LOCATION REPORT


BERLIN’S BEDROOM BONANZA B


erlin has been described as a place where a taxi driver can drink with the Bundeskanzler, or prime minister. Such egalitarianism is typical of


modern German society, which is often less class oriented than that seen, for example, in the UK or France. So it is interesting to review three hotels new to the German capital’s Mitte district that all feature – to a greater or lesser extent – exclusivity policies restricting access to their public areas. At Casa Camper the top-floor, all-day buffet at the Tentempié restaurant, which is included in the room rate, is understandably available to guests only. Next door The Weinmeister has a roof terrace, access to which is strictly by invitation only. With the hotel management’s strong media, music and fashion links expect summer time parties here to be celebrity-


fuelled. Soho House Berlin is the strictest of them all, with access limited to hotel guests and members. It will be interesting to see how these properties get on with these policies in a city proud of its open minded, democratic nature. Perhaps these hotels are hoping their exclusivity will differentiate them in a saturated market. The Michelberger leads a line up of budget oriented hotels recently joined by two hotels for the German Motel One brand, new additions to the A&O Hotels and Hostels portfolio, and the Pfefferbett Hostel to the north of Mitte to name but a few. The mid-market sector boasts the newly opened Cosmo Hotel, a member of Berlin- based Design Hotels, and the Aspria Hotel, convenient for the Messe trade fair ground. At the luxury end both the Kempinski Hotel Bristol and Ritz Carlton hotels have launched


new suites.The view from Tentempié at Casa Camper this spring showed eighteen cranes and that is only a 180� view of the ongoing construction site that is Berlin – even twenty years after the fall of The Wall. Of course not all the construction sites are hotels but there is plenty still to come. The pipeline of projects under construction and in planning from STR Global at July 2010 showed 15 new hotels with over 4,000 rooms on the way. Amongst them are Starwood’s Sheraton at the new Hauptbahnhof, Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria in an unlikely location near the zoo, NH Hoteles’ Nhow hotel with vivid interiors by Karim Rashid on the banks of the River Spree, and another two Motel One Hotels to come, in Spittelmark and at the Hauptbahnhof.


040 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010 WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM


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