Patrick Hellmann Schlosshotel

My daughter and her husband treated me to a visit to Berlin with my first grandchild. As we have been before in early 2000 for a couple of stays I was very happy. But that was short lived when we arrived. The special spark of this once beautiful Hotel has gone. When my husband and I arrived in 2000 we literally got the red carpet treatment. Our luggage was whisked away whilst we were seated in the lounge with a glass of bubbles to recuperate from our journey. Not anymore. Struggle with your luggage, take it to the holding room and your accommodation yourself, my son-in-law was asked to put a deposit down for the rooms. Never had this happen in any other hotels we stayed at. As we had our 5 month little one with us I asked if the pool was a good temperature. I was assured it’s at a comfortable 24* it was freezing. The jacuzzi has been taken out, there is no one to help you with anything in the pool area. The beautiful a-la-minute drinks have vanished, too. Nothing is special anymore. No one is sitting you down at breakfast. I asked at the egg station if I could have a couple of soft boiled eggs and was pointed to the basket of ready cooked eggs. Very hard boiled ones. As soon as we sat down you get presented with the bill.

In short, not worthy of luxury 5-star hotel. Dated room, confused duty managers & frontline staff, and security issues. Don’t waste your time here. Room - Room 61 touted as Junior Suite, looks more like old folks’ home. Safety - My car got vandalised even parked near its gates. Speaking to Duty Manager & staff as if talking to a bunch of confused idiots: No ideas where hotel’s CCTV, no access to footage, or what not. Noteworthy details - They will sell you free parking, but with only small carpark that only houses 8 cars, and full most of the time, you can only park outside at your own risk. Oh yeah, they’ll promise you heaven and earth (I.e. bringing you extra bed, exchanging room or what not), in the end just providing lips service without proper handover or communicate expectations correctly.

It remains one of the best “boutique”-hotels I know about, while since 1-2 years seemingly in some kind of economizing mood/ mode. Unfortunate lu the classy Currywurst seems to have disappeared from the bar menu. The fire place was not on either. Better to find the footing and then start to speed up again. Anyway, I will be there soon again/Sushi

Sadly, I must confirm that the negative reviews for 2024 are all accurate. We stayed here in the past with great satisfaction, the last time being 2019. It WAS legendary for comfort and service but NO MORE. Things have changed dramatically. -- The check-in was a joke with a character from White Lotus Season 1 behind the desk. First, he couldn't find the reservation for 3 nights, then when he did, he couldn't confirm that the stay was pre-paid (it was), and finally he had to run our credit card for incidentals 5 times due to his "system." All the time joking about the inconveniences. If you book on-line and don't select a "Deluxe Room," they will stick you in the "Annex" (we originally had room 56; stay away from this one) with all outdated furnishings and bath facilities (read bathtub shower with shower curtain).-- We unpacked and immediately noticed that it was warm. We then turned down the air conditioning to the lowest temperature which the hotel allowed (20C). When we returned from dinner later that evening, the room was like a sauna. We called the front desk, they investigated and confirmed that the a/c system was not working. Mercifully, they gave us an upgrade in the main house. We gratefully acknowledge the upgrade, but it did not make up for all the other shortcomings at the property. The breakfast HAD BEEN legendary in the past with white table clothes and every delicacy imaginable. NO MORE. On the first morning, when we went down for breakfast one of the timid waiters informed us that our breakfast was not included in our reservation. We asked him to check again and lo and behold, we returned to tell us that it WAS included. (We went through the same process the next day.) We immediately noticed that something was different. The meats and cheeses were sparse and of the cheapest quality. There was almost no selection, BUT the worst was yet to come: if you wanted freshly cooked eggs or an omelet, you had to pay extra!! There was a small basket of cold, hardboiled eggs next to the chaffing dishes which held bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and potatoes, BUT no scrambled eggs. For those, we were told, you have to pay more. Afterwards, we started watching the reactions of the other guests (most rich Germans) who couldn't quite believe what they were hearing. One older couple just got up and walked out. The wait staff swanned in and out without removing any dirty dishes UNTIL the guests left the tables. We sat in the corner each morning and just piled our dirty dishes on the nearby console. Others were not so lucky and sat among a sea of dirty dishes and silverware until the ordeal was over. It was disgraceful for a so-called 5-star property. On Saturday night, when we returned from dinner in Berlin Mitte at around 11pm, the main lobby was so hot that the front desk attendant was standing outside the entrance with his shirt unbuttoned trying to keep cool. None of the common spaces were airconditioned. -- We also noticed that there was some kind of private party going on in the back garden but went right up to our room. About 30 minutes later, we heard the loud bass of techno music coming through the double windows. That went on until after 1am. Not pleasant! And finally, the check-out: we were told we incurred a charge at the bar (which we had never visited). The clerk apologized and said, "No problem, we'll take care of it." Of course, the charges appeared on our CC. We had to dispute it! My guess is that the hotel is having serious financial difficulties, and the sudden death of its owner has probably not helped. You can and must do better! Sorry.

After trying to get in touch with Hotel Management we see no other option to post here. Our complain is nearly endless here are the main topics: - Room for booked for 3 persons, we got towels, shampoo etc. for 2 persons only. - Aircondition not working - Swimming pool not open Sunday morning @ 9,40 despite it should open @ 8.00. - "Free" minibar only equiped with water and juice, if you call it a bar it shall include wine, beer, snacks. Free water is normal in hotels and not part of free minibar. - Restaurant menu, service and price level not to our expectation, we have never been in hotel were it cost extra to get fried egg or pancakes for breakfast. - No room service menu so we could call for the missing items in so called minibar. - At least 2 of the staff acted more as comedian than their actual job, we came for high class discrete service not for jokes and clowns. - In the 2 days we didn't see any kind of management on site, no one asked how is your stay, how is the food.