Hotel Eckstein

The room was clean enough. There was a refrigerator in the room but there was no plug provided. There were small packets of liquid soap and shampoo. There was also toilet paper left on the spool for single use but no refills. You had to go down and ask the reception downstairs. In the summer, I got a room on the fifth floor. It was scorching hot. The bathroom smelled musty. If I didn't come at night and only stayed for one night, I would have asked to change. If you look at the condition of the room, it's not worth it. The room costs over a hundred but the condition is only twenty. If I come again, I'd rather find a room somewhere else.

The reception is run by friendly older ladies who are very concerned about the well-being of the guests. Everything is there in the room: nicely draped towels on the bed, shower gel, liquid soap for hand washing in the bathroom. The breakfast was better than I expected: fresh rolls, cheese, ham, sausage, egg, cake, etc. Only the tea bags were a bit old. But otherwise everything was OK, there were even table waste bins. The hotel is a few years old and the furniture is a bit worn, the bed creaked a lot and the shower wasn't completely clean. I was on the top floor. It smelled a bit of stale cigarette smoke there, even though it's a non-smoking hotel. But that was very unpleasant for the receptionists. Finding a public parking space for the car was a nightmare, so I accepted the offer of a parking space behind the hotel. It was in good hands there.

We were looking for a reasonably cheap place to stay, which is unfortunately not so easy in Berlin. Eckstein, with its approx. 130 euros per night including breakfast, is apparently actually considered cheap here... We had a very simple room, but it had everything you need. If it had been clean, I might have had less to complain about. The room was tidied every day, but unfortunately very superficially, i.e. old stains, for example on the doors or on the underside of the shelf in the bathroom, were still there on the fourth day. Since the entire furnishings are already showing their age, the whole thing looked even more neglected. The bed linen was bright white, but with holes. I've never experienced anything like it. What was really nice, however, was that our room was on the top floor and faced the courtyard, and the bathroom had a skylight that let in wonderful daylight. Breakfast was extremely cheap. But everything was there. The breakfast room in the hotel is very small, the tables are set for 4-6 people. Luckily, the room was never really full and we always had a table just for ourselves. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but I don't need to sit close to strangers first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, it was sometimes very loud because the used tables were immediately cleared and then set again, and there was a lot of clattering and banging. The staff were constantly rushing back and forth, which is really crazy in such a small room. What was really good was the location of the hotel. Our destinations were in the west of the city, so we were able to get to everything without having to walk for hours. It's a stone's throw from the hotel to the U9 station (Schloßstraße). A great big shopping street (one of the biggest in Berlin, as it turned out) can also be reached by foot bus. The hotel has free WiFi. However, you won't find the password in your room, as you usually do; you have to ask at reception. I think the owner is a funny person. But we didn't get a chance to get to know him better. The staff was OK, even if a bit hectic. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this hotel.