Ritz-Carlton Berlin Review

Part of East, Central & West Berlin · AN EXPATVISTA COLLECTION

The Ritz-Carlton Berlin was the middle stay of our three-night Berlin trip, although it wasn’t a hotel we chose separately. The night came as part of the Marriott Moments package we had won for 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, together with the Berlin Gourmet Odyssey, breakfast and a €100 hotel credit.

This wasn’t my first stay here. I’d previously used the Ritz-Carlton on work trips to Berlin, usually for short visits where I remembered a comfortable room and a good breakfast more than anything else about the hotel.

This time we would see more of it. The Gourmet Odyssey began in the Curtain Club late that morning, part of the experience took place at POTS, and we returned to the Curtain Club for drinks that evening.

We arrived at the hotel in the late morning, before the Gourmet Odyssey was due to begin at 11:30am. I had expected that we might have to leave our bags and return for the room later, but we were able to check in immediately.

That gave us enough time to take our bags upstairs and unpack before heading back down to the Curtain Club for the start of the event.

The Ritz-Carlton Berlin is at Potsdamer Platz, within easy walking distance of much of central Berlin. Brandenburg Gate and Tiergarten are to the north, while Gendarmenmarkt and Bebelplatz are also walkable.

Potsdamer Platz is a modern commercial area with excellent public transport connections. For this stay, it also put us close to much of the route covered by the Gourmet Odyssey.

That evening we walked from the hotel to Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt for dinner, continued through Bebelplatz and then returned to the Ritz-Carlton on foot.

The room was similar to those I remembered from previous stays at the hotel. A short entrance corridor opened into a large bedroom with separate sleeping and seating areas.

There was a sofa along one wall, with a table and chairs between it and the bed, leaving enough floor space that the room never felt crowded.

The bed sat against a panelled wall in muted plum and neutral tones, with bedside tables and lamps on either side.

For a one-night stay, we had far more space than we needed. It was also a sharp change from the much smaller room we’d had the previous night at the Me and All.

The marble bathroom had a double vanity, separate bathtub and shower, with plenty of floor space around them. Everything was in good condition during our stay.

The Curtain Club is the Ritz-Carlton’s main bar and lounge, just off the hotel lobby. We ended up using it twice during the day.

The Gourmet Odyssey began here at 11:30am, when guests gathered for Ruinart Champagne and canapés before being divided into groups for the three restaurant stops.

We returned later that evening after dinner at Augustiner and our walk through Bebelplatz. By then, a live band was playing and the main bar area was full, so we took a table slightly off to the side.

From there we could see the main staircase. At one point, people in sequinned outfits and stage makeup began coming and going, apparently as a nearby dance event was letting out. We stayed for drinks and used the €100 hotel credit that had come with the Marriott Moments package.

Breakfast was included with the package, but we skipped it. After the previous day’s Gourmet Odyssey, neither of us particularly wanted another large meal the following morning.

I had eaten breakfast here on previous stays and remembered it being good, but I can’t offer a current assessment from this visit.

POTS, the Ritz-Carlton’s restaurant, was also our first restaurant stop during the Gourmet Odyssey. We had two courses here with German Rieslings before leaving the hotel for Lutter & Wegner.

I’ve covered the food and wine in the separate Gourmet Odyssey article.

The hotel night wasn’t booked separately. We paid 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for the full Marriott Moments package, which included the Ritz-Carlton stay, breakfast, a €100 hotel credit and the Gourmet Odyssey.

The room alone was selling for about $457 that night, or around 70,000 Marriott points. We also spent $103.33 beyond the included hotel credit during the stay.

Marriott later posted 6,312 points from the stay and associated promotions. The full accounting, including the value I assigned to the Gourmet Odyssey, is in The Berlin Stay, in Numbers.

At checkout, my UK Marriott Bonvoy Amex asked for a PIN. I’d never normally use one with that card; transactions are usually contactless or signature.

Oddly, this wasn’t the first time it had happened. I’d encountered the same problem with the same card at the Ritz-Carlton Berlin on an earlier stay.

We were in a hurry, so rather than investigate it at the desk, I switched to a US card, which went through without issue.

After checkout we moved west to the Lindner Hotel Berlin Ku’damm for the final night of the trip.