First the good things--location is ok, especially for those, like me, who like walking (about half an hour walk to Potsdam Place). Room is nicely heated and one can control the radiator. Shower had a nice hot stream.
but
As soon as you enter you are hit by a wave of smoke. Although host specifically forbids smoke in the room, which is great, he is a smoker and this is very evident as soon as the apartment's entry door is open. The room is, to say the least, sparsely furnished. For example, there is a coffee machine and there were three coffee capsules (I tried one but left the mug full since it was, well, not very tasty). But there was no trace of either sugar or of creamer. There was a tiny fridge, wedged between bed and window, but host kindly informs that it is a very noisy fridge and that most guests prefer not to use it. I was allowed to put a sandwich in the kitchen's fridge (which I took back at the end of my stay and left in the trash can).
There is no access to the kitchen, as the rules specify. All I can say is that this was and will be the first and last time that I stay in an apartment without access to a kitchen. Host explained that he does not want cooking parties or full meals, etc. This is reasonable. But i have yet to meet anyone coming to Berlin to cook in a small kitchen of an airbnb apartment in a city so full of restaurants and coffee places. At any rate, the kitchen, too, smoked of cigarettes so that I, at least, could not stay for more than a minute.
There was no electric kettle in the room which meant that I was unable to have a nice boiling cup of tea although I brought my own tea bags. Also no closet, only a few hangers in the room. I also wonder to this day whether the duvet cover was washed between guests since it was attached to the duvet and, well, did not really smell fresh.
The bathroom (shared with host) was ok. The bathtub was confusing--it had two trays, one marked "private" with the host's items, the other marked "guests" and it was empty. I am unclear if guests are expected to bring their own soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc. particularly in these days of severe limitations of weight and of contents of luggage. Frankly, I did not come to Berlin for four days to shop for bathroom items which, at any rate, had to be left behind. Moreover, not far from the apartment I discovered, only on my last day, a truly fabulous supermarket, Rossmann, super cheap with an incredible variety of bathroom items. For about $ 3 (three dollars!) the host could have easily filled the empty tray above the bathtub and make the guests comfortable.
it was not cheap--two seventy nine dollars (which included service charge)--not very good value for the money. One realizes that Berlin is a rather expensive place but this place offered less than the minimum that one expects. Sorry but this could have been easily remedied although I am not sure about the smoke.