Potsdam Apartments

The hotel is brand new and functionally furnished as standard, like all Holiday Inn Express hotels. The rooms are quite small, unfortunately there is no space for suitcases or to unload them (there were three of us in one of the smaller rooms without a kitchenette). The bathroom is big enough and modern, and there is enough storage space. Unfortunately there was no hairdryer, which I only noticed in the morning after showering. When I asked at reception (the telephone connection didn't work), they said they would bring a hairdryer straight away, but unfortunately it wasn't... Breakfast was very good, everything you need was there, but at the main breakfast time (although breakfast times are generously until 11.30) it was very full on the weekend and there weren't enough tables - some had to wait a while until a table became free.

I booked this hotel for my husbands birthday and foolishly was taken in by the ”superior double” room as advertised on the website, allegedly there were tea/coffee making facilities and it boasted a wonderful view of the river. This hotel was poor, extremely poor, our room was awful ....... if you hung your head out of the window you could just about see the mosquito filled river. The following day I asked at reception about the ”superior double” room and that it did not fulfill our expectations only to be told (by an extremely unhelpful man) that the website was wrong and he asked me to show him which website stated the benefits of ”superior double rooms”, as it happened it was the HRG website (allegedly they are part of the group), although this clearly isn't advertised at the hotel, once can only assume that the hotel is that poor that HRG are now looking at losing this hotel within their chain. The food was poor, hot food wasn't hot and consisted of sausages and rubbery eggs which were freezing, although on a positive the vanilla yoghurt was lovely. I can't NOT recommend the hotel strongly enough ..... and don't even get me started on the closest train station which was scary to say the least. We did a bus tour around Potsdam and there are some lovely parts of it, overall our 4 night stay in Germany was poor, unhelpful staff, rude and unhelpful people, a note to travelers thinking of going, you have to pay to pee everywhere, lots of restaurants don't even have toilets and those which do will charge you 1 Euro, a lot of the self service toilets don't work and so you have to go to an awful toilet manned by a poor child (who clearly isn't happy doing his job)!!! On a positive and that's the only positive I can say about the hotel is that on the day of our checkout (note for the hotel staff) which was 6.30am on Monday 17th June when we were panicking about catching a train we were met by a helpful young man on your reception desk who understood that we were in a rush and so didn't ask us for any payment/further details (as we'd pre booked in advance) who we then met at the station having missed our train to the airport (as the trains from Charlottenof are erratic) he was extremely helpful and advised us we'd missed the train and did everything he could to ensure we caught the correct train (on the correct platform) an hour later, he even made sure we got a seat on the train (as my husband is walks with a stick), I cannot thank him enough and I hope that the hotel staff reading this review pass on our thanks to him, rather than posting an bog standard review thanking us for reviewing. Vienna House needs to post more honest pictures and not just sofa shots. An extremely poor hotel, please think seriously before booking, my advice .... DON'T BOTHER!!!!

The staff at the restaurant/at breakfast was unfortunately more concerned that the guest - goes back in time (at the entry I was told I would come 10 minutes before breakfast end. I shouldn't just say later that I wouldn't have known) - or not disturbed (my husband wanted lunch and there was no staff who took him. Therefore he placed himself on a unreserved table. The staff came and thought he was making everything wrong and couldn't sit there. Why and how he does it right, it was not just answered nicely. He may stay alone). A third not so nice experience: At request of the business center deposited on Trip.com to work on the laptop, my husband should pay 100 euros for 1 day - it was probably confused with a meeting room. The front desk was told at the reception that he could also sit in a empty restaurant. When he wanted to do this in the morning, the restaurant staff ignored it. Unfortunately, not such a nice stay for us.

Have spending 10+ nights over 3 stays at The Mercure Hotel Potsdam City, I have to say it's a quaint hotel. It seems to be particularly liked by German retirees, the breakfast area is routinely full. The hotel is clean, reliable, the parking area is not sized properly, parking is not guaranteed and it does get hectic at times. The Customer Service tries their best, I had to tell couple of times for the check-in staff not to scream out loud my hotel room number (for safety purposes). I know they mean well. I was always recognized as a top-tier customer!

Unfortuntalely, we didn't manage to use the hotel for the purpose we came for. We booked this hotel in the nature to be able to rest, but the weather was extremely hot and there was no air-co in the rooms, so it was not possible to stay in the room at all. There is a cozy restaurant in the hotel which we wanted to use instead, but it was closed because of lack of staff.. We asked if we can just use it, without the need of any service, but that was not possible. In the end we couldn't use the hotel and had to look for another cafe around, which ruined our overall experience and made us not like our stay. There was an annoyance with the cleaning staff as well, that decides to clean your rooms at 8:30AM. Yes, 8:30 in the morning you will hear a knock on the door that will wake you up and ask your room to be cleaned. Afterwards, we hanged a do not distrub sign, but the maid still insisted on cleaning our room, went inside and opened our curtains which made the room very hot when we were back. Keep in mind that even though the hotel has some nice chill areas, you will NOT BE ABLE TO STAY IN THE HOTEL, so better look for an option where you can actually chill in the hotel, if that's your goal. Location is good at the river and next to the S station. Breakfast is pleasant.

What a wonderful hotel this could have been! I liked much about this hotel including: breakfast buffet was very delightful with everything you'd think of, but the sparkling wine's one bottle was finished in the first hour and not replaced! And at $25+, that is criminal! Should have offered coffee drinks besides coffee or tea. What? No lattes or cappuccino? Also, I arranged by email, an early check-in, but front desk wouldn't believe me! Not a huge deal, but why would I lie? A four star hotel with cheap toilet paper and worn towels! Terrible internet that kept buffering, so I informed them who said they would send someone, but never did. Beds were too hard, and I like a firm mattress, but not sleeping on a rock! Carpets in room were worn and stained as well! Wanted to switch hotels but waited too long to decide! Oh well!

The hotel is big, conference-type, and all kinds of facilities are very good. It is by the lake and can park for free on the nearby roadside. The hotel is a bit off, there is a Chinese restaurant in a few minutes drive, and I walked past ten to twenty minutes.

Stayed there for 6 nights. The hotel was clean, and the location was close to the train station. The downside was that they would only clean the room in 5 days. This info doesn't show on the website. We had to ask for the info and change the towels and garbage by ourselves. On the 6th night, we found out there was no one cleaned our room. We had to go to the counter and ask for it.