Victor's Residenz-Hotel Berlin-Tegel — Hotel in Berlin

After boarding our flight out of Berlin Tegel, we realized we forgot one of our family’s most valued possessions: My son’s best friend, a stuffed koala/“lovey”. In a panic while they were asking us to turn our phones in Airplane Mode, I placed a call to Victor’s explaining to the woman on the line that a “very special stuffed animal” was left in the bed. I was told they would pass it on to housekeeping. Once we got to the gate in Frankfurt for our connecting flight to the US, I called again for an update and was told by the same person that she hadn’t heard back from housekeeping and that I should write an e-mail. Knowing that I would be in the air for the next 10+ hours, I told her that I wouldn’t be able to write until tomorrow and that it was “vitally important” she be found. As soon as I could (~15 hours after the first phone call), I sent the e-mail describing it as a koala wearing a ‘blue shirt’. I get an e-mail the next day saying that ‘unfortunately, no blue koala was found,’ clearly showing that the description wasn’t even read. I then spoke to a man over the phone. Here, I was informed that Victor’s Residenz has a strict division of responsibilities and as such, it was not possible for someone I talked to look in the room (that’s housekeeping’s job). I was also told a couple things were untrue: 1. that a search had been conducted in the room right after my first telephone call (this was clearly untrue based on my 2 conversations with the first woman I talked to and was later confirmed over the phone by a third person that that had not happened). 2. laundry was in-house and carefully separated (person 3 told me that they definitely throw everything together and send it out to a third party). I purposefully woke up at 4:00 a.m. to call them again after their morning rush was over to inquire about the status of the search. Here, it emerged that no active search ever took place: Despite having sent an image of it, for whatever reason they were expecting a large blue koala instead of a small gray lovey. They clearly didn’t think it was possible that it could get lost in the sheets and were banking on it just being in plain sight instead of under the covers where it was thrown in with the sheets. It was also during this conversation that I was asked “Can I ask why this stuffed animal is so important to you?” Why does that even matter? If it’s important to me and I say so (and use words like “vitally important” (lebenswichtig), shouldn’t that be enough? At that stage, it became clear that they did not care and never did. For us, losing “Waka” has been as heartbreaking as losing a pet. I asked several times to be put in contact with their laundry service as we are 100% sure it ended up with the rest of the sheets. This was denied over and over again. If she's ever found, she's likely been bleached.

I want to be clear: We messed up. We are responsible for leaving Waka behind and no one else. However, Victor’s wasted every possible opportunity to reunite us with her. Our pleas were ignored, our concerns were cast aside, our requests for info and help were denied – they did not care.

When you have a strict and unwavering delegation of responsibility, no one takes ownership; no one steps up to the plate. It’s simply someone else’s problem. If we had stayed at any other hotel and made that call, someone from reception would have entered the room we stayed in, lifted the sheet, found Waka and this would be a very different review. Instead, at most, the head of housekeeping was told to keep an eye out and that message likely never made it to the individual people that clean the rooms.

I’m not someone that loses things often, but it happens to all of us eventually. For us, it was a stuffed animal that has been unnecessarily lost forever. If you were to stay here, it could be your wedding ring, your important business document, or perhaps something else that’s sentimental to you and has no monetary value. Why risk it when any other hotel would have handled it in...

This was my second stay at this very nice and very clean hotel. The night managers especially are fantastic as is the evening staff in the snack bar. I would give Victor's five stars but have given 4 because I have two criticisms regarding the pillows and the maids:

The pillows are like souffles and with the pressure of a head on them they lose all air and flatten to nothing... so I need 4 as to try to build up some elevation under me... but this doesn't work either and the hotel advertises a