The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin — Hotel in Berlin

Disappointed and Undervalued as a Titanium Elite member – Not the Ritz-Carlton Standard I Expect

As a regular guest of the Ritz-Carlton brand and a Titanium Elite member with Marriott Bonvoy, I have always appreciated the elegant properties and thoughtful, caring staff that typically define the Ritz-Carlton experience. However, I feel compelled to share my deep disappointment with the Ritz-Carlton Berlin after experiencing significant service failures during not just one, but two consecutive stays.

During a previous visit, I was promised a suite upgrade at check-in—a benefit I deeply value as part of my elite status. I was told the suite was not ready at the standard 3 PM check-in time, which I accepted with some hesitation. Hoping to receive the promised upgrade, I waited patiently in the lobby for more than four hours, only to be told at 7:30 PM that the room was suddenly unavailable due to damages caused by a previous guest. To make matters worse, when I requested a similar suite, I was informed that no similar rooms were available—even though suites were clearly still bookable online. After such a long wait, I was left without even the opportunity to freshen up before a dinner appointment. No meaningful apology or adequate solution was offered.

I returned yesterday, hoping that experience was a one-off. Unfortunately, this stay mirrored the last in terms of poor service and miscommunication. We arrived early and noted our hope for an earlier room if available. At check-in, I was promised a Bellevue Suite—which I deeply valued. After four hours of waiting, I was told that this Bellevue suite was, once again, unavailable. I had to choose between a dark, unappealing suite with a bad view on the ground floor or a smaller Deluxe room on a higher floor. I opted for the latter.

After some back-and-forth with the front desk, they agreed I could switch to a suite on a higher floor the next day. The following morning, I received a call informing me that the suite was ready and asking if I needed assistance with luggage. I asked to see the room first, and a very kind doorman accompanied me upstairs. However, when we arrived at the door, the red indicator light showed the room was still occupied. We returned to the lobby, and the reception staff admitted it was a mistake—the room wouldn’t be available until 5 PM. By then, I had lost all confidence in the process and chose to remain in the smaller room to avoid further disruption. Again, there was no real apology or solution offered.

What’s most disheartening is that, as a Titanium Elite member, I did not feel recognized or appreciated. There were no personal touches—no welcome card, no amenity in the room, nothing that acknowledged my loyalty. This is in stark contrast to other Marriott Bonvoy properties, where such gestures are the norm.

I still believe in the Ritz-Carlton brand and genuinely want to continue returning to the Berlin property, but the lack of organization, broken promises, and indifference from the staff have left me feeling undervalued and frustrated. Managing all these room logistics during a two-night stay is simply unacceptable for a hotel in this category.

Service and recognition matter—especially to your most loyal guests. I hope to see significant improvements in the future. That said, I do want to acknowledge that some staff members remain exceptionally kind and clearly do their best to help, which I truly appreciate. However, even their efforts can’t fully make up for the overall breakdown in service and lack of recognition for...

As an ambassador Marriott member, with having enjoyable stays at RC properties worldwide, I didn’t expect to witness such low level of service and quality at a Ritz Carlton hotel. The Marriott website and app showed 4 types of suites available during our stay at the RC Berlin, yet we didn’t receive any upgrade - not even to a better room. The hotel doesn’t care much about the loyalty the guests. The reception tried to sell us a suite instead of upgrading us, as it was vacant either way. Not even a higher room category was provided, despite 10 types or rooms/suite in total being available. The person at the reception had an unkempt appearance, too. The bathroom in our room had fungus between the tiles in the shower room and the shower head didn’t work, at all. The room seemed quite outworn and in need of an urgent renovation with an objectionable odor. No streaming functionality on the TV with our mobile devices. We got confirmed the late check out set for 4 pm and we activated the do not disturb button, yet the housekeeping knocked twice on the door and one entered our room between 1 and 4 pm on the day of departure. This is unacceptable. Even though the breakfast seems alright, also with vegan options being provided, the service isn’t able to provide basics orders. In the first morning, they forgot our avocado toast order. After letting the staff recheck on them, … well 30 mins. later nothing still happened. We gave up on them, as the breakfast service was over by then. In the second morning, we ordered coffee for the second time, which also didn’t show up ultimately - after 20 minutes of waiting. A neighboring table had to literally point out to the waitress to “get released from the dirty crockery and plates” remaining not cleared, as no one came to take them away. The welcome reception at the breakfast restaurant was the best best. A lovely and very nice, warm-hearted lady of color - who simply outdoes everyone else - she is such a hard working and caring person. Brilliant and flawless performance by her. She is the reason it’s 2 stars not 1 star. We felt bad for her that she works with so many unmotivated and reckless persons, who apparently do not care about their quality of work and standard of services provided to the guests. As for us - we will never stay there again. It was our third and herewith the last stay at the Ritz Carlton Berlin. You cannot provide such a poor experience whilst charging averagely €450 per night. There are way better hotels in Berlin, that still deliver the 5* experience flawlessly. And there was also a fire alarm at 5 am in the Saturday morning…of course, as it seemed without a proper...

Many know the story about Van Halen’s requirement on tour, to have a bowl of M&M’s but not brown ones ready. While this was seen as capricious at first when reported, it turned out that this was a clever test if the local company really has read the full requirements document including the much more important requirements with relevance to performing a gig in a safe environment. ||That story immediately came to mind when I checked in at the Ritz-Carlton Berlin and the one sentence, which the check-in staff always states when you are a platinum member, regardless if you stay at the St. Regis Venice or Moxy Frankfurt Ost, didn’t come: “Thank you for your loyalty as a Platinum member” At every single Marriott property I stayed in, and yes I found it quite unnecessary most of the time. At the Ritz-Carlton Berlin It didn’t come and I immediately knew, that this stay would be off. ||The benefits of the Marriott Stars booking I had were not explained, and I felt I had to remind the staff of them. No biggie. ||That was followed by an unrequested wake-up call in the morning. It was at a normal time, but I wondered if there are any processes behind them to prevent an unwanted wake up call at, say, 4 AM.||It concluded with me reminding the check out staff of the F&B benefit my booking that they still did not seem to be aware of, but not before first needing to get my room-key reactivated, because late checkout, while showing confirmed in my app, did not make it to my room key. ||If the rest of the experience would have been great I would not mind. But the rest of the experience was just mid: The room with “soundproofed windows” which allowed you to overhear conversations outside and hear the clacking of high-heels. The pool in the spa: Charming stainless steel. The breakfast 55 Euro for a pre-packaged breakfast from an admittedly good catering service, but an expensive standard breakfast nevertheless. Average Club Sandwich, that’s 29 Euro, thank you very much.||Maybe I am overly demanding when I expect that hotels which self-assess themselves as “luxury” are actually delivering on that promise and not just see it as a pretext to overcharge and then under-deliver. Rich people maybe find this normal, but unfortunately I am not rich, and so I find this still irritating. Maybe that will change, until then I’ll stay at a hotel in the neighborhood, which does not claim to be something it isn’t, but actually over-delivers on their promise. It is doubtful however, if I’ll stay at a...