AMERON Hotel ABION Spreebogen Berlin

Located on a strip among a health food store and a beer tap room, Ameron is pretty convenient. Only a few blocks away from the metro, and along the River it offers a nice break from the bustling city.

Rooms were presented clean and in order, decor is modern and minimalist with warm tones. Staff is friendly, the one minor issue was the sauna. The hours of operation are not up to date and when I was actually able to enter the sauna, none of the rooms were active.

We were super-mixed on this hotel. It's (I guess) a 4-star hotel, and maybe if we had used all the amenities to their full effect it might have been better. The room (a 2-level maisonette) was spacious (great for 2 adults traveling with a teen), and we did use the sauna. It was in a very convenient location.

However, our room left a lot to be desired. There was a lot of wear and tear (from simple issues such as there were only 3 hangers total) to gouges and such in the walls). Rather than having a queen and king (2 pushed-together twins) bed as described, it was a double and a king. Despite a 100-euro "extra person" added fee that we had not seen in the small print when we booked (our tween in a room that slept 4), there were only pillows, coffee cups and pods, etc. for 2, and asking for more was kind of a hassle. Other items (like lotion, water, etc.) were not refreshed during our stay.

All in all, this hotel has the potential to be great, but it is not living up to it.

Summary:
Don't expect your third bed to be ready, a coffee or tea maker in the room, towels in the bathroom, hair conditioner, air conditioning, lighting or updating in the maisonette room, or the staff to pick up the phone. Nice and pleasant staff but uncomfortable stay. Only thing that won't upset you is the breakfast. Also- Be careful they have bugs that will bite you in your sleep.


Full review:
I would give this place ZERO stars if I could. It's as if the owners have no idea how to hire competent staff. Don't get me wrong, they're all extremely pleasant and very sorry about the mishaps but with this many mishaps I cannot be positive about our stay. Everything that could have gone wrong did. I have never had a worse hotel experience in my life and it was the worst possible way to end our trip to Germany.

NIGHT ONE
Our misadventures began when we checked in late at night. We had reserved and prepaid for an upgraded maisonette room. I had emailed them prior confirming that we have 3 beds in the room. When we arrived, the 3rd bed was not made. The front desk staff had to pull out the sofa bed and make it. It took them THREE tries. I kid you not. The first time they came, they realized they brought a twin sheet for a double bed. Second trip, they realized the double sheet barely fit and could not be tucked into both sides. The third time they figured it out by doubling up 2 sheets and overlapping them but only gave me a small blanket and pillow for a twin bed when this was a double bed. I decided not to say anything. Regardless, we needed them to make an additional trip because there weren't enough towels for 3 people. While making the bed they managed to drop the pillowcase on the floor twice. Lovely.....

The maisonette room itself was 2 stories and very annoying to get luggage up the winding stairs for the upstairs bed. The other option was to walk out, walk down the hall to the elevator, take it up one floor, and then go back over to the room. The room itself was extremely dated with ugly carpeting and the bottom floor had no windows. Coffee maker but no tea. No ironing board. They only give you a combination shower and body gel and no conditioner. Lowest level of service humanly imaginable. Are we in a motel? Actually motels in the US offer more services than this.

NEXT MORNING
We tried doing our makeup but even with the sun out it was impossibly dark on both levels. We asked to be switched and it turns out all of the large upgraded rooms are on the bottom level and are so dark. We had to be downgraded to a smaller room. We saw the room and it was lighter but smaller with 3 beds. We packed our bags and dropped them off at the front desk and were told our room would be switched. Since we were downgraded to a much smaller room we asked them to at least comp breakfast for the next day and they agreed.

THAT NIGHT
We went to the new room and SURPRISE NO THIRD BED. AND NO TOWELS FOR 3 PEOPLE. This room also had no coffee maker, no tea maker, no ironing board. We tried calling but no answer so we had to walk back to the reception to tell them. They came with the extra bed and I told them we would make the bed ourselves this time. Guess what?! They gave us 2 sheets and no duvet cover. And she even made a second trip for the towels. We then had to make another trip back to the front desk to get the duvet cover and they forgot about our request to have the coffee maker in our room.

When we tried to go to sleep the room was extremely hot. The air conditioner barely gave any cold air. We had to remove the duvet from the blanket and just use the light sheet to sleep with the window fully open. As a result, at 330AM we were woken up to a buchbinder delivery guy loading something into a truck and making so much clanking and banging noises. So much for a good nights sleep...

NEXT DAY
We came back to our room and the housekeeping staff took ALL OF OUR TOWELS. So we had to make yet another trip back to the front desk because they wouldn't pick up the phone again.

FINAL MORNING
My sister awoke with a swollen lip and four bites running across the right side of her body- two on her thigh, one near her inner wrist and one just above her brow. After 50mg diphenhydramine orally and gel, it has not improved and she's going to urgent care 12 hours later.

