Almost everything went wrong with our visit to the hotel. We asked for a twin bed, which we did not get, and we had a lovely wiew of the parking lot (!) from our room. The tap didn?t function properly and you had to wait for 15 minutes to get warm water from the shower. There were also some nightly problems: the walls were paper thin and the hotel was filled with very noisy young people. Also, in the midlle of the night, I was waken up by an unpleasant cigarette smell from the downstairs restaurant. If I have to say something positive, the staff was okay and the breakfast was fairly good. Also, I liked the retro-feel of the hotel, which was one of the reasons we decided to go there on the first place.

We stayed for just one night (thankfully) and although the room itself was pleasant, the decor interesting and the breakfast buffet good we did have major bathroom issues!! On arriving we wanted to freshen up and have a shower but there was no hot water! After complaining to reception they said 'Oh yes there is a problem and the plumber has been called'. They did not mention this when we checked in 30 minutes previously! On returning to the room we then found the toilet would not flush! Neither problem was fixed when we returned after our evening out even though we were assured they would be! So at 1am we asked to change rooms at which stage the receptionist (very helpfully, I may add) came to the room and fixed the toilet herself! By morning the shower was lukewarm, certainly not warm enough to have a shower in Berlin in February though!! I liked the hotel but hot water and a working toilet are basics which I expect as standard so for that reason I would not choose this hotel again.

The East Side Hotel is excellent for anyone that prefers hotels with personality and character. Friendly, helpful staff was very accommodating. The receptionist even made us french fries when we came in starving at 3 am. In addition, we were able to check in early (our flight arrived at 8:00 am) and we repeatedly locked our key in our room. The rooms were very clean. The food in the restaurant was pretty good, and the breakfast buffet was excellent with both hot and cold items. Although the location is out of the way as far as most of the tourist attractions, our room looked out over the Spree River right at the Oberbaumbr?cke Bridge, as well as a large section of the Wall, known as the East Side Gallery. A train station is right around the corner or the staff will gladly call a taxi, which always arrived within 5 minutes. The only negative was that the wireless (FREE!) didn't reach the top floor, but we just used our laptop in the bar. All told, we had a great stay at the East Side Hotel and would recommend it to anyone as an alternative to "cookie-cutter" chain hotels.

we arrived kinda late, and they had given away our reservation. but the staff put us up in another one of there hotels nearby, the gold hotel, and even paid for our cab fare. the gold hotel ended up being very nice. i'd say the staff at east side hotel was more than friendly.