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April 2016, 2 nights/3 days

Shortly after the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin opened its doors for the first time in over fifty years in 1997 we visited it and were impressed by the grand lobby. We swore we would stay there at some stage. Our dream came finally true in April 2016.

We arrived by train from Hamburg and took a taxi from the main train station. It was maybe half an hour before official check in time. Our Executive Room – an entrance category room – wasn’t ready yet. We went for a walk, taking in the sights of the Brandenburg Gate, which is just a few steps from the hotel and the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe. When we returned it was after check in time now, but our room was still not ready. We went around the block again to get another perspective of this landmark hotel and finally the room was ready.

The area surrounding the reception was crowded and the Lobby Lounge and Bar was also nearby, which would lead to a security issue later. I will come back to the incident in a few moments.

We had chosen the entrance category room, because we liked the looks and design from images on their website.

The walk to the room was long and it was located in the new wing, the Kempinski Palais. We didn’t mind, since there were photographs of former famous guests, an attractive indoor garden area and the stunning lobby with a cupola and elephant fountain all which beckons to be explored.

Our room we received was luxurious as expected with its own hallway and the furniture was top notch and classical. The color scheme was different shades of brown, beige, grey and green.

We were located beside the British Embassy and had views over the roof tops of Berlin and the TV tower in the distance.

The large wardrobe contained the safe and minibar. There were some interesting items in the minibar, like vodka, brewed in Berlin, Thomas Henry soft drinks (Ginger Ale, Bitters, Tonic), Talent iced tea and Charitea, a selection of Ruinart Champagne half bottles, Berliner Kindl beer and sweets, like yogurt gums, gummi bears and jelly beans.
The soft drinks and beer started from 5.50 Euro (ca. 6.25 USD), the Champagne from 65 Euro (ca. 73.80 USD) and the sweets from 6 Euro (ca. 6.85 USD). We had some of the gummi bears which had been packaged especially for the hotl. They were lovely.

There was also a club chair and coffee table, a writing desk with a tablet. At first the tablet wasn’t working, because it hadn’t been plugged in, but after this if functioned well. The writing desk had two chairs.

The large bed was comfortable and allowed for a good night’s rest. Inside the top drawer of the night stands on each side were switches for the lights and to raise or lower the automatic blinds.

We appreciated turn down left a large bottle of Evian water every night and that the wakeup call each morning was personalized with tea or coffee and a pastry provided and was punctual on the dot.

The environmentally friendly message was on a little felt tree shaped figure. It had to be placed on the bed, if the linens shouldn’t be changed.

Artwork consisted of four etchings of Italian landmarks and a flower and bird painting in the bathroom.

Of course there was also entertainment including My Kempinski, fashion and life style magazines and the LHW catalogue and a flat screen with regional and international channels. They could be sorted by language or alphabetical, because there were so many.

In room dining was 24 hours available and we used it for one dinner and two breakfasts during our two night stay.

We had the vegetable curry with rice, the Adlon currywurst with Havellaender apple fed pork and fruit salad “Three Flavors”. All was very good. It cost 51 Euro (ca. 57.95 USD).

We tried two different breakfasts. One was the Continental with hot chocolate, carrot juice, bread and pastry selection, butter, Rosenrot & Feengreen jams, Berlin honey, Nutella, cheese, cold cuts and fresh fruit salad. We had a French Toast with it as well. All was beautifully presented and delicious. It cost 41 Euro / ca. 46.60 USD per person.

The other was the European, which was the same as the Continental, but included a hot dish – our choice was the egg white omelette with Nuremberg sausage – and gravad lax, smoked trout and mackerel. It cost 47 Euro / ca. 53.40 USD).

We enjoyed our meals through room service, it represnts good quality and value IMHO.

The bathroom was large with separate bath tub and shower, double sinks and Kempinski own branded toiletries, which we liked.

The toilet and shower were in separate cubicles and there was storage space under the sinks.

Since the Adlon is a grand hotel it has many amenities, including diverse restaurants, lounges and bars including Le Petit Felix, Restaurant Quarré (where we had dinner and a review is going to follow.), Lorenz Adlon Esszimmer and Sra Bua by Tim Raue.

Of course there is also a spa and a clef d’or concierge service desk.

Now to our problems with security and billing.

The TV has the function to connect you to your invoice. We checked it one morning and were surprised to find a charge from the Lobby Bar on it, since we had not used it. When I called reception I was thanked for informing them and promised this would be removed. Checking again later on the TV it was not showing anymore. We thought this was now done and dusted.

Wrong!

We believe someone must have overheard our name and room number, when checking in and used it. This is easily possible, since there were so many people lingering about near reception. A fraudster could easily pretend to wait for someone or to be in the queue. Our name was dropped quite frequently. Of course I understand this is a sign of luxury, but prefer not to be addressed by it due to privacy concerns.

When checking out we received a printout of the bill and the incorrect charges were still there. It was a bit disappointing.

We believe the layout of the lobby should be rethought or only staying guests and customers with a restaurant reservation allowed entry. This may change, because the Adlon Hotel Kempinski is going through a renovation currently as of Sep. 2016.

Another thing we disliked was the prohibition of taking photographs in the lobby. Security was discreet about telling my fiancé he wasn’t allowed to use his camera, so that was good. As soon as we were advised he stopped doing so and never used it again in the public space, so the reminder on another occasion was unnecessary and not appreciated.

Having now experience with a few Kempinski hotels/resorts around the world and there were always some issues we came to the conclusion that this hotel chain is not really suitable for us and probably will not stay with them again in our future with the execption in markets where Kempinski operates hotels and it looks like there’s no suitable alternative available. However, overall we might not “gel” with Kempinski and what they offer and how they offer their product.

Would we recommend this particular hotel to a friend? Maybe, depends on the occasion.
Would we want to stay again at this particular hotel in our future? Maybe yes, maybe not, as we experienced some serious flaws at this hotel, but equally we experienced also some “highs” at this hotel, interestingly we equally stayed at Das Stue [earlier in 2015] and the Grand Hyatt [after the Adlon] in Berlin, both of which are flawless in what we experienced with them in terms of especially service, design, F&B and room product.

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