The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin

My stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Berlin, just before Christmas, was perfect all around and once again absolutely met my expectations. I have been to this house several times before and when I entered the lobby I felt I had arrived in a quiet and elegant oasis centrally at Potsdamer Platz. The discreet and festive Christmas decorations have additionally provided a very special atmosphere. All public areas of the house made a very well maintained and exemplary clean impression.

The hotel is a 1 min walk from Potsdamer Platz railway/tube station and there is a direct train from the airport. It is well located for all the major sites which are a 15/20 min walk away or for those further away (East Side gallery) there are trains/tubes from Potsdamer Platz. Lots of coffee shops nearby if you do not want breakfast at the hotel. The rooms are spacious, beautiful and spotlessly clean. They are very comfortable and all the staff are excellent, efficient and welcoming. Nice diptyque amenities in the room. We had great cocktails in the bar and they had live music on Friday which was very good. An excellent choice in Berlin

The hotel has an amazing location which is its main selling point, but the property is tired and in need of room renovations. There are really two experiences here and we had both. If you do not have Club access, expect long waits at breakfast and service that is hit and miss. Things change when upgrading to the Club Lounge where the service is 6 stars provided by incredible team members like Domenico. We would not stay here again as we generally try to avoid Marriott properties due to the LDS connection. Members of the LGBT community don't feel at home when opening a desk drawer and finding the Book of Mormon.

We loved our stay here. The room category we originally booked was not available and we ended up being significantly upgraded to the Carlton Club suite - a huge surprise! It was a very spacious suite with kitchentte, living room, dining room, and 1.5 bathrooms - we didnt want to leave! We loved that the included brekfast could be ordered to the room. The portions were huge and the food was all high quality and the drinks in the lounge were great. Service was very quick and attentive. I don’t think we waited more than 5 mins wheneve we asked for something. The location of the hotel is perfect for exploring Berlin and close to lots of transit and attractions. We liked that we were close and walkable to everything but that the hotel and the area was not overrun with other tourists.

We stayed on the 10th floor , with access to the Club Lounge. This is our third time here in 2 years - always on the Club floor. I have to say I'm not sure the lounge remodelling works, but everybody's taste is different! It did seem the lounge food options available had been reduced a little compared to our previous stays. However, all of the food provided was excellent. I would like to give a special shout out to Domenico and Gem from the Club lounge. Simply put, both are terrific assets to the hotel. Our only slight disappointment was that Guest Experiences didn't follow up with us on an issue, where hot food was severely delayed to the Club lounge on NYE - a delicate situation which Domenico managed very well. The gala party on NYE was great fun and very well organised. However I would recommend in future arm bands are provided previously to hotel residents attending, rather than being redirected to a queue of partygoer arrivals almost extending out the front door! All in all though, an amazing hotel and a pleasure to stay with once again.