Estrel Berlin

“Great Staff, Tough Area, Decent Conference Location”

My wife had a conference at this location and after reading the reviews, I was extremely skeptical of what kind of a hotel I would be staying in. The conference part of the experience was great. There is ample meeting space, and a lot of rooms to accommodate a huge amount of attendees. The hotel i… more

My wife had a conference at this location and after reading the reviews, I was extremely skeptical of what kind of a hotel I would be staying in. The conference part of the experience was great. There is ample meeting space, and a lot of rooms to accommodate a huge amount of attendees. The hotel itself is starting to show a little age, the bland color scheme doesn't really lend itself well, and the floors and interior just looks tired. The staff are fantastic, even the cleaning staff go out of their way to say "Hello" and I never noticed any language barrier being strictly an English-speaker. Germans are serious about their breakfast, and this hotel is no exception, there is a HUGE spread for breakfast, although going forward, I would appreciate a coffee maker in the room. Our wait staff were good at all of the hotels restaurants and most went out of their way to try to talk with us. Special shout-out for Maximillian! Acting as both the host and head waiter at the Grill, he made us feel extremely welcomed and was an extremely hard-working individual. We also bumped into him at the train station and he went out of his way to say hello and give us a "must-see" list for where we were going. Truly a genuine individual. The neighborhood is sketchy in some parts, though there is a McDonalds, Pharmacy, and Grocery store just a short walk to the south of the hotel. The Sonnenallee station is a short walk to the north, which can take a traveler downtown with extreme ease. Generally, I changed trains at Ostkreuz and ended up at Alexanderplatz, which is right in the heart of Berlin. The ride was easy and both my wife and I made the trip several times with no problems. So getting around Berlin from this location is a snap by just riding from the S-Bahn station. There is also a nearby Vietnamese restaurant (Viet Bowl), that is in an extremely questionable looking part of town, but we walked there without any difficulty or incident and really enjoyed the food at the recommendation of the staff. I used the workout facility a couple of times and they had a nice combination of free weights, weight machines, and cardio options. The was plenty of space to workout, though I never ran into much of a crowd the times I was there. Ultimately, we spent the majority of our trip at this location and would have no problems going back if fate ever finds us in Berlin.

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“Great Hotel, but Catastrophic Food + proud Cooks who have no idea how bad they are”

The Hotel is excellent and the Rooms are great, but they serve the worst Breakfast I ever had in Germany. Poor selection of everything, no fruits at all (for the price....), pastry like from wax, "sunny-side up eggs" like from wax, scrabled eggs like from plastic, sausages burned from one side, und… more

The Hotel is excellent and the Rooms are great, but they serve the worst Breakfast I ever had in Germany. Poor selection of everything, no fruits at all (for the price....), pastry like from wax, "sunny-side up eggs" like from wax, scrabled eggs like from plastic, sausages burned from one side, undercooked from the other. Bacon had the same diagnose.. I have complained @ main Breakfast Chef, he sincerely had no idea what was wrong with the food = no cooking skills at all. Similar was the dinner.. undercooked meat, mushy overgrilled vegetables not edible at all. We complained, but again no response so we had to eat at McDonalds .. Terrible Food

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“Value for money is questionable”

My husband and I stayed for three nights in this Hotel. The welcome is lovely, however instructions for the elevator would have been appreciated. and sometimes they didn't accept a card first time. The room, for the price, left a little to be desired. The bed was comfortable, but there were very l… more

My husband and I stayed for three nights in this Hotel. The welcome is lovely, however instructions for the elevator would have been appreciated. and sometimes they didn't accept a card first time. The room, for the price, left a little to be desired. The bed was comfortable, but there were very limited other ameneties in the room (other than chargeable water). There was a fridge that held said water, which was good for us to stock up on locally purchased juices adn cheese. The floor by the window was damp as the window had been left open, and the chairs with the low table were not comfortable. We liked the low light in the bathroom, which didn't blind you for night time bathroom breaks, The shower was of a quality to be expected. The locale is great. There are a lot of local shops, and food outlets away from the expensive in-hotel restaurants (which we didn't try) and the S Bahn stop is a very short walk. You can also hire bikes from the hotel cheaper than the city bike rental companies (there are several). The staff were always friendly and helpful, the internet was good throughtout the location. I was there with a convention and the services there were amazing. The supplied buffets were tasty and plentiful, and it was great to have the access directly, given that I had some mobility issues. In all, I felt a lot of we paid subsidised other areas of the hotel, rather than the room.

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