Hecker's Hotel Berlin

This hotel is in a very central area of Berlin just off Kurfürstendamm and very close to a metro underground station. it is also close to buses that will take you quickly to the Zoological Garden, from where you can reach most places of interest quite easily, so the location is fine. The room that I was allocated was pretty big, no air conditioning unfortunately, but it did have very large windows that could open into the room. Unfortunately this was into a street that had a pub/music venue just across the road. This was quite noisy on the Sunday night until quite late.The windows themselves are curious as the open all the way back into the room, and if you were travelling with young children, it would be wise not to have these windows open, even though they start quite high up the wall. Little people can be very inquisitive when it comes to open windows. There was one window that did only open at the top, but not really enough airflow to keep cool.
The bathroom was fine, it was kept well stocked with all the usual supplies, including mouthwash, first time i saw that, but maybe I have just led a sheltered life. The room itself had an ante room to store clothes and was big enough to be a dressing room with a full length mirror. This ante room also housed the safe and minibar, which was well stocked, but I didnt make use of it. The rooms are furnished in tired old furnitute, and the doors are the old style keylock, that has to be handed into reception everytime you leave the building. The other facilities within the room consisted of a rather old television with a number of channels, only 2 english speaking, still it was Germany I was in. There were no movie options, this maybe a concern for families who's children like to settle in the room at night and watch a new release, but in fairness a dvd player is available to rent from the reception, I don't know where you would rent dvds though..I never availed of this service. The breakfast was really good.Lots of variety and definitely no problem with the quantities, copious quantities of coffee also. I was there in early July and the place was dead, I only saw about 4 other quests, and 3 of these were at breakfast. They, like myself, were solo travellers. I never saw any quests in the bar at night, then again Berlin has such a range of bars and restraunts, this maybe isnt suprising, still sometimes its nice just to settle in the hotel bar for a few drinks before bed, and not be the only one there, even if it is only to people watch. Overall this is a very functional hotel, and the service and amenities are good but not brilliant, but it is a 4* private hotel, and not part of a major chain. It is a hotel where you can be as private as you want to be, I was totally unaware if anyone was in the next rooms, unlike some hotels the walls are not paper thin. The staff are friendly and speak good english, and are very helpful. I enjoyed my stay here, as it suited my needs, it is not intimidating in any way, and I felt very comfortable there.