Berlin Sol Melia hotel: Should I be one of its first customers?
 

I'm looking to book a hotel in Berlin and in October, a new Sol Melia will open on Friedrichstrasse. The location looks fantastic, I can get a free breakfast (I'm a MAS member) and I've liked every other Sol Melia hotel I've stayed in.

Think I'm taking a risk they won't be open by their announced date? Or that half the hotel will still be undergoing painting, noisy work?

Thanks -- especially if anybody lives in Berlin and has seen the hotel I'm talking about!

I walked by there several times last week on my visit to Berlin. It doesn't look quite finished yet, but I'm sure that will change. I agree that the location is just about perfect, and I greatly enjoyed the single Sol Melia hotel I've stayed at. When I saw it, I wanted to stay there and I was wondering what their special rates will be.

I stayed in another hotel on Friedrichstrasse last year & found the location ideal.

Caroline,

How were noise issues in general on Friedirichstrasse?

WillT,

Thanks very much for your eyewitness report! The rate I am getting off the web is 160e for a double.

I didn't notice any noise at all but we weren't at the front - I think we were facing a side street.

It was my first time in Germany but I'd say my impression was the street noise generally wasn't like the street noise in - shall we say, more Mediterranean cities ? :-) i.e. less mad traffic generally, no horns blowing. And there wasn't a lot of pedestrian traffic at night (no groups of 'revellers' :-) ), at least not at the end we were - up towards the northern end of the street, a couple of blocks before the station.

I'd highly recommend the area because we liked the buildings, most sights were easy walking distance and for those that weren't we were handy for buses & the Metro, & there were good eating & drinking areas within a short walk too.

I'm not sure if you've been to Berlin before, but in case not & it's helpful, here's a link to my trip report - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34614269

Thank you, Caroline! Great minds think alike. This morning, I clicked on your name to see if you had, by any chance, written a trip report. I read it before I had to run to catch a train, and I am only now getting back to this thread to thank you for it -- and here you are, giving me a link to it.

The level of detail in your report was especially helpful to me. No, I have never been to Berlin and this time, I will only have about 60 hours in which to see the sights. I think I may spend all of them in the Pergamon museum and the film museum!

Which hotel did you stay at? Did you like it? Do you think it would be OK for a business hotel?

Hi ! We stayed at the the Maritim ProArte and I think it would be good for a business trip - it was a large corporate-style hotel which could have been anywhere but pleasant enough, and the breakfast was ace !

I'm afraid that in the Pergamom museum we got audio guides & just did the 'big 3' sights. Apart from the fact we had lots more we wanted to do, it was was very busy with lots of school parties - and it was raining that day, so maybe that made it busier too. So we weren't tempted to hang about too long. We probably just spent about 1 or 1.5 hours there.

Thanks again, Carolne. In the meantime I've booked myself into the Sol Melia Berlin, and hope I've made the right choice. I'm trying to figure out where it is on Friederichstrasse. The address (I think) is in the 50s, and I'm trying to figure out the nearest cross street and some casual but tasty restaurants in the area.

The Sol is only steps from the Maritim ProArte. Just behind Friedrichstr. station by the canal.
For casual but nice restaurants in the area, try Lutter & Wegener's Gendarmenmarkt outfit, a mere 5 to 10 minutes by foot away. Borchardt, just around the corner from Lutter & Wegener, would be another option.

Hi, I saw this hotel advertised on hotel.de for a cheaper rate than on the SolMelia website (I think it was 106 euros a night for the days I was looking at). So give that website a try to see if you can get the cheaper rate.

With that hotel, you are very near Oranienburgerstrasse, which has numerous restaurants. On that street, we liked Mirchi - which had Singaporean Indian fusion food. I also liked Cafe Orange.

sol melia should have a guaranteed lowest price. they matched one offer for me once and also gave me an additonal 10-15% reduction.

What happens if you show them the hotel.de rate and it's indeed lower? Will they match that?

Fall06:

Try putting the exact street address of the hotel folowed by Berlin, Germany into the Google (NOT Google Earth) search box and hit "maps"...you'll get a pinpoint location on a map you can zoom into.

Once on the map page click on "hybrid" in the upper right and you'll see the cross street names overlaid.

if they have the guaranteed lowest rate offer, your request should be in writing within 24 hours.

however, i had a CANCELLABLE reservation with their sister tryp hotel in granada, i wrote them with the URL showing the price difference i saw TWO DAYS later, and suggested i would cancel it since i had seen one so much lower (it included buffet breakfast AND tax for less than i was paying , and we had two rooms!).

they wrote back saying i had not written within the time limit but were going to honor that rate along with their bonus discount. i was happily surprised.

Interesting. I'll keep this in mind for the future if I come across the mispricing again. I did check their website and it showed 160 euros for the dates I wanted. Thanks for explaining how this works. fall06 may find your tip useful. I suppose if the reservation is cancellable, as you say, he/she can cancel and rebook, so Sol Melia ought to honor the lower rate.

