Ku' Damm 101 Hotel

A former office block? You’d never guess. Playful, spacious, well-priced und sehr cool

It’s always good to have expectations surpassed. From the outside, Ku’damm 101 (at one end of the Kurfürstendamm, West Berlin’s main shopping street) looks nondescript, housed inside a grey building that nearly became a car park. Above the door, an oversized apostrophe (the hotel’s symbol) is a clue that inside it’s a different story. Slipping between a curving reception desk and oversize Chinese light-columns, I found myself at a lime-green-lit circular bar in the high-ceilinged lobby, staring at what I thought were two stuffed pandas. (Turns out, they’re horses.) Beyond lies a small library with a retro TV cabinet; in summer, can sip a beer in the decked courtyard with clipped box trees.

The common areas have a rare feeling of space: the lobby, the wellbeing area on the 1st floor, the wide corridors. Many of the 170 rooms do too: mine, an 'Upper Class' on the 6th floor, had great views of the city, all the way to the former communist Fernsehturm (TV tower) in Alexanderplatz, in the east.

Highs

• Trendy, modern design with contributions from all over Europe
• Free internet access in the lobby
• Spa and massages are available to recover from over-shopping
• Very cool retro TVs and portable minibars on request
• Value for money (except during fairs)
• Great views from the 7th floor breakfast room, with a buffet spread that should fill you up beyond lunch. On Sundays it’s served till 1pm - perfect for those who’ve had a late night hitting Berlin’s legendary club scene!

Lows

• It's at the far end of the Ku'Damm, but metro and buses are close by to whisk you into the centre; and it's very near the ICC
• If you’re a carpets and wallpaper kinda gal or guy, the clean euro-aesthetic and clinical, lino-clad corridors won’t be to your taste
• At 170 rooms, it's one of the largest hotels on i-escape, but that does mean availability is less of a problem