Hotel am Havelufer Potsdam

I chose this hotel because of the area, which seemed upper class and very safe. Getting to the hotel was difficult, though. It’s near a subway line, but far from everything else, and getting to the center took two hours. The room shower also flooded because the drain didn’t work properly. What really made this stay awful was how I was treated. I went downstairs because I needed an adapter for my CPAP machine. The man at reception was busy on his phone, said he didn’t have any, and seemed indifferent when I explained I couldn’t sleep without it and needed help. He told me, “you can leave”. I ended up sleeping without the machine and felt tired the next day. The next morning, a woman said they did have adapters and took three out of a drawer. I can only believe the man treated me that way because I wasn’t a native German speaker. By then I’d already booked another hotel. I was flabbergasted by the way I’d been treated. I asked Priceline for a refund, but the hotel denied it. If you’re looking for a place to stay, stay away from this outdated hotel. This place is trash.

The view was beautiful, and breakfast there was excellent. The nearby beach bar was also a good place to visit. Finding the entrance was a bit tricky, and the shower drainage was terrible, with water covering the whole floor. There was only a French balcony, and the double bed kept sliding apart. A fridge in the room would have been nice too.

The restaurant in the courtyard was great, though I don’t think it’s connected to the hotel. The rest of the arrival and stay was a mess. There were no signs outside, and the hotel had two different names, so we drove to the address we’d booked and found a different name there. Very confusing. I had booked and paid for three rooms, but the receptionist said they had no rooms for us and asked whether we could stay at another hotel. I said that was fine if she could return my money, but she said that wasn’t possible. We spent about 50 minutes right outside reception before she managed to get us a room. The floor in the room was dirty, with a stain that looked like blood, though it was probably wine or something.

The location was great, but I was very disappointed with the hotel. Although it’s beside the river, none of the room views seemed good: the choices were dumpsters, parking lots, or a wonderful but noisy restaurant. In the evening the smell was unbearable, and at least half the property stank of sewage during the day. That meant I couldn’t sleep with the window open, while the weak AC struggled to keep the room below 23°C. The room was bare, and the bathroom was especially disappointing. There was a huge steel sink that reminded me of a prison or airplane, plus an old shelf-style toilet. With poor ventilation and sewage smell coming in from outside, I wanted to put my old Corona-era masks back on. The carpets were dirty, and the furnishings were often dusty or seemed to be in poor condition. The WLAN was so bad that mobile data made more sense. Breakfast was the worst of it. Charging €16 for that slop ought to be a crime. The milk and quark/yogurt were room temperature, the scrambled eggs were gray and unseasoned, the pastries were premade and store-bought, and the fruit cocktail came from a can. There were sad little sausages floating in water and bread rolls that were barely warmed and baked. I could have bought better at Lidl down the street for half the price. Other guests eating there also thought breakfast was a rip-off. The staff were friendly, but that can’t make up for what a disaster this place is. Please spend your money on another hotel in the area.