Great value, communicative host, excellent location!
We really enjoyed our stay at Apartmently Berlin and would be happy to stay here again.
Check-in was a breeze and there were some very nice extras like candy on the bedside table, beer in the fridge, shower amenities and an oscillating fan.
Though the following points are beyond the host’s control and are, therefore, not the host’s responsibility, there are a couple of points other travelers might want to be aware of:
1.) The street outside is *very* busy with traffic and there are several busy restaurant patios just below the apartment windows. The windows are very effective at dampening noise when they are shut. The only problem is that the air conditioner in the apartment is currently broken* and it’s hot in Berlin right now, so the windows had to stay open. That said, we kept the windows open and ran the fan during the day and at night, we closed all but the highest window, wore ear plugs and ran a white noise machine. All of those things combined helped to remove the noise issue almost entirely.
*= The lack of a/c was noted in the AirBnb listing.
2.) On the morning of our last day, a very loud alarm went off in the building and we all had to evacuate. We all stayed outside for quite a while, but no authorities ever arrived. Eventually, someone who appeared to be a key-holding building manager arrived, let himself in and apparently turned the alarm off. He did not communicate with us or the other tenants, we just eventually decided to re-enter the building. That was somewhat disconcerting for obvious reasons. We never learned what the alarm was about.
As I mentioned earlier, we don’t hold the Apartmently host responsible for either of the previous two points, so these criticisms are not reflected in our review of the apartment. I’m simply sharing this information to help other travelers make their decision. Again, considering the price and many other positives (almost everything was positive), we would happily stay here again.
Now, my only two criticisms of the actual apartment are relatively minor.
1.) The bed only had thick, heavy blankets. There were no lightweight sheets on the bed or stored anywhere in the apartment (at least none that we could find). The thick blankets would have been necessary in the winter and fine in the spring or fall, but in the summer heat, with a broken air conditioner, the thick, heavy blanket was, obviously, uncomfortable. The apartment has a large cabinet, so a set of lightweight sheets could easily be stored there to offer a cooler sleeping option for summer guests.
2.) All of the ceiling lights in the apartment randomly turn on in the middle of the night. One evening, the lights came on at about 11pm but I was still awake so, although it was strange, it wasn’t a big deal to just get up and turn them off again. The second night, however, I awoke at something like 3:30am with the lights shining directly into my face. That was, obviously, a more significant disruption.
Other than these two relatively minor issues, our experience was fantastic and can highly recommend Apartmently Berlin based on value, convenience and hospitality.