Best Western Hotel President - Berlin, Germany     

The hotel were located close to the "shopping street" Kurfurstendamm and Europas biggest shoppingsenter the KaDeWe. The hotels breakfast was nice, but a bit expensive, so its possible to make a better deal in one of the nearby restaurants. The rooms was a bit worn, and the one we had was quite small, but still ok. The hotel also had a so called "spa" and fitness senter in the basement, but it was so small and worn that we never used it..

Stayed in the Presidential Club rooms and given it was a Best Western, it was definitely above standard. After having a very bad experience with Best Western as a corporation after problems with a hotel in Toronto, I never use this chain. However, a work function required me to stay here so I gave it another chance. The room was not large (so would not necessarily want to imagine the rooms that are not the "upgraded" version) but as could be expected in this part of EU, very effectively and efficiently designed! North American designers could learn a few things here about the size of our footprints! The room had everything you would expect in a 4 star room--free wireless, a comfortable reading area, nice desk/workspace, flatscreen, separate bar area, very clean and updated bathroom, nice bedding, and little make up table/extra mirror area in a much smaller space than North American hotel rooms that somehow did not feel crowded at all! Breakfast was great and made life easier than finding a place nearby before work meetings (especially since it rained the whole time). Location was super convenient to U-bahn--although there were more interesting areas of Berlin, this area had everything you needed in terms of cafes, shops, etc without the hard core night club scene and noise. We were here during Euro Cup so crowds at night were fun and spirited all over the city--but not obnoxious or worrisome! People often try to judge based on the star rating--I have found from travelling all over the world, that this system is too diffcult to ever be useful. A four star in Mexico is completely different than the lap of luxury you find in a four star in Thailand or a four star in Jordan. This is by no means a hip boutique hotel, but it is better than a standard hotel (especially given that it is a chain!) Staff were efficient and friendly, but it wasn't the type of higher-end service you find in many other places (eg. no one offers to help with luggage or order you a taxi without you standing in line to ask them, etc, which are fairly standard courtesies in many other hotels....but are hardly an issue or problem). There was nothing significant that I would change here and I would recommend this to family or friends.