Eastside Pension Guesthouse

Good

I had a phenomenal time at this hostel. The staff at the front desk were quick and had answers to anything I could think of. The room are cleaned before you arrive and anytime there is a new roommate in your room. I think this is best because I personally do not like having someone in my room cleaning every day. The layout of the room was quite tight, but not awfully so. Frequently, we would have to shuffle around each other to get from one side of the room to the other. Again, it was an absolutely comfortable space, I loved sleeping there, but it is worth mentioning the room I was in was hard to walk around in. The lockers provided were quite spacious and secure, and there were nice cubby spaces next to each bed. Additionally there was a coat rack and cubbies next to the bathroom for easy storage for various items. I quite liked the small details on the room and how the space was designed. The area around this hostel was amazing and definitely the highlight. It was incredible to be right next to the former Berlin Wall and the park and business around the east side gallery. The Ostbahnhof is hardly a 2 minute walk from the lobby of the hostel, and in/around the train station is a grocery store that is open until midnight and a group of food trucks/imbisse. I frequented the Rewe and these imbisse for food throughout my two weeks here. Additionally, you are not more than a 15 minute walk from something interesting no matter what direction you pick and I cannot recommend this hostel enough for that particular reason. The positioning of the building and the comfort and cleanliness of the rooms were both great. The grocery store nearby was especially nice because the hostel also had a public kitchen that was amazing. It was well stocked with utensils and cooking equipment and never seemed to have more than one group of people occupying the space. I do not typically spend time in hostel common areas, but because of the tight rooms, I ended up sitting and relaxing in the bar/kitchen/back patio area quite often. Although I would have liked to have a space to sit other than my bed in my hostel room, it would've been somewhat unnecessary. However, on the topic of the bar area, the worst part of my stay in this hostel was interacting with the person they had running the bar most days of the week. Throughout all of my time sitting in the common space, he was rude and generally bad at his job on most occasions. I understand and appreciate the german style of customer service, so do not misunderstand me when I say he was incredibly rude and made me not want to get anything from the bar. Every small task seemed like a huge chore to him, but he was absolutely sure not to miss a chance to reprimand someone for breaking a rule in his line of sight. I could say much more, but I dont want to skew the idea of how great this accomodation was.

Sue was nervous on her first day in Berlin. He couldn't speak. We went to the hotel first, and Michael (an elderly American) came to explain all the hotel rules. I went to the rooms—nice rooms, wonderful rooms, and so on. Mr. Gary said: Room one, Room four, Room four, Room three, Room four. My biggest dream was to take a shower and flush the toilet. Therefore, the room is very small and looks like a dirty hotel. You can complain. Sorry, bad seller and bad product!

Bikepackers not welcome! Absolutely unsuitable for cycling tourists! For anyone traveling with high-quality bicycles, I strongly advise against staying at the MEININGER Hotel Berlin East Side Gallery. After a 750 km bikepacking trip to Berlin, this was the only hotel on our entire journey that flatly refused to securely store our expensive racing bikes. We were simply instructed to lock them to the public bike racks directly in front of the hotel. The consequences were immediate: within just 20 minutes of check-in, one of our bikes was stolen. Only after the theft were they suddenly willing to offer us a reasonably secure parking space for the remaining bike. Instead of offering support, I was rudely informed every single day that bicycles were not allowed in the hotel. I had to explain the entire theft story anew each day and encountered a mixture of disinterest and ignorance from the staff. ... Anyone who loves their bicycle and expects a spark of customer service should steer clear of this hotel!

Hotel in industrial style, great location

The hotel has a fun and creative design concept that will likely appeal to younger travelers and families. Unfortunately, our actual stay was disappointing for several reasons. First, be aware that the advertised nightly room rate on the website may not reflect what you actually pay. While some nights were listed around €94, other nights in our stay were several hundred euros more, resulting in a much higher overall cost than expected. When we entered our room, cleanliness was a major issue. We found food crumbs in both the main bed and the bottom bunk where our child was supposed to sleep. The table was covered in a sticky residue that appeared to be applesauce or something similar. There was also loose trash underneath the bed and stools. We reported these issues to the front desk, but the staff seemed largely unconcerned and offered neither compensation nor a meaningful apology. The biggest problem, however, was the room temperature. The hotel does not have air conditioning, and the small fan provided in the room was essentially useless. Even after opening three windows, there was no noticeable airflow or cooling. On one night, when the outdoor temperature dropped to approximately 56°F (13°C) by 6:00 a.m., the room was still 78°F (26°C), according to our phones. The room simply never cooled down. As a result, all three of us spent every night sweating and sleeping poorly. We eventually had to purchase our own fans just to make the room somewhat tolerable. The excessive heat made this one of the most uncomfortable hotel stays we have ever experienced. While the hotel's design is attractive and unique, the cleanliness issues, indifferent customer service, and lack of adequate cooling overshadowed any positives. I would not recommend this hotel, particularly for American travelers who are accustomed to rooms being maintained at comfortable sleeping temperatures.