Holiday Inn Berlin City West

"Excellent rooms and meals Very nice pool and sauna 10 out of 10"

"Located a bit away from the actual hustle and bustle of Berlin, the Holiday Inn Berlin City-West hotel is in the Spandau (Siemensstadt) district. The hotel has 342 rooms and offers a good wellness area with a pool, spa, sauna, and more. The breakfast was also quite good. But during my stay in August 2026, I also noticed several small issues and shortcomings, which I will describe in the following. I had been assigned double room 156 B (in building section B). The approximately 20 sqm room was equipped with two good beds, a sideboard with a safe (which did not work), as well as a table, two chairs, a closet, a luggage rack (clear signs of wear on the wall), a TV, a telephone, a coffee maker, laminate flooring, and a good curtain. The small refrigerator in the sideboard could have been filled if needed. There was a 0.7-liter water bottle on the sideboard (would have cost 4.50 euros if emptied). The associated bathroom had a bathtub with a shower attachment (the knob for the tub stopper did not work and was partially rusted (see photo)), toilet, sink, hair dryer, magnifying mirror, and a clothesline that could be stretched over the tub. The room was clean. The breakfast room on the ground floor is pleasantly designed. The breakfast was quite good and offered something for every taste. Among other things, there were good coffee machines, a pancake machine, bread, rolls, croissants, a cheese platter, various cold cuts, jams, egg variations, cereals, yogurt, quark, fresh fruit, and more. The wellness area in the basement is also quite good. Besides a sauna, spa, and gym, there is also a good pool, which I was particularly fond of. When there weren't too many hotel guests in the pool at once, you could swim well. But there were also issues here: The pool is open starting at 6:30 a.m. On the first day, I was apparently the first guest at 6:45 a.m. - everything was still dark. I had not seen any light switches. Because of the emergency lighting above the fire exit doors, some visibility was possible. I then swam in the dark for 20 minutes. Other swimmers left. In the men's showers, all four soap/shampoo dispensers were not working. When I went to the pool area again in the evening, a janitor happened to be there, to whom I reported the still non-functioning shampoo dispensers. After some trial and error, he found out that all 4 gel bottles had been inserted incorrectly. Later, while showering, I also noticed that the shower drain in the back right was clogged, which I reported to the reception the next morning, as well as the lack of provided bath towels, which had been available in sufficient quantities the day before. "Our housekeeping doesn't start until 7:30 a.m.," was the answer. A major point of criticism for me is the behavior at the reception. Since checking in our group had already taken quite a long time at 20 minutes, the receptionist was not willing to listen to my points of criticism on the day of departure. Even my suggestion that some defects could have been fixed before being used again by other hotel guests (e.g., broken safe, non-functioning bathtub stopper, clogged shower drain by the pool) left him cold. "Write that to us," he said, and I was handed a business card. Empathy was out of place. Checking out (by my wife) confirmed the lack of empathy: No inquiry as to whether everything was okay or to our satisfaction. Other guests from our group also heard only this when handing in their room card: Thank you, goodbye."

"We were there for an avent in Berlin, and had an overnight stay. Not a fancy hotel, expected better regarding the cost of one night with breakfast. The breakfast was the thing that made the 3 stars."