If you click on the original poster's (OP) name you'll see they have been a member here since 2004. But with some of these responses it may be healthiest not to come back ;(.

I agree with Ruby lots of people read previous threads for information and never ask a question here.

Melia
stayed 3 times...perfect location in the east.
In the west, stayed at 10 Hotels...also excellent location.

I am the kind of reader who appreciates these kind of posts even if the op doesn't use the info, many people do.

>> Go find a travel agent and PAY for it. <<

I wonder if you can find a travel agent in, say, Bakersville or Greensboro who has first-hand experience of the hotels in Berlin which have opened in the last five years.

>> We almost picked that hotel, but then heard from a few others who'd stayed there that the pool was just too cold for them to enjoy. <<

Maybe it was just a temporary problem or a subjective feeling.

Last February we stayed at the Schweizerhof for €89 per double room including excellent buffet breakfast for two that was worth €35 per person. And found the pool warm enough.

The good thing about Berlin is that you have an overwhelming choice of good hotels and almost always you find one or two with killer rates.

As the Old West (Berlin) is the new hip, you find cool places to stay in walking distance to KaDeWe department store, like the 25hours hotel with a grand view into the zoo or the city center. Plus the currently very fashionable Neni restaurant.

For those with little money to throw around, there are also budget options like the Ibis Budget on Wittenbergplatz or the MotelOne or the new RIU one block East of KaDeWe.

When the new Upper West tower will open in 2017, MotelOne will open its largest flagship hotel in the lower 18 floors. That will be one of the best located low-cost hotels in town. At least the one with the best views.

Well, I've not visted here since 2013 (a trip to Amsterdam, Brussels and London), but I've been a "member" since 2004, and have often gotten solid tips from Fodor's posters on locations and lodging. I'm looking now for lodging in the large city of Berlin and, in my early stages of research, have not yet narrowed my choices to East or West Berlin. My wife would consider a pool a bonus, but shopping is not very high on our agenda, and we're more likely to concentrate on the historical aspects of the city.

What I'm really just a bit concerned about is that, at least in this thread, there seem to have been some ill feelings developing among some of the posters. I hope that Fodor's will not turn into an all-too-flaming forum like, for example, the otherwise useful Digital Photography Review forums.

Otherwise, thank you all for your contributions. We'll be looking for an en suite 3-4 star hotel in the +- $150 US class. I'm not sure if that's possible; we're not really in the Adlon economic class, but we're of an age that a walk-up with shared baths is not quite our cup of tea, either. We're not English, but we're saving a part of our travel budget for the second half of our trip, a week or ten days in a nice London flat.

Welcome back, mohun!

>>ill feelings<<

Don't take it too serious. Maybe someone had left his bed with the wrong leg. Most of the Fodorites try to be helpful. Still.

In my post above, I have tried to give you a description of several good hotels with pool in Berlin. It does not matter too much whether you stay in the Eastern part (actually "Mitte") or in the Western part, since public transportation works so well. However, in Mitte, you are in the midst of things and find many sights and attractions in close walking distance.

My advice for you:

Open www.hrs.com (or another booking engine) and do a hotel search. You can search for hotels with pools only. You can sort the results by price or by distance fromt the city centre. It displays pictures and maps. In addition, use tripadvisor for reviews and candid photos (tripadvisor also connects to booking engines). Try to find good deals.

And if questions remain, come back and ask here.

traveller 1959,

Thanks for the tips. I'd not thought of using a site like www.hrs.com to screen for, and help narrow down, our choices. Except for our first trip in 2000 when we used Venere.com for most of our search and bookings, we've since always booked with great success directly on the hotel websites.

My general research approach (other than working directly with London Connection for a London flat, which we've done quite happily three times before and will do again this time) is to read, and often purchase, the most recent Rick Steves' book and use the funky maps, together with his pretty good descriptions of the various attractions (museums, historic sites, etc), and, having by then generally picked a strategic hotel location with reasonable walking and/or public transport to what we decide will be those highest priority atractions for us, look online here at Fodors and at Frommers (and even, sometimes, Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide) for hotels with the most positive reviews and see what hotels are most often positively mentioned, and select among those.

Oddly, but perhaps not so oddly, we've seldom selected any of the Steves' recommended hotels, many of which are a bit more Spartan than those with which we older folks are comfortable.

We're not as comfortable with Google's Trip Advisor which has been a bit controversial (not so much as Yelp, the Better Business Bureau and Angie's list, however).

YOu can get the Adlon Kempinski for $300 or less on certain days and dates, it's not that difficult. Of course the cheapest double room, but it's do-able.

We Europeans are anything but happy about Rick Steves. His map of Germany is ridiculously wrong, even manipulated. And his books are helplessly outdated. Why should his hotel recs be better?

Berlin has many brand new hotels. Most of the travellers to Berlin come for Business. As a result, the rates vary greatly. One hotel might have a big conference and high rates while the next is booked lowly and offers great Deals. Therefore the search Engines.

I'm not a defender of RIck Steves except to the extent of his (sometimes) humorous but candid descriptions of sites to visit in the cities to which we've travelled, and we've not been disappointed generally with those recommendations, as well as with his oddly drawn city maps (we've not yet seen his Berlin maps); however, we've rarely lodged at any of his recommended hotels (only twice, I remember: one in Budapest which was clean and very well located but quite minimal in its amenities, and one in Madrid which was well located and actually quite nicely furnished with solid amenities)).

We're quite early in our search and we will make use of the search engines to focus on just a few hotels whose details we'll pursue further on those hotels' own websites to obtain the formal reservation contract with our final choice.