Intercontinental Berlin
The Intercontinental is located in the heart of former West-Berlin, just a few steps from the shopping area Kurfürstendamm and the famous KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) and close to Tiergarten park and Bahnhof Zoo.
The hotel consists of two wings. On the left hand side is the old wing with 14 floors and on the right side is the new wing, which has fewer floors but the two top floors are the Club floor. Both wings are connected by the lobby with seating areas and the central check in desk.
If you enter the hotel you are in the lobby with the concierge desk right opposite the entrance and the check in desk to the right. Lounge chairs are placed opposite the check in desk as well as left to the entrance.
The check in area has five places to check in and out guest and is usually manned with two or three agents.
In the ground floor of the new wing is the Spa with sauna, Jacuzzi, gym and treating rooms located. Locker rooms and showers are available, towels are provided by the hotel. The pool area is of medium size, but it might become crowded quite fast if the hotel is fully booked. A sun terrace is available and several deck chairs are placed around the pool. A pool bar is available.
The gym is also of medium size and like the pool area it might become crowded if the hotel is fully booked. However, the gym is open 7 days / 24 hours while the spa is open daily from 06:00 to 23:00.
The nice thing one can reach the pool / SPA / Gym over a long gallery from the old tower on the first floor without need to pass the lobby.
Meeting rooms of different size are available and conference facilities are provided by the hotel. W-LAN is available in the lobby for free in some parts, but not in all areas, esp. in front of the meeting rooms there is a fee for the use of the W-LAN.
On the ground floor of the old wing is the Bar “Mathilde” and the restaurant “L.A. cafe” where in the morning breakfast is served.
The breakfast is served in buffet style in the restaurant. It has a huge selection of food items. Hashed potatoes, rösti, sausages, bacon, little hamburgers, scrambled eggs, eggs sunny side up are available and a cook is preparing eggs like omelette or poached eggs. Schwarzwälder Schinken, several different types of cheese and sausages, salmon, olives and marmalade and confiture. Fresh fruit were available and also cereals and joghurt. Several different type of juices and also sparkling wine and combucha; a huge
selection of loose tea was available and staff brought in addition tea (teabags) and coffee to the table.
The selection of dishes available at the breakfast buffet was huge, in addition the buffet on Sunday is available until 13:00 and becomes a brunch buffet around 11:00.
The Michelin Star rate restaurant “Hugo” is located on the top floor of the old tower in the former club lounge.
Stays: 01 August 2008
direct link to hotel:
InterContinental Berlin
Arrival Date: 01 August 2008
Departure Date: 03 August 2008
Room type booked: Deluxe, got Junior Suite
Rate Plan: Best Flexible with Breakfast
Room Number: 1363
Room Rate: Award 178 EUR
Status of Guest Program: Platinum / Royal Ambassador
We checked in around 11:30 and were greeted by the agent working at the front desk. I was told I was upgraded to a junior suite on the 11th floor. Everything was prepared and I had only to give my credit card and to sign. However I had to ask explicitly for the opening hours of the restaurant for breakfast and the opening hours of the Spa.
As we reached our room, we immediately found out, that the bed type was not the one I had requested by phone prior to our arrival. However the front desk was proactive and called us even before I could call the front desk. He had arranged a change of key in our new room on the third floor.
The new room had the same seize than the room on the eleventh floor and had a separate living room and a bigger bedroom with the adjacent bathroom.
While the living room was small, the bed room was of bigger (i.e. normal seize) with an adjacent bathroom with sink, toilet, bath and separate walk-in shower.
The furniture was mediocre, nothing too fancy and nothing stylish, just the usual furniture you find in hotel worldwide. The living room consists of a sofa with could also converted into a bed, a table, a lounge chair, a sideboard and the working desk with chair, phone and LAN connection. A TV was placed in a board near the entrance.
The minibar together with the safe and the wardrobe was in the small corridor after entering the room.
One could eventually complain about the lack of a personal touch in this room by putting some flowers or some decoration in this room or some more pictures.
The bedroom had a bed with two bedside tables with reading lamps and a phone. Opposite the bed was another TV. The room appeared bigger since there was no bigger piece of furniture than a sideboard with the TV. One could think another painting would have been nice, but that is just my personal impression. The mattress was okay.
Another wardrobe was in a small corridor before one entered the bathroom.
The bathroom was nice with a sink with a mirror and a separate make-up / shaving mirror, a hairdryer. Opposite the sink was the bath. The shower was a built in one with a glass door. It had a wall mounted showerhead as well as a moveable separate showerhead. Towels, two small, medium and big ones, were placed in the room and changed daily. There were also two bathrobes and two pairs of slippers. Bathroom amenities (by Elemis) were available and restocked daily.
The Royal Ambassador gift was three small desserts and a utensil for massage.
The automatic wake-up call did not work properly as the call was repeated three times and there came an additional personal one from the front desk. There was no voice or so telling me to press a certain number it just came three times without any verbal announcement like “this is your requested wake-up call” or so.
Check out was fast and it was possible for a friend to stay in the room until 14:00 as I had to leave around 10:00 in the morning to catch my train.
My overall impression of this stay is, that it is a nice hotel in a superb location. The old tower is old fashioned and one would probably not design the room the same way with a wall between living room and bed room. The furniture was also not modern but in good shape and there were only minor stains and scratches visible. However, if you took a closer look, there were a few. The SPA is nice and so is the pool. It is especially nice to have a sun deck, though me thinks, the SPA and the pool is more of small
seize. A highlight was the breakfast, which is really not bad and probably among the top ten percent I have had in the past years.
I would return to this hotel, but only if the rates in the Hilton at Gendarmenmarkt are much higher or I have not Gold Status with Hilton anymore.
