Located in a very busy intersection of neighborhoods, The Circus Hotel is a nice, clean,…read morecomfortable place with a few notable exceptions. For many westerners it is important to note that they DO NOT have air conditioning. They don't even have a fan system. This means on rainy, humid, or warm days the room can get pretty muggy. The claim is that it never gets hot/warm in Berlin - for Europeans I suppose, and something about being environmentally friendly, though I didn't quite buy it. Sounded more like a way to cut costs.
The bathrooms are very nice in the single rooms. Walk in showers with great water pressure, and unbelievably scalding hot water if you want it. Clean, with plenty of towels. Along the lines of that whole "green" gimmick, you have to insert, and leave, your key card into a slot next to the door to get the lights to come on. This will drive you crazy. Bathroom lights, main room lights, etc. If it's late at night and you have to use the bathroom get ready to wake the whole room up. Luckily by the desk there is a small, wall mounted light with a switch. Without that and the light from the street I would have been in serious trouble. Heavy curtains! They also put a large, half filled beanbag chair in the room... Not sure why... it's uncomfortable as hell and just in the way.
The wifi was a little unsure at first and requires you to login every few hours or so. An annoyance that could be better. It works and it's pretty quick.
Never the less the room we had on the 1st floor was very clean, modern, spacious, and comfortable. Bigger than most American hotels of the same price. Quiet when the windows are closed. There are no ice or vending machines, but downstairs is their in-house, decent German restaurant. The 8 Euro all you can eat organic buffet breakfast is an odd mix of stuff. From tuna salad, cheeses, and breads to salami, hard boiled eggs and cereals. Lots of variety but all European. This means no eggs, bacon, and pancakes for those who might expect it. This is -not- the Holiday Inn. Great food, very well done, very nicely presented, and they do a great job with it. Very impressive. Sit outside in the garden, it's fantastic.
The desk folks are very nice, they all speak English, and have lots of little things that really, really come in handy, such as: stamps, umbrellas, packing tape, hair and body wash for free, etc. You might get someone whose English is a bit halting and they may seem unfriendly but really they're not. Immensely helpful and patient.
The hotel sits at the confluence of 4 intersections, above a subway, with an above ground tram to boot! This means outside it can get noisy but the windows are thick and you don't hear anything unless it sirens. The location is perfect for just getting somewhere. When you exit the subway at Rosenthaler Straße (U8 line) be sure to exit the Torstraße side. If you do the hotel will be right there, 15 feet from the exit, next to the Chinese restaurant. If you don't then it's down the block.
Lots of cafes and tourist shops nearby, post office down the street, etc. I never figured out the train system. Apparently you're supposed to buy a ticket when you go down into the subway - there are no fare gates - but some Germans told me only tourists buy tickets and everyone just walks down and gets on the train, so that was pretty cool. The trains go everywhere but they're are different lines run by different companies, so they don't all look the same. This can be very confusing when the desk gives you directions somewhere.
Overall I give this place a 4 out of 5. It's clean, great location, comfortable, and they really try to make the stay as comfortable as possible. I ding them one star for the a/c - or any kind of fan/air circulation system. It may sound tedious to some but having grown up with it, especially the air circulation system in general, a background noise like an a/c unit to drown out street noise is really helpful, not to mention keeping the air circulating is nice.
I would have liked to have seen more information about the room, the hotel, services, and frequently asked questions. The room had a nice personalized message welcoming us to the hotel, with their very own own hotel magazine, but information such as the wifi password, using the lights, etc. were no where to be found in the magazine or anywhere in the room that we could find. So for a westerner just be prepared to go with the flow and ask lots of questions. ie. If the lights don't work, there's probably a reason and you'll need to ask.
All that said I will probably return. When you do the euro to US conversion it's a little expensive, but for Berlin, for the location, etc. it's very nice. A little out away from the main tourist sections in a more neighborhood setting. Safe to walk around at night and the beds are comfortable.
