We really wanted to like THE BIRDS NEST and never want to give a bad rebiew, but at the end of the day, the value wasn't there. What we paid for didn't meet the price paid.
First off this wasn't an inaccurate listing; the place looks like it does in the listing. The problems we had with the Siggi's Birds Nest wasn't checking in or communication, but the a doezn of small inconveniences that made the stay uncomfortable and added up to the rating and review you're reading.
The positives: The Bird's Nest is unique and it's probably why the listing caught your eye. The floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor are the standout feature of the Bird's Nest. There are three floors making for an even more unique experience, a kitchen, the wifi worked just fine, Apple TV was available, and the area seemed secure and safe from the week we spent there.
The negatives: Past the grand window acrhitecture, the space didn't feel as if it was updated/taken care of in a very long time. It was a lot of inconveniences. The biggest was the light situation - none of the switches seem to be where they should be on every single floor. For example, you had to walk to the other side of the room of the second floor to turn on the lights. Weird. The bedroom on the third floor had a rechargeable lamp that sat at the bottom of the bed?
One of our biggest gripes is the area of the Bird's Nest, though central on the map, quiet and safe, it is located in an essential deadzone. Yes, there's a couple restaurants, a cafe and two hotels nearby, but none of which are interesting to visitors to Berlin (or at least not to us). I would call the area a transitional space - no one is going there as a destination -- people are moving through the area on their way somewhere else.
So getting good coffee or something to eat or going to grocery store was a minimum 15 minute ordeal everytime. This manifested in our daily itinerary too; everyday we would pick up a Scooter, bus, or bike for 15-30 minutes just to get to see the sites we were interested in (this is subjective based on what your interests are). That means it was another 20-30 minutes back, too. Not a lifetime, but adds up when you're out all day.
The bedroom was situated on the third floor and it wasn't a comfortable bed by any measure. The pillows were poor (not a diva here, they were really bad pillows) and the "blankets" barely covered us. Keep in mind we're not tall or wide either (both of us are 5'8/173cm).
Couple that with the fact that the bedroom got so hot, I elected to sleep on the plether sectional 6 out of 7 days. I slept better down there, but there were nights where it was too cold (and we had the heat on) that meant I had to use one of the blankets as a bedsheet and perfectly measure out the blankets. Not the end of the world, but not what one would expect from the pricepoint we paid. All in all, it wasn't easy to control the temperature of the space as you relied on open windows or a heater you had to open up with a valve (no visual/digital thermometer).
We spent some time working from the apartment and we had to remove two of the chairs from the dining room table because they were on the verge of breaking. Given we were told one that we shouldn't sit on one of the chairs during check in. Looking at both broken chairs, it's clear that there have been attempts to repair them with white glue at some point - they should just be replaced.
We stayed there a week and we got one towel each and three toilet paper rolls for the nearly 8 day stay. Not enough. There was liquid soap, but was hidden in a drawer not put out for guests as one would expect. The washer worked but was broken so you had to lift and push up to get it to close. No dryer so clothes had to be hung fry. The water kettle had residue floating in water after usage so we washed it, but didn't remedy it. We stopped using it.
I guess I would sum it up as this: It presents as a very modern accommodation with the best finishes, but what you get feels very impersonal, cold and the ameneties are more aligned with much lower priced airbnb. Had we paid half the amount, we could live through the inconveniences listed above, but we didnt; we splurged on an accommodation that at the same pricepoint ($250 a night) would have gotten us a very well, clean, hotel in a much more visitor-friendly location.
These are the items of concern that contributed to our rating.