Location- AWFUL. It is not near any public transport and is at least a 15 minute walk to the nearest station or a €12+ cab ride into the city.

I don't know what the staff do at the front desk because, every time we tried calling, NO ONE WOULD PICK UP THE PHONE. We had to walk to the front desk at LEAST 4 times to make requests happen. It was NOT a relaxing stay and I would tell you to AVOID this hotel COMPLETELY because the ONLY nice thing about this hotel is the breakfast with lots of options and fresh squeezed juice for €15.

A modern, well equipped hotel, superbly located hotel right on the river Spree, next to Germany's Interior Ministry. The hotel looks better on the inside than on the outside. I was lucky to have sixth floor room in the quiet west wing, directly overlooking the river Spree and Old Moabit.

Reception staff were friendly, helpful and welcoming, I wasn't as impressed with the waiters at breakfast.

The hotel, which is about a mile from Berlin's main railway station and parliament, provides hire bikes and bike parking stands right at the main entrance, plus many more covered bike parking stands between the two wings of the building, right by the kitchen door, which receptionist considered a safe place.

The hotel staff provided me with instructions to connect to their free wifi, even before asking. The wifi connection was reliable and fast.

Reserving through HRS I paid €98 (all major cards accepted) for a one night weekend rate including breakfast.

For our Family trip to Berlin, we were looking for a kids friendly place to stay, but deliberately decided against the typical and well known chains. The Abion Spreebogen Waterside showed some promising features and already had some good reviews, so we decided to try it.

We made a reservation by emailing the hotel directly rather than through an online service. Although we had to remind them a few times to confirm, the rate was still lower than what we found online.

Check-in went smoothly, but the guy at the frontdesk demonstrated an uncomforting arrogance that didn't resonate well. Another minus was the unavailability of a baggage cart, so we had to hand carry erverything to the rooms.

The rooms were clean and modern, although pretty small. The kids were lucky to get an accessible room which was quite a bit larger, but with a less than pretty view (of course being kids, they couldn't care less, so it was ok!). The aircon units seemingly were installed as decorative items only, as even in late October they wouldn't cool down the rooms at all. On the positive end, the windows (2nd floor) weren't locked so at least you can get fresh air by opening the windows.

Beds were ok, but the mattresses constantly moved and once or twice almost slipped off the bed.

Bathrooms are very clean and, although small, very funtional (no bathtub, just shower which was perfectly ok for us). The minibar in the room was pretty small and featured only some "basic" drinks at typical high prices. So at best the minibar could serve as an "emergency" source for a quick drink. With a well equipped downstairs lobby bar that was not a big issue, though.

A real minus, however, was the absence of a coffee maker in the room. We like the habit of enjoying a first cup of fresh brewed coffee in the morning and this should be a service feature in every good hotel, in my opinion. Luckily, there was at least certain compensation for the lack of the early starter coffee: The highlight for us clearly was the breakfast with a rich selection of good food!

All in all, the stay was fine. We cut off a star for the not very helpful and sometimes arrogant front desk staff and anothher one for the conbination of several little things, incl not really being a family and kids prepared place. I think this place could easily make big improvements with only little changes and effort. One would be to train the front desk staff in customer appreciation...

I love visiting Berlin, and this is my first choice when I go.

The first time I stayed here, I was put in a family room. The room has two floors, connected with a circular staircase. There are beds upstairs and downstairs, and one bathroom on the lower level. Even though it was just me, I still used the upstairs more because of the massive windows looking out onto the Spree river. For the US-based, the beds aren't plush, but it's more rare to find those on the Continent. It's comfortable.

On subsequent visits, I've gotten superior and waterside rooms. A lot of the rates include breakfast. The breakfast buffet is pretty extensive; I've never left hungry. Meats, cheese, pastries, etc.

On the down sides: The televisions are tiny and not a whole lot of programming in English, but who goes to Berlin to watch TV? There's also not much on the touristy side to see within walking distance that I've found. A lot of Mediterranean restaurants. However, it's only a couple of blocks to the nearest train station. The trains aren't the easiest thing to figure out at the station when there's no attendant, so I'm really thankful the front desk at the hotel are so good at giving maps and directions.

I booked 4 nights at the Ameron hotel but had to rearrange my travel plans. I called the hotel before the dates I was supposed to arrive to try and shift the dates I would stay at the hotel, but the hotel would not help me out. They informed me that they will not shift the dates and that I booked the room at a non refundable rate so I will lose all my money. I was shocked because when I've been in similar situations in the past, other hotels were always willing to work something out. I even told Ameron that I would book 2 more nights with them because my trip got extended, but they did not care. If anyone else finds themselves in a similar situations, please be aware that the Ameron hotel will not help you out at all.