Our Verdict: Budget east Berlin base, but room choice makes or breaks it
This was a work trip, and I picked the Hampton Berlin East Side for a simple reason: it sits within the Hilton Honors programme, so I get to bank points and stays. On paper, this is a solid budget option in a strong location, right beside the Uber Arena and directly opposite the Berlin Wall. The catch is the room assignment lottery, which can easily undermine an otherwise sensible choice. If you land a good room, you will be happy. If you don’t, you may wish you had booked elsewhere. Read on to see how to tip the odds in your favour.
In this review:
Hotel Details
Name: Hampton by Hilton Berlin City East Side Gallery
Location: Friedrichshain, Berlin
Hotel Class: ☆☆☆
Chain: Hilton
Loyalty Programme: Hilton Honors
Room Type: King
Room #: 625
Price bracket: ££
Competing brands: Indigo, Moxy, nhow
Good for: Business
Accepts pets? Yes – 25€ per night
Location
The Hampton Berlin East Side sits in Friedrichshain, one of the city’s liveliest districts, right beside the Uber Arena and the Uber Platz dining and entertainment complex. The East Side Gallery, the longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall, stands directly opposite. Warschauer Straße station is roughly 750 metres away, with direct S-Bahn links to Alexanderplatz in about five minutes, plus Berlin Hauptbahnhof and BER Airport. Berlin Ostbahnhof is close too for long-distance rail. The neighbourhood is dense with bars and restaurants, so after-work options are plentiful. The building itself is a large modern new-build block of seven storeys. Drivers should note the adjacent underground car park charged €35.00 per day for self-parking at the time of my visit, though this is worth checking before you travel.
Check-in
There was no queue on arrival and the process was quick. As a Hilton Honors member, I was offered a bottle of water and a small pack of Haribo sweets. I have seen upgrades happen on a quiet night, though they tend to be slight. The best rooms are those on the front of the hotel, set back from the street, with a view across to the river. These are the pick of the building. Everything else at check-in was straightforward, with no fuss, confusion or unnecessary waiting around.
Our Room
Room 625 sat on the sixth floor and overlooked the flat roof at the front of the building, with a view to the Berlin Wall and the River Spree. The dimensions were small, so this is very much a cosy room. A worktop doubled as a desk, with a fixed-leg chair and a power socket nearby for charging a laptop. The king bed was a relief, as the booking platform I use often mis-assigns rooms in this property.
Water pressure and temperature were good, and the shower had wall-fixed ZERO/o dispensers for shower gel, shampoo and conditioner. Hand soap and moisturiser sat beside the sink, with two hand towels and two bath towels provided.
The hairdryer was present and, unlike many rooms here, still had its nozzle. A 40-inch Samsung TV carried mainly German channels with a small English-language selection. Air conditioning held a comfortable temperature all night.
There was no in-room safe and no fridge or minibar, so I kept valuables on me and came prepared for no cold storage. King and queen rooms have sockets on both sides of the bed, while twin rooms share a single socket between the beds, which is not enough for two guests charging overnight. The iron and ironing board in the room were in good condition, and a kettle came with tea, instant coffee sachets and liquid coffee creamers.
Facilities & Services
Facilities here are limited, which fits the budget tier. There is a small gym in the basement fitted with LifeFitness machines, but no pool and no leisure areas beyond that. Certainly more than I’d expect for this category of hotel. If you’re a runner, forget the treadmill and go for an early morning run along the spree – the sunrise over the river can be very beautiful.
A laundry service is available but I found it incredibly expensive, so pack accordingly if you are on a longer stay. Service throughout was efficient and I had no complaints about staff, though this is a functional operation rather than one with extras.
Bars & Dining
A full-service bar operated until about 11pm, which is handy after a long working day. No meals were served beyond breakfast hours, so the bar is for drinks only. That is not a real problem here, because Mercedes Platz sits right next door with a good range of bars, cafés and restaurants for evening food. If you want a proper dinner, you simply step outside and take your pick, which is arguably better than a limited in-house menu would offer.
Breakfast
Breakfast was a buffet and very quiet when I visited at 8am. There are two areas. The main breakfast room has high tables and bench seating around the edges, but no windows. The larger dining and bar area runs along the exterior of the building and mixes high tables with regular dining seats, so I would head there. Hot and cold options were both available. One quirk stood out against the Hampton at Alexanderplatz: during my stay, this hotel only served scrambled eggs every other day, on Tuesday and Thursday, with hard-boiled eggs in their shells on the other mornings. Worth asking at check-in if this still holds.
Check-out
Standard check-out was at 11am. I had paid the bill upfront at the time of booking, so there was nothing to settle and no queue to worry about at departure. It was as quick and painless as it should be, with the itemised folio/receipt emailed to me as I left the building.
BG1 Verdict
If you can get a good room, this Hampton Berlin East Side works well as a base for exploring east Berlin. Honestly, though, I would put it firmly in the business category. It is a sensible base for a working traveller and lacks the frills a leisure tourist would want. The Berlin Wall is directly opposite, so history is on your doorstep with no effort at all. The Uber Arena next door is handy for events, but it can also push the hotel to sell out and send rates as high as the far superior full-service Hilton in central Berlin. For a budget stay, I would return. If rates are inflated by an event at the arena, I would look elsewhere.
Read our review of the other city centre Hampton property: Hampton by Hilton Berlin City Centre Alexanderplatz Review
BG1 Tip: Book a king room for the best chance of a front-facing Spree view, and aim for the sixth or seventh floor, ideally rooms 723 to 735 on the seventh floor. Room 22 on every floor sits beside the lift and should be avoided, as should all rear-facing rooms. Rooms 01 to 12 face the smoking area by the entrance, and rooms 13 to 15 front directly onto Mühlenstraße, which can be noisy with the window open.
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