Nikolai Residence Hotel

"The hotel may be perfectly fine, as long as nothing goes wrong. But if you run into a problem, you are completely on your own. We booked this hotel because it was clearly advertised as pet friendly, stating that one small dog is allowed. Then, one day before our arrival, we were suddenly told that pets are not allowed after all. The customer service that followed was the worst I have ever experienced. Instead of taking responsibility for their own mistake, they left us to deal with the consequences and the stress of finding alternative accommodation at the last minute. After much debate back and forward (where they asked us to send pictures of where the pet-friendly is stated, because they did not know how to find it themselves (what??)), they have now promised a refund. I still haven’t received the money 10 days later and unfortunately my next step will be to report the matter to the relevant consumer protection authorities. If you value a stress-free holiday, stay away."

"Elegant residence in the center of Berlin (Mitte district), just a stone's throw from Alexanderplatz. In the neighborhood, within less than 5 minutes, there are many typical restaurants. The apartment was clean and spacious, especially the bathroom. The cost is slightly above average (for Berlin) but justified by the location."

"We had a mixed experience at Hotel Nikolai Residence. On the positive side, the location is excellent and their laundry service is a fantastic deal—only €20 for a standard wash-and-fold bag with a two-day turnaround. However, we encountered several issues that made our stay less smooth than expected. Most significantly, the reception hours were inconsistent. While the website states they are open until 10:00 PM, we were told we had to collect our stored luggage by 3:30 PM because the desk would be closed and our bags would be inaccessible after that. This was quite stressful and forced us to cut our final day in Berlin short just to make sure we could get our luggage before heading to the airport. The room service also had some gaps. Housekeeping only happens once every three days, and they didn’t replenish the coffee satchets in the room in between those cleanings. We also had an issue where the toilet flush stopped working one evening; fortunately, it was repaired by the next day, but it was rather inconvenient at the time. Finally, the communication was frustrating. While the hotel continually reached out to me via Agoda with automated invites for feedback, they never actually responded when I wrote to them directly about our issues. Overall, while the hotel has some great perks and a good location, the restricted reception access and the inconsistent service standards made our trip more difficult than it needed to be. Given the price, we expected more reliability."