Palacina Berlin - Serviced Apartments

Poor
Traveller Type: Business Traveler
  : Location is great there is no denying that.
  : Arrived as planned and was advised the cost to part in the car pack was now 30 per day it wasnt, it was 10 per day. That kind thing of should made me guess the scams they are running hereServiced apartments, well as long as you dont expect any service. I was told after 3 days of not seeing a cleaner, new towels / sheets or the such I am not in control of what gets put on the booking.com website, theres a vacuum in the room and we supplied 2 tabs of Nespresso coffee, if you need toilet paper there is a shop round the corner.When I openly laughed and said pop that in an email, they got defensive and gave me someone to email. 30 mins later they are at the apartment door saying basically we will do you a favour and give you toilet paper and get the cleaner to pop in. That was it day three, the serviced apartments, and the first last and only time I saw some service.Ironically my family was traveling too which for me is a rare treat, so we didnt really want daily servicing but to get nothing for an 11 day stay in serviced apartments is a farce.Do yourself a favour and go stay in one of the many Furnished apartments in the area and avoid this place.

Good
Traveller Type: Family with Young Children

Wonderful
Traveller Type: Family with Young Children
  : The location was really good - a couple of minutes walk from a ubahn station and in close proximity to a choice of supermarkets and a delicious bakery! The apartment was amazing from the moment we walked in - lovely decor, clean and well equipped with everything we could have needed, as well as some essentials like tea and coffee to get us started. Very spacious bedroom - plenty of room for the travel cot that was also provided at no cost, good wifi connection, and secure gated complex that needed a key to enter. Would recommend to any friends and family that visit Berlin, 100%!
  : It genuinely was a great stay - the only thing that could have made the stay even better and a 10/10 was having an apartment on the ground floor, as we had to carry a pram up one (small) flight of stairs, but that's just being picky! We were told that we'd been given one of the biggest apartments so that we had more room for our little boy's pram and cot etc, so a few stairs seemed like a good trade off to have a bigger apartment! Also it turns out that we could have checked in earlier than the time given - we'd dropped our bags off at some lockers and had done a bit of sightseeing and were just eating lunch when the owner called to say we could check in when we wanted - if we'd have known that we would have checked in and then done some sightseeing, but again that's a minor thing that we worked around and had made plans for in advance.

Wonderful
Traveller Type: Family with Young Children

Pleasant
Traveller Type: Traveling as Couple
  : Despite an initial issue with check in the staff I encountered (both over the app and in person) were very pleasant and friendly and the issue was resolved.The security of the apartments is excellent - gated with keys and buzzers.The kitchen and bathroom were beautifully equipt and clean. There's a microwave, toaster, nespresso machine (with pods if people leave them), dishwasher and washing machine. Bathroom toiletries are provided and you get provided with the essentials such as washing up liquid, dish cloths and dishwasher tablets in the kitchen (no laundry detergent though). All the appliances are new and in great condition and the kitchen area is totally suitable for purpose for any length of stay with its 2 hob rings and oven. The utensils also seemed adequate for this type of accommodation.The shower was lovely with great water pressure.There was efficient heating and WiFi in the apartment. There was a lift in our building, but it stopped 'between floors' so there were still some stairs you may have to take.There is a small outside decking area which would be lovely in the summer, but it is much smaller than is shown online as there are only 3 tables. It is also incorporated into the parking area of the apartments and the bins are opposite.There are lots of restaurants and coffee houses just around the corner, and an Edeka supermarket on the corner by the U-Bahn. There are a few shops in the area but it is definitely more of a local neighbourhood.
  : The furniture, being black, was much older and more scuffed in reality than presented in the pictures online. The building has been renovated into flats so have not been sound proofed properly. We, unfortunately, had the upstairs neighbour from hell, but as he was a long term tenant we felt there was nothing we could do about it. It robbed us of the much needed sleep you need when you're on vacation and also made us feel we didn't want to go back to our apartment of an evening as it wasn't going to be relaxing. The bed was up against the wall on one side which was not only very uncomfortable but because of this the sheet hadn't been put on the mattress properly, so I ended up wrapped up in it by morning as it progressively came free during the night. Pure laziness on the part of the cleaners (they also didn't clean under the bed).The HDMI port in the TV in the living room didn't work so we had to watch Netflix in the bedroom, which totally negated booking an apartment in the first place ;if I'd wanted to watch TV on sitting on the bed like a teenager I would've booked a hotel room.All in all, whilst it was a pleasant apartment it fell short of our expectations. It was like it concentrated too much on looking luxurious (as it describes itself in online) and not enough with comfort. A place we stayed in last year was much more homely and comfortable (and soundproof!!!!). I wouldn't stay here again because of these factors.