I'll start off with appartment, as that's the least compicated part of our stay. The appartment itself is great! It's well designed, very cozy and really well located. The kitchen contains all of the equipment needed for self-catering, the lounge has a big TV with accessible ports and there is good wifi throughout. It's in a peaceful neighbourhood with plenty of fooderies nearby, as well as various supermarkets for everything else you'd need. Within a short walk there is both the underground (U-Bahn) and overground (S-Bahn), which are well connected to reach the city centre in a short time.
Unfortunately our experience with check-in wasn't the best. We provided our arrival time and some details of our plans 2 weeks before the check-in date, however we did not receive the check-in instructions until just 2 hours before we arrived, and that was only after a prompt from myself. Our check-in itself was very smooth (it's done by a lovely neighbour who was very friendly), but it was a little nerve-wracking to wait so long.
Once we were checked in, we took a little look around as you do, and it seems we had some bad luck, as the appartment wasn't in the tidiest of conditions (which was suprising, given the reviews). There was mouldy food in the kitchen which had left a foul smell, as well as there being mould and damage to the fittings in the bathroom. These were not massive issues for us and therefore we did not contact the host, we simply threw out the food, opened the windows and the bathroom required nothing from us.
Now the worst - Since check out, we have received very hostile behaviour from the Host, accusing us of damaging the property and was demanding a large sum of money. We treat all our holiday destinations with the upmost care and respect, whether it be a Hotel or an Airbnb and we were confident that we had not caused any damage, and were therefore suspicous of a scam. At our request, the host provided us pictures of accused damage in the bathroom, however as we know the bathroom was already damaged, we had also requested the photos taken from before our stay, these have yet to be provided. We contacted Airbnb who reviewed the commucatuion with the host and it was confirmed to us that this was the tell-tale sign of an attempted scam. The sum of money was far too big for the alleged damage, as well as the communcation from the host (Such as demanding the payment outside of the Airbnb platform, personal information, as well as legal threats) fitting the standard. Airbnb were absolutely wonderful and gave us very clear steps to resolve the issue, which we have now done. What was orginally a very stressful situation became a walk in the park.
This has been quite a tough review to write - We had an amazing time in Berlin, and the appartment was a wonderful base for us to come back to each evening. We didn't want to give a review that didn't make that clear, however our experience with the host after our stay was terrible, and we are concerned about how many people may have had this happen, or are going to experience it in the future. If it wasn't for Airbnb Support making this situation easy for us, this review would likely be much different. All in all, I would still recommend this appartment for a stay in Berlin, but I would advise that people are very careful when dealing with the host and you should take steps to protect yourself. A recommendation Airbnb made to us was to take pictures of the appartment on arrival and again on departure, just in case.
I think I've written a review that is fair and adequitely explains the good and the bad, hopefully it's helpful to at least one person. If you got this far down, I commend you.