WHAT’S IT LIKE? This listed architectural landmark with its eye-catching black and white checkerboard façade recently completed a major refurbishment, producing an expanded Presidential Suite, new Diplomatic Suite and Park Suite, as well as upgraded meeting facilities. The lobby is quite vast, but warms up with natural light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling aviary-like glass windows.
WHERE IS IT? From Tegel Airport by taxi is 20 minutes, and 45 minutes by train to Zoologischer Station and then it’s a 10-minute walk to the hotel. Located between Potsdamer Platz and Kurfürstendamm, the city’s lifestyle heart, convenience can’t get better than this. Being very near the Berliner Zoo (est 1841) one can see from some parts of the hotel the animal enclosures and their furry residents. Another Berlin icon, the Victory Column – which figured in Wim Wenders’ film Wings of Desire as the place where the angels congregated and was the spot Barrack Obama spoke to the German people during his 2008 visit – is an easy stroll away.
HOW MANY ROOMS? 584 guestrooms including 50 suites. Club InterContinental floors (level seven and eight) contain 70 executive rooms and suites complemented with a sleek lounge, which offers personalised check in and check out, daily breakfast buffet and all-day snacks, Wi-Fi, a library and conference space for eight persons.
ROOM FACILITIES The Superior Room is a compact shell in predominantly brown, beige and off-white hues and dominated by a king-size bed. The TV was still one of those bulky models, which took up valuable space in one corner – perhaps the hotel should think about replacing them soon.
The bathroom is compact and well lighted, however, the shower head in the bathtub is positioned in such a way it led the spray to run down on the sides of the glass panel and onto the floor. After my first bathing experience, I was constantly mindful of where I stood so as not to cause a huge puddle that I might slip on.
F&B Hugos on the 14th floor has been Michelin one-star rated since 1999 and boasts 18 Gault Millau points for its splendid gourmet dishes and panoramic view of the city. It even has private dining rooms. On the lobby level, LA Café serves Californian and Asian cuisine and nearby, the Marlene Bar with its summer terrace still commands a loyal troop of habitués, and gets even busier when Berlin fills up with trade show attendees.
BUSINESS FACILITIES Considerable investment has been channelled into making this hotel an undisputed meetings magnet. Housed in a separate wing, left of the lobby reception as you enter, are 37 venues of all types, in total about 5,750sqm, with the largest (Potstdam Ballroom) able to take up to 2,500 people cocktail style and the smallest (one of several boardrooms) up to eight.
Planners should take note of the street-level Pavilion, a versatile event product that’s capable of morphing into a conference room, a lunch or dinner area (for 600) or an exhibition hall. Its high-precision steel and glass design combined with state-of-the-art lighting go a long way in allowing unique gatherings to become reality.
To maintain a share of the meetings business to Berlin, the InterContinental, Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof, Palace Berlin and Crowne Plaza, have teamed up in the Destination Berlin initiative to offer organisers a one-stop option, offering a pool of 87 conference rooms with a capacity of 10,000sqm and choice of 1,700 rooms and suites.
LEISURE FACILITIES The 1,000sqm Vitality Club offers massage and grooming services and houses the 24-hour fitness studio, swimming pool and hamam.
VERDICT The concierge service was impeccable, truly living up to the chain’s brand promise of being “in the know”.
PRICE Superior Rooms booked on the internet for a stay in the first week of January 2010 start from E102 to E175 (US$149 to US$258).
CONTACT Budapester Strasse 2, Berlin 10787, Germany, tel 49 30 26020
For website, click here.
Peggy Teo
