Miles Away Blog
We are an American couple living abroad and traveling the world as we know it. Our passions in life are new destinations, spicy food, and a good ol’ watering hole. We use airline miles and hotel points along the way to help us reach places we other wise couldn’t.
We were headed to Vienna for part of our summer vacation and found a good deal on a flight from Berlin Tegel Airport. If you’ve been following along with us for a while, you’ll already know that we like to arrive to the city we are flying out of a day in advance in case Deutschebahn (German Railway) decides not to be cooperative, which happens a lot. When looking for a hotel in Berlin for this trip, we had a few criteria in mind: cheap, central location, and easy access to the airport. We decided to cash in some Radisson Rewards points and ended up choosing the Park Inn Alexanderplatz. The hotel was free, we were close to all of our favorite places, and close to the public transportation to get us to the airport, so it was just what we needed for one night.
Location
The Park Inn Berlin Alexanderplatz is located in Alexanderplatz, hence the name! Alexanderplatz is in the city center of Berlin and a hub for most public transportation. It’s famous for being close to the Fernsehturm, or the Television Tower that was built during the GDR times as a representation of Communism. The location is great for only one reason, being close to the pubic transportation system. Other than that, it’s pretty dirty and not a great place to explore, but that’s just our opinion.
View from our room!
Getting to the Airport
If you haven’t heard, it’s a running joke that Berlin still hasn’t completed its new airport, which was supposed to open years and years ago. It’s still not open and now no longer up-to-date or big enough to be an International Airport, especially for a capital city. That being said, the airport situation in Berlin is terrible, which is why we typically try to fly out of Frankfurt. However, if the ticket prices are good, we’ll go to Berlin.
Getting to the airport from the Park Inn is pretty simple. The best way would be to use the bus, which takes roughly 40 minutes. The stop is right outside the hotel (opposite side of the street) and costs only 2.80 euros to take. You could take the S-Bahn, but then you would have to change and then take a bus.
The Room
We ended up getting a room upgrade, which we believe mostly meant that we had a great city view and view of the Fernsehturm. The room itself was very small, so if you come with several pieces of luggage, it might be a tight squeeze.
Room
Unfortunately, the bed was extremely uncomfortable…not great if you have any sleeping or back issues. It was like sleeping on cardboard with a pancake like pillow.
Don’t be fooled by the looks of its comfort! 
Not a lot of privacy between the toilet, bedroom, and shower.
However, we couldn’t complain, as we just needed to sleep, shower, and get ready for our flight out!
Public Spaces
Honestly, we don’t have too much to say about this part, as we didn’t spend too much time at the hotel. The hotel is absolutely massive with over 1000 rooms on 35 floors. It is actually the second largest hotel in all of Germany. Despite the large size, check in and check out ran smoothly and all the staff we encountered were extremely friendly and helpful.
Reception
There are several restaurants on the lobby level that we didn’t visit. There is also a roof top bar, but you have to pay an admission fee to get in. Also, there are several shops surrounding the area and there’s a Burger King right next door (same building).
Final Thoughts
Overall, we probably wouldn’t choose to stay at the Park Inn Alexanderplatz again. We also wouldn’t recommend this hotel for tourists either. The location might seem ideal, as it’s close to public transportation system, but there are so many other great hotels in wonderful neighborhoods around Berlin.
If you have stayed here before, let us know your thoughts! We always like hearing about our readers experience as well!