Cityblick

There were bed bugs everywhere. I know they can be hard to get rid of, but still. The building itself is old, though the structure seems nice and it could be a really good hotel with a bit of work. You have to look past the dated paint and old carpets. Breakfast was included and was a nice continental spread with fruit juices. It’s served in the attached restaurant, which gets extremely busy as a vegetarian restaurant at night, and local meal prices are cheap for Berlin. There’s a park and a shop around the corner. The park isn’t amazing, but it was fine for the kids in the morning. We stayed one night on our way to Poland.

Bed bugs were everywhere. I caught several in a drinking glass and flushed a few more down the toilet, and the receptionist barely reacted when I brought the glass downstairs. I have bites all over my neck, wrist, arm and groin. I had to sleep on towels in the bathroom, as far from the bed as possible. It was one of the worst nights I’ve ever had. The receptionist said he couldn’t refund me because it was Sunday, and wasn’t much help finding a rubbish bag to seal my belongings in. A literal nightmare.

The neighbourhood was interesting, and the people I met were friendly. The price is low, and breakfast is adequate. The place is a bit worn, and the room cleaning was lazy, getting even lazier as the stay went on. I’d only recommend staying one or two nights.

Months before my stay, I booked in good faith. Then the pandemic hit and my flights were cancelled. I told the hotel and Booking.com well before the stay date and asked for a refund, but neither would return even a penny, despite there being no way for me to reach the hotel. This hotel only wants your money. It was rude and showed no compassion, taking my money without any help even though it had no right to do so. Booking.com was money hungry too, refusing to help a customer who’d been booking with them and giving them business for years. I found both the hotel and Booking.com fraudulent.