Hotel Mondial - Berlin, Germany     

Just came back from Berlin this week. This hotel, shockingly, despite calling itself a four-star hotel, did not have air-conditioning!!! I, therefore, would personally not stay in this hotel during the summer when it is warm and humid; however, they do have heaters, so a stay during cold months, like ours, is just fine as far as this issue is concerned. Another MAJOR complaint I would have is the shower doors being only half the length of the bath tub and resulting in a messy wet bathroom floor after every shower. It amazes me to see these kinds of shower doors commonly in Europe,and I just don't know what they are thinking when they build them this way and the reasoning behind it. The third negative is the lack of free-internet access, and not even having a business center, again despite calling themselves 4****. You can borrow a laptop from them and get internet for a considerable fee. To the positives: The best feature of this hotel was its location. Besides being in the middle of Ku'dam, its accessibility from the airport was unbelievable. You can get to the Hotel from TX airport with just one bus (#109) which drops you off right in front of the Hotel and can go back the same way, and it will only cost you 2.1 Euros and take you about 20 minutes!! And the closest metro station is about 3 blocks (salvingiplatz), ie 5 minute walk and you can even walk to the Zoo train station within 15 minutes by foot. And the area is very safe and nice and you walk through shopping areas so the walk goes by quickly. The Room was very clean, but the first time I entered, the hotel did smell somewhat musty (mild) and humid and "old". The second time, I could not smell much maybe because my nose had become saturated, but, anyway, it was not bothering us anymore. The furniture is a little old and feels somewhat 70's and 80's, but surprisingly in pretty good shape . They don't have king beds, they put two twin beds next to each other and call it a " standard double"!! We stayed at three german hotels during our trip, and they were all this way. The breafast was very good and we pigged out on it every morning so much that we could not eat lunch and it was more like a brunch for us. Overall, by US standards, this is a 3-star hotel and not a four-star one. In the US, we probably would have paid around 150-200 dollars for this kind of accommadations in any US major city in non-peak times in mid-april, but we paid a 150 Euros per night, which given the exchange rate, came to around 250 dollars, so perhaps a little expensive for a 3*** hotel. Overall, however, we had a good stay and I would highly recommend this hotel for a non-summer stay, given the excellent location, the breakfast, and the nice staff, but definitely not when it is warm since there is no AC unless you can sleep in a hot and humid room or are ok with opening windows and don't mind the noise.