Percival Lee

Review of CATWALK, Marriott Hotel Berlin

Written from the point of view of a first time vis...

Written from the point of view of a first time visitor to Berlin from Canada I'll share my notes.

The Marriott is situated very nicely in close walking distance with the Mall of Berlin and the Arkade Mall. You'll notice that the Canadian Embassy is literally across the street, and the US and UK Embassies further down the road.

You will have easy access to grocery stores and some of the best food you can think of even at the food court in the Mall of Berlin. As an aside, there are mostly ladies posted at washrooms who expect to be paid 0.50 to help keep up the space. Every time I've had to use the washrooms I felt confident that they were well cleaned. You should be ready with some change.

This particular Marriott is quiet. Even during gusty weather, you can hardly hear the outside at all. The staff are nice enough and the interior is very clean and presentable. There's a quality here in Germany that I can't put my finger on but the people are reserved. This quality carries through the entire hotel. Definitely unlike any Marriott you can find in Asia or North America, and this is neither good nor bad.

In my particular room they need to install some rubber or silicone under the doors to the showers. The materials are good and pleasing to the eye, but water splashing around leads to pooling in the washroom space.

That said the housekeeping staff have an incredible sense of detail. They will change your toilet paper roll even if you haven't finished it, and they'll change out your shampoo and toiletries to fresh ones. Bless them for that.

I'll point out that the Air Con is markedly less strong than other countries. This may be a national green initiative. You'll find the same elsewhere. You can crank the AC to full power and it's no where close to where I expect it to perform.

All in all even the staff try to be aware of the cultural differences and try to accommodate to an extent.