Achtung! A top class hotel in Berlin (Mercure Berlin Mitte)

Member Name: stuff10

Product:	Mercure Berlin Mitte
Date:	14/07/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good location (near transport), cheap, clean, bar showing football

Disadvantages: No much livelihood in immediate area

My wife and I (fiancee at the time) stopped at this hotel for 3 nights at the beginning of March 2008. We flew into Schonefeld airport and didn't land until 9.30pm. We were slightly worried about finding the hotel in the dark but we needn't have been - the hotel is 50yds from the Gleisdriek U-bahn station and can be seen from the exit.

On entering the hotel we found the receptionist very helpful, all reception staff spoke good English as well. Our room was lovely and much bigger than we expected. It was clean and the bathroom spotless, there were the usual boring English news channels on the TV - BBC World and CNN, but we don't go on holiday to watch TV!!

The bar in the hotel was a lovely place to relax, it had football on big screen most nights but with no sound so it wasn't noisy. It cost about 6 euros for a soft drink and a beer so quite good value for city centre. It also had a food menu, but we didn't try this.

The room was cleaned every day and towels replaced whenever you wanted. There was a mini bar in the room but we didn't use this, so can't comment on the cost. The hotel also offers a security deposit box in a locked room near reception, this was free and just gives peace of mind for valuables.

This hotel is in a perfect location for touring any part of Berlin. From the U-bahn station everywhere is accessible, both the zoo station and Potsdamer Platz were less than 10 minutes away. You could walk to both of these but we were quite pushed for time - we weren't blessed with the best weather and found the whole public transport system excellent! Also on our last morning was the start of the public transport strike - we needed to get to the Hauptbahnhof by 8am and was slightly worried! The reception staff were very helpful with telling us the best way to go - only the U-bahn was affected, we walked to the nearest S-bahn station, Anhalter bhf, which was no more than a 10minute walk and arrived at the station in plenty of time.

We did not eat breakfast at the hotel (we thought this was a bit expensive-only thing that was expensive in Berlin), we found bakeries (and Dunkin Donuts) first thing in the morning on our way out - very good choice round the zoo station.

Overall I would not hesitate to return to this hotel, it was just what we wanted and excellent for the price we paid. We spent 3 nights here and had 2 full days in Berlin, we did the must see things but there is so much more to explore - most of which is free! It is one of the cheapest cities I have been to in Europe and definitely the friendliest, the German people are so helpful and friendly - a big contrast to the UK and our next stop - Amsterdam. Top class hotel!

Note: modified from my review originally posted on Trip Advisor

Summary: A great hotel with excellent public transport links