I ended up booking the Holiday Inn Express to save some money as the average rate was 59 euros (breakfast included). Didn't think that I could beat that.

Will,

Mirchi is that Indian place on the left side of Oranienburger Str., about 70 yards from the corner of Friedrichstr, right opposite the Arcotel Velvet Hotel, isn't it?
If so, I completely agree with your suggestion - makes for a great lunch spot, too. I cannot remember having had such a dirt cheap lunch at that quality before.

is i the holiday inn epxress near potsdamer platz? if so, it was a fabulous hotel for the price.
nice buffet breakfast, and a bus and metro nearby.

nice,safe neighborhood, and clean, functional room.

Have to say I didn't care for the Potsdamer Platz area - I thought it was rather soulles & was glad we weren't staying there. Everywhere we went felt safe so I don't think that's anything to worry abput.

Yes, it's about 150m from the Anhalter Bahnhof S-bahn.

I picked it for the price, really. I agree that it's not the most exciting area. I'd prefer the Sol Melia location, but for about half the price of that hotel, I'm willing to stay in the Holiday Inn.

Also I'm spending some time in Munich during Oktoberfest and a basic hotel is 185 euros a night. I can save some money.

Sorry, that wasn't meant as a criticism - meant for the OP, really, just to say that if s/he has the choice, I think Friedrichstrasse is better.

No caroline -- I didn't take your comment as a criticism. In fact, I agree with you that the Sol Melia is in a better location. For me I decided the money I'd save would be more important, but someone else could have different priorities. I figured that the Holiday Inn would have easy access to public transportation, so it won't be too difficult to get around.

Anyway 106 euros is still quite cheap -- but I think that the rate doesn't include breakfast.

Thanks, 111op. I did look on Hotel.de and you are right! They do have the cheaper rate. As a MAS member of Sol Melia, I'm entitled to a free breakfast for my breakfast partner.

Here's my question: I already booked over the Sol Melia website. They've already told me they can't match the cheaper rate (I checked, lincasanova!), but I can of course cancel, and rebook with Hotel.de.

Am I silly to feel nervous about doing this? I think what worries me is that discount-booked guests get bumped or don't get treated as well, and that since this is a brand new hotel, more things could go wrong.

I'm going to double check to make sure all the taxes are included in the differing rates. Any advice?

hsv and willtravel,

Thanks for the orientation and the restaurant recommendations. For most lunch hours, I think I'm not going to be near the hotel. I'm hoping for at least some of my lunches will be near the Film Museum and the Pergamon. Any tips there?

Also, for those of you who know Berlin well, does the Bauhaus Archive have an interesting building and exhibits, or is it mainly a library for documents?

Never mind! I just looked up the Bauhaus Archive on the internet. It looks like an amazing building. I hope I have time to find it.

I can't comment on whether you'll be treated as second class if you book the cheaper rate. Others who are more experienced can tell. When I book hotels I always try to get them for the cheapest -- I figure that even if there's a difference in service I'm not going to be able to tell. And I spend so little time in hotels in general anyway, so it's not a big deal for me.

But even though I booked my hotel in Chicago via Priceline for Labor Day, the hotel still gave the two of us complimentary drinks when the room wasn't ready when we arrived at 8 pm. So at least in that case, they didn't seem to treat us badly.

I think that it'd be bad practice in general, anyway, and I doubt that hotels can keep track as to who paid the rack rate. And there're so many promotions, etc., anyway.

The Pergamon isn't too far from the area around Hackescher Markt and the surrounding Hackesche Hoefe, where there are quite a lot of interesting shops and cafés.

There is one restaurant called <b>Pan Asia</b> there that serves quite tasteful Asian food from different regions (who would have guessed by its name? ;-) ). Look for the red Pan-Am like logo indicating the entrance to the passage leading to it.

http://www.panasia.de/restaur/restaur1.htm

In the courtyard next to it, there is a pretty nice caf&eacute;, the name of which escapes me right now.

The Filmmuseum is on Potsdamer Platz. There is a huge variety of eateries there - some of them pretty mediocre, some of them quite nice.

If you crave a sandwich type lunch, I would recommend the Bistro Dietrich of the Grand Hyatt Hotel (on Marlene-Dietrich-Platz), which serves great sandwiches in combination with a softdrink and one coffee for around EUR 9.00 at lunchtime.

http://berlin.grand.hyatt.com/hyatt/...ants/index.jsp

For a pasta or pizza lunch, there is an outfit of <b>Vapiano</b>, a chain of self service Italian restaurants originating in Hamburg, that serves fresh pasta made on the premises and prepares the food directly in front of your eyes at your order. It's usually quite good, but it depends a bit on which chef you catch (and to find the best sometimes takes a bit of trial and error) - but I am quite sure that in general it would not fail to please. Dishes are around EUR 6.00.

