We always pay close attention when we get hotel tips from folks in the UK. Maybe it is because we read their tips with an accent, so they just sound smarter.
In any event, this Brit's review of the Ritz Carlton Berlin started with high praise for the bedding, then broke into an all out hotel recommendation:
Simply phenomenal. Don't let the overt opulence of marble chandeliers and some of the worst paintings in the history of art deter you! Time Out was not inaccurate when they described RC Berlin as 'Versailles meets Vegas.' My wife and I were lucky enough to spend a week here being gloriously pampered in the Club Lounge on the 10th floor. We had the holiday of a lifetime. Ritz Carlton is the epitome of customer service.
The hotel is alive and has a buzz to it that reflects the whole shock of the new that symbolises the reclaimed no man's land of Potzdamer Platz.
Sure the Ritz is gonna cost you, but if you are looking for a stay that would make Liberace proud, sounds like this is your place.
Related Stories:
· Ritz Carlton Berlin Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie's Adults Only Night at Hotel Q
According to the latest gossip rags, Brad, Angelina and kids are still on their whirlwind European Family Tour, this time landing in Berlin.
While everyone knows how much Brad and Angie love Baby Zahara and Maddox, they are still very much like other parents in that sometimes it's nicer without kids around.
So they spent a night at Hotel Q, sans bebes, where they sat down for tea with the hotel's director, Eva-Miriam Gerstner. Gerstner told Star Magazine she was so nervous she put a cigarette the wrong way into her mouth. (Nice to see that hoteliers can get nervous, too.)
Given that there are pics of naked ladies on the ceiling, not to mention the naked backside of a man on the web site, leaving the kids with nannies was probably a good idea.
Related Stories
· Angelina Hotel Tour coverage [HotelChatter]
· Hotel Q:Pioneering The New New Thing [HotelChatter]
· Hotel Q reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Miscellaneous / → All Tags
One Big Ass Fish Tank
[Update: mnot sent in an even better photo that gives you a better idea of how big ass this fish tank actually is. So big in fact, the photo needs its own page. See the photo here.]
If wherever you are is as ridiculously humid as wherever we are, then a dip in the pool should sound like a good idea.
Check out our already bustling HotelChatter Flickr photo pool--get over there and post your hotel photos.
Here is one of our early favorites, a photo of the Radisson SAS, Berlin.
According to hotel maven mnot
This is supposedly the largest, free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world; it rises through the atrium of the hotel, and has an elevator through the middle.
It's also pretty cool to look at from the hotel bar, which does a pretty good Caipirinha.
Related Stories:
· Radisson SAS Berlin Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
Recent Guest Comments On Berlin's Hotel Q!
Hotel Maven Mark Nottingham writes in to give us the real dirt on
Hotel Q!
Spoiler: No fake ostrich divans or male models were spotted.
Read His Commentary Post Break
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel Q!: Comfort German Style?
Gridskipper isn't so sure the about the new Hotel Q! in Berlin.
Architectural masterpiece, yes, but will you get a good nights sleep?
We we still haven't heard from anyone who has actually slept at Q!, however, as we said previously, there are two things that fascinate us about Q!.
- "A divan upholstered in cream-colored fake ostrich facing a gigantic flat-screen television." Huh?
- The precarious pose of the nude male model on their website (pictured to the right).
We don't know what any of this means, but if and when you stay at Q!, tell us about it.
Related Stories:
· You Might Not Sleep Well But It Sure Is Pretty [Gridskipper]
· Hotel Q Pioneering The New New Thing [HotelChatter]
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel Q! Pioneering The New New Thing
Lately, everyone has been asking what's next? W is expanding like crazy, and even Intercontinental has gone "boutique." Most ahead-of-the-curve hoteliers have outlawed the term boutique, and some won't even utter the words "design hotel." So what is next?
Well, New York Times scribe Daniel Altman believes he has found the future...in Berlin.
Hotel Q! is a 72-room hotel on the Knesebeckstrasse in Berlin where the walls and counters take on folded forms with rounded corners. The U-shaped studio rooms come with a queen bed with a soaking tub abutting it. However, our favorite decorative touch has to be, "a divan upholstered in cream-colored fake ostrich facing a gigantic flat-screen television." Huh? Nice.
Our second favorite thing about Hotel Q! is their use of a nude male model in a particularly precarious position on their website.
Altman mentions a couple other hotels that are trying to become the new new thing:
· Straf in Milan.
· Casa Fuster in Barcelona.
Related Stories:
· Hotel Design That Hones A New Cutting Edge [New York Times]
· Hotel Q! Reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Q!, Berlin [Travel & Leisure]
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags
Bourne Supremacy At The Westin Grand Berlin
Did you see the Bourne Supremacy? Truth be told we thought the movie was about 15 minutes too long--maybe we were just particularly grumpy that night. Anyone who did see the movie might recognize the hotel pictured to the right, the Westin Grand Berlin, which made a cameo in the movie. This place looks stellar--nice central location, just a few feet from checkpoint charlie, and the German's take their customer service seriously, so you shouldn't feel neglected.
Oh, and if you stay here, you will get to try out one of the highly touted "Heavenly Beds" for yourself. Beds are a fairly personal piece of furniture, thus it shouldn't shock you to learn the feedback on the Heavenly Beds can run the gamut. Most people we have heard from love 'em, however one recent Trip Advisor user felt differently:
Looking at the 'heavenly bed' we found a hole in the linen (it was torn). The very friendly house-keeping changed it when we asked for it. The mattress was ok, but the pillows nothing spectacular at all. Compared to the sleeping experience at the Hilton Berlin, this bed was good average, but no heavenly average.
Thoughts? What do you think of the Heavenly Beds? Tried 'em yet?
Related Stories:
· Bed Wars Rage In 2005 [HotelChatter]
Tags: Miscellaneous / → All Tags
Amazing Race 6 Hotel Report: Why not go Avante-Garde?
Our friends the Amazing Racers left Africa and ended up in Berlin Germany.
After downing giant mugs of beer, and building bratwurst, the troops ended up racing towards the Brandenburg Gate in the middle of Berlin.
Granted this weeks elimination team was not a big surprise, but why not give the game grandparents a send off similar to that Expedia commercial. You know the Expedia commercial where a thirty something daughter is contemplating booking her parents in a modern hotel, until she imagines the comedy of errors that would ensue if she ever actually did such a thing?
We say book the Racing cast and crew at the SORAT Art'otel Berlin, smack dab in the middle of Berlin. The hotel is dedicated to Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell and is avante garde to the tenth degree.
The property is centrally located with easy access to the train as well. So we hope CBS had a little fun with this one.
Oh, and one more thing, put John and Victoria The Entrepreneurs in separate rooms please, the Sorat Art'otel doesn't need an incident on its hands. That guy is absolutely bonkers.
Related Stories:
· Amazing Race 6 Hotel Report: Oversleeping at the Stockholm Sheraton [HotelChatter]
· Amazing Race 6 Hotel Report: Hotel Ice Bar [HotelChatter]
· Amazing Race 6 Hotel Report: Norwegian Wood [HotelChatter]
· Amazing Race 6 Hotel Report: Check out the 101 [HotelChatter]
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