Hotel & Apartments Zarenhof Berlin Mitte  

Too much of "russian spirit". I don't think the center of Berlin is right place for that.

I should say that I oredered the hotel "The Luisen Hof" in Berlin. When I saw the wrong name I thought the hotel was simply renamed. But it proved to be quite different hotel that I was booked at. I was very dissapointed and had to move to another part of the city.

The location. In a quiet area, near a subway station (350m) with u6 line that is is great to get to/from airport and to/from the city center. They offered, before arrival, an upgrade to a 4* hotel, from th smae chain, in a different location that I didn´t had the chance to accept. Great breakfirst. Helpful staff.

Small room.

THe hotel is located close to the city center. The sunday breakfast is in Russian style, with sparkling wine and red caviar :) Also, we like that the room was like apartments, with the kitchen and washing machine.

Every time we opened the room there was a light smell of sewage system. Besides, the walls are thin, so we could listen all movements outside easily

Friendly and helpful staff good location

Nice place, good location,friendly personel (speaking Russian!). Very good breakfasts, exellent appearance of the rooms and the hotel in the whole.

I was delighted by Hotel Zarenhof (Mitte) due to many reasons 1) location: just 3 min walk from Friedrichstrasse and from Metro (Nordbanhof) 2) excellent spacey room. I had an appartment with around 20 sq.m bedroom, 8 sq. m bathroom and 8 sq. m fully equipped kitchen, but even an ordinary room which I saw was of quite decent size (about 15 sq.m). Rooms have been very soundproof and bed comfortable. 3) kitchen utensils included also dishwasher and laundromat along with microwave, electric oven and fridge with freezer. This would be very good for families with kids 4) Staff was very attentive and extremely helpful 5) breakfast needs special appreciation - with red salmon, caviar, variety of cold and hot meals, Russian blins, and even champagne 6) Finally, the special Christmas package meant I only paid 85 Euros for 1 bedroom appartment including that delicious breakfast.

Few issues, which could be improved: because of elevator construction it stops between the floors and one should walk around 10 stairs to access the room.That walk to ground floor is a little bit steep and at least needs a special warning sign. Also to have light always on on that particular floor would be better than current power-saving system Despite of Russian Tsar style and the fact that nearly all staff speaks not only English, but also Russian, it is strange, that tv set doesn't include a single Russian channel. Also, TVs would be better to change to more modern ones, particualrly the strong blue light coming from shut- off tv was annoying and I had to switch it manually all nights. Btw, unlike my expectation, around 80% of guests seemed to be Germans

Very comfortable room. Smiling personnel Fine location: closed to the popular touristical places, many bars around

The online booking went very smoothly and I got what I asked for/wanted. Everything worked well, daily morning papers were early and adequate (I read Der Tagesspiegel). Staff were knowledgeable and helpful; coffee was available at a late hour and the breakfast was excellent -- served by a friendly, competent woman. I also liked the ambiance. We have some Romanov loyalist types in Boston (though I'm not a great admirer of the old regime -- nor of the Communists either!), so I'm a bit familiar with the symbols and concerns of the pre-WWI era. I also read Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pasternak et al. The old photos and other memorabilia brought back memories (of reading Nicholas and Alexandra, Dr Zhivago etc.) As a biochemist/bioinformatist I appreciate the gravity of Alexis' illness and could sense the stress in the faces of the family members as I viewed their portraits. I felt a bit closer to the unfortunate Romanovs -- and to the horrific turmoil that engulfed Europe in 1914. Naturally, seeing (and feeling) these things in the heart of Berlin (a short walk from the Reichstag, the Brandenburger Tor, etc.) heightened the sense of connection with history. I also found the nearby street names (Eichendorffstr, Novalisstr, Tieckstr, Schlegelstr. etc.) meaningful since I minored in German literature at Williams College and read pieces by all these romantic authors (and more). Bottom line: This is not your wannabe Holiday Inn with all the same features that get monotonously copied world-wide. Zarenhof has character. and style I would be happy to stay there again!

A bigger wastebasket and a place to recycle paper would have been nice. Otherwise no complaints!

Good location close to reasonably priced restaurants; 5 minute walk to the S-bahn and close to central city sights. Comfortable, well furnished room; excellent breakfasts and friendly helpful staff.

A nice hotel with big comfortable rooms. Located pretty close to tv tower and Unter den Linden.

My ground-floor room contains a double bed, a closet, a set of drawers with a television on top, two upright chairs, and a tiny desk with a phone and a tray of bottle of mineral water and wine, leaving not even enough room for a laptop. The windows have a view of the bicycle racks and dumpster in the courtyard. The bathroom is huge and wheelchair accessible. But unlike most wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, it does not have even a shower curtain; there is just a showerhead on the wall, suitably far from everything else. The hot water is reliable. The mirror is lit only from the right, so I shave the left side of my face blindly. There is insufficient room between the desk and the bed for comfortable seating at the desk (definitely not wheelchair-accessible), the lighting at the desk is poor, and there is no open outlet nearby for a laptop or cell-phone charger. I obtain a power-bar from the front desk, but have to run the cable across the bathroom door. Eventually, I rearrange the furniture, moving the desk to a space on the other side of the room where there is an open outlet, and leaving the bottles and phone on the floor. But nonetheless, for an average of just €45/night (including fast and reliable Internet) over my six-night stay, it's pretty good overall for the price. The bed is comfortable (though the pillow is the standard large-but-mushy kind that Germans seem to favor), the room is very clean, and the front-desk people are helpful. The hotel promotes the quality of its breakfast buffet (€11). Overall, it's about average, but in my experience the standards for breakfast are high in German hotels, so even average is actually quite good.

Breakfast, High ceiling, Room design

Wi-Fi was working only in the lobby.