Hotel Castell in Berlin

Disappointing Stay at Hotel Castell – Needs Serious Improvement I recently stayed at Hotel Castell and unfortunately my experience was quite disappointing. The hotel facilities are very old. The corridor carpet looks worn out, dark, and gives the impression of being dirty and poorly maintained. There was also an unpleasant smell in the hallway which made the environment feel uncomfortable. The reception staff were not helpful during my stay. Most of the responses I received were simply “No”, without any effort to assist or offer alternatives. Another downside is that the hotel does not seem to provide any additional services besides the room itself. There are no extra amenities or add-on services to enhance the guest experience. Finally, my room was advertised as having a garden view, but in reality it was facing an internal courtyard. The view looked old and poorly maintained, which was very different from what I expected. Overall, the hotel needs significant improvement in facilities, service attitude, and transparency about room views.

this is not a 'hotel' but a 'pension' - occupying a couple of floors in an old (veryold) apartment building. The reception is located on the 2nd floor - accessible by a lift. The condition of the accommodation is disappointing, as can be expected by a conversion of an old building. But I chose the hotel for its location - needing to be in this part of town. On our second evening in this accommodation the lift stopped between the 1st and 2nd floors. We rang the emergency button and were put through to a person speaking German who asked us to wait (we couldn't go anywhere!) I rang the reception of the accommodation and a lady came down to speak to us through the closed doors - she spoke no English, only German. Asking us to press various buttons. which had no effect. We hoped that she was calling some one who could assist us in this predicament. After some 30 minutes same persons came and got the lift working again. We went to reception but got no apology - on the contrary the lady explained (in German) that they were not responsible for the efficiency of the lift - they only rented the floors comprising the accommodation, but the owner of the building was responsible for the lift. If we had a complaint we had to make it to the landlord! I pointed out that the 'hotel' in its list of facilities, claims to have a lift. We asked to speak to the manager and the lady put us through to her daughter who claimed to be the manager. The daughter repeated the statement - we are not responsible for the lift, it belongs to the landlord. Anyway, she said, it's working now. No apology, no enquiry into our state (we are both in our 70s) whether we were OK. No concern for their customers whatsoever. My advice - steer clear of this facility.