http://www.vapiano.de/index.php?lang=en

For a nice dinner with reasonable prices, I would head to <b>Diekmann im Weinhaus Huth</b> on Potsdamer Platz - it's rather easy to find as it's housed in the only older building left on Potsdamer Platz near the shopping mall by the name of Potsdamer Arcaden. Cuisine style is French/German and a main course will set you back around EUR 18.00.

http://www.j-diekmann.de/restaurant_...eisekarte.html

Michelin star honoured cuisine is found in the Mandala Hotel's <b>Facil</b> restaurant located opposite the Sony Center. It does come at a price, though.

http://www.facil-berlin.de/englisch/index.htm
I am irritated a bit by Sol Melia's policy about not matching the cheaper online rate as they have a best online price guarantee on their website. They claim they will honour the cheaper rate an give you an additional discount of 10 % provided you specify availability of a cheaper rate within 24 hours of your reservation.

http://www.solmelia.com/solNew/reser...ntcmp=GMP:HO2:

If your reservation is cancellable, you could cancel it, make a new reservation, mention the cheaper rate of hotels.de and claim your additional discount (which would give you the hotel at EUR 95.40, if I am doing the maths right).
I do not think that there would be more things to go wrong if you booked through the cheaper consolidator. Maybe your room would not be as nice, but as this is a brand new property, I am quite sure that they do not have any real bad rooms. Probably the view would not be as good, but then the savings are substantial so that I would jump at the cheapest offer.
I would also like to point out that I was surprised to find Sol advertising a rate of EUR 160.00 as an introductory special. The Berlin hotel market is rather competitive and EUR 160.00 do not seem to be particularly cheap - even for a hotel in a good location like this.
This would only encourage me to ask them to follow their own rules and policies and to honour their best price guarantee. If not, I would in fact consider taking my business elsewhere. The Marriott is located on Potsdamer Platz and is close to the Filmmuseum and is quite nice (although I found the service a bit spotty, but my visit was only a short time after its opening). The Radisson SAS is a nice modern design option very close to Museum Island and thus the Pergamon.
Both should have rates around EUR 160.00, too.

i would also cancel now, rebook and then claim the discount.

you can always cancel again.

You probably want to check the reservation on hotel.de is cancellable -- I didn't check that.

I agree that 160 euros is a bit pricey for Berlin. But then I was surprised by difficult it was to find something that seemed nice under 100 euros. I did notice the hotels in former West Berlin are cheaper, but having stayed there for one night three years ago, I'm ready for a change of scenery.

I'm sure part of this is seasonal.

Wow! Thanks for all this helpful advice. I'm talking all this over with my business partner. Right now, we are focusing on trying to figure out where we should stay in Paris. Having mainly booked hotels in central Rome, Milan and London. 160e looked pretty cheap to me for the capital of Berlin! I wish I could find those rates in Paris for something other than a dubious closet -- but that's the subject for another thread.

Thanks hsv for those restaurant recommendations. Any good bets near the museums or the Bauhaus Archive for German food for lunch?

By the way, I'm probably going to start a new thread when I get a chance to ask some other questions about Berlin -- like, can I get a museum pass? But I've got to leave Berlin mentally for a few days until I nail down Paris.

Thanks again to all!

Well my favorite hotel in Paris (Hotel Tiquetonne) is 50 euros a night. It's too shabby for your needs, but I've not found anything that beats that price. And it's minutes away from Chatelet-Les Halles, so the location can't be beaten.

You can see that I love bargains. :-)

There is a Berlin Welcome card. You could try some calculations and see if it will pay for itself.

At the Schoenefeld airport, I bought a smallish 1,75 Euro magazine called Berlin in Your Pocket. This has a lot of sightseeing information, recommended eateries in numerous neighborhoods, maps, etc. It was a very useful guidebook, particularly for the price. If you are trying to find some recommended places, you could try that.

Once more, I can second WillTravel's advice. The InYourPocket guides are invaluable. You can usually get them at hotels' frontdesks.

Unfortunately I cannot come up with any restaurant recommendations near the Bauhaus Archive. I am not that familiar with the area.

Thanks so much for this advice! I will have Berlin in my pocket.

You may consider walking southwest 4 blocks from Bauhaus Archive to Kadewe (arguably Berlin's Harrod's) where they serve German food cafeteria style on the top floor.

I got an email from Sol Melia today offering rates for the Melia Berlin from 73 Euros. So maybe you could check again. Log in with your Sol Melia number when you do.

Interesting!

I'll check that out. Thanks!

(And thanks for the eating tip.)

Thanks to this thread, I just moved my hotel reservation from Potsdamerplatz to Melia as it is very close to the seminar location that I will be going to. I managed to get the 73 euro deal for two of the four nights, not a bad deal. Hopefully the hotel doesn't disappoint.

I checked it out but, given my dates, I was only offered the exact same rate I'd already booked.

But I'm glad DAX got the rate!

fall06:
Can you explain the relation between being a MAS member and SolMelia hotels? Are you talking about Enrich priviliges when you stay there?