The Jetpacker

The Arcotel Velvet is a popular 4-star hotel in Berlin thanks to its solid location and trendy design.  It had great reviews on sites like TripAdvisor and Google so we had pretty high expectations going in. We feel weird going against the grain on this one, but we don’t get what all the fuss is about.

PROS:

Great location. Arcotel Velvet is right in the middle of everything.  Restaurants of every kind surround the hotel, Tacheles is right next door, and there’s a U-Bahn station right around the corner.  It was so close to many major sights that we could have skipped the public transportation and walked… if it wasn’t so cold.

Stylish design. Staying at the Arcotel Velvet is like temporarily living inside an Andy Warhol painting; pop art is everywhere, from the wall-sized Nefertiti in the hallway to the curtains with faces of famous figures like JFK.  The sheer curtain that divides the bathroom from the bedroom is stylish and fun, and it helps give the room a more spacious feel.

Goodie Bag. After we checked in, we were given a bag filled with numerous maps, a calendar of events, and a comprehensive pub guide.

Apples. There’s a holder on the wall that looks like a cup holder, but in fact it supports two apples supplied fresh daily.

CONS:

Uncomfortable bed. Instead of sharing one blanket like a normal hotel, we were given two individually-sized blankets.  That’s fine, except for the fact that the flimsy blanket was designed for people under six feet tall.  Even worse was the paper bag pillow that had me longing for one of those tiny airline pillows.

Lack of storage cabinets. There was only one small cabinet, and it was so high that only I could reach it.  We had no way to separate our dirty clothing from our clean clothing, so we kept the clean clothing in our bags and piled the dirty laundry into a mountain.  Much like Everest, you don’t want to mess with Dirty Laundry Mountain.

Inefficient television. I can deal with the fact that the TV was small, but it would routinely turn black and white, like some kind of sick test to see if I was color blind (or perhaps to remind me of how sad it is that our parents had to watch TV without glorious color).

Disagreeable shower. I accept the fact that European showers don’t come with a door or a curtain, but I still can’t get used to it.  What bugged me about this shower, though, was that normally I could trap in the heat by shutting the bathroom door.  But because the bathroom had no walls or doors, heat seeped through the transparent curtain.  When I know I’m gonna be freezing cold all day, I just want to enjoy my warm morning shower.

Expensive breakfast. The breakfast buffet is supposedly pretty good, but at €12 per person, it’s just not worth it.

Poor customer service. We’re still really bitter about this.  We checked out of our room very early in the morning New Year’s Day, hoping the lady at the front desk would help get us a taxi since it was snowing and New Year’s Eve partiers were still wandering the streets looking to get home.  There was no doorman or concierge to do this for us, and the woman at the front clearly didn’t want that responsibility.

She called the taxi line once, said it was busy, then never tried again.  Someone who subscribes to good customer service practices would try to call again or arrange another form of transportation like a private car service or a van pool, or at least be apologetic when nothing seemed to be working out.  Instead, she disappeared into the back room every time we’d venture back into the hotel lobby.

No wonder she was put on the graveyard shift.  So we were left to fend for ourselves outside where everyone was descending on cabs like hungry vultures.  It took an hour of running through the snow and stopping taxis in the middle of the street before we were able to find a taxi.  And when I went inside to get our bags, the lady at the front didn’t even say good-bye.  Come on.  You have to go out of your way not to say good-bye.

OVERALL:

Despite the fantastic location, Arcotel Velvet sacrifices comfort for style, and the rude, unhelpful staff member left a bad taste in our mouths.