If I was writing this review the first night I arrived at the SORAT Ambassador, chances are I would be giving it one star, but I stayed for five nights and my experience did get notably better over time.
The hotel is a curious one, it seems to be a refit of a 70s hotel, but I'm not quite sure that much has been refitted. I feel to convey an accurate impression of my first night at the hotel I have to include a conversation I had with a receptionist the next morning
Me: The fridge in my room seems to be locked
Receptionist: There is no fridge
Me: Then why is there a sticker on a locked cupboard saying 'please don't open this'
R: That used to be a fridge, none of the rooms have fridges now
Me: Oh, well there's no safe in my room
R: There are no safes
Me: Oh, well the air conditioning in my room doesn't seem to be working
R: There is no air conditioning
Me (puzzled): Then what's the box blowing out cold air in my room?
R: That used to be an air conditioning unit
This was all a bit weird. The non air conditioning unit was blowing out cold air but it wasn't possible to change the temperature. The unit also seemed very shabby (see picture). Also, I had two single beds in my room, and one broke immediately when I sat down on it. And the bathroom was very dimly lit.
All in all then, it wasn't the best of first impressions - however, the hotel is not all bad and has some redeeming features. The bed I did sleep on was comfortable, the rooms were clean, if a bit retro, and they did have satellite TV. What's more, the location is excellent, right on top of an U-Bahn station and only ten mins walk from Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten, and very near the Kurfuestendamm. The zoo is only two or three minutes walk away too, and so is the Tiergarten. The shower in the room was good (although the stuck on the wall all-in-one shampoo/shower gel wasn't so great), and the breakfast was excellent, serving for a long time and really giving a wide range of choices. I was there five nights and I really could have had something different every night. Staff were by and large friendly and helpful too.
But in the end, I wouldn't actually recommend staying at this hotel, there were too many things wrong with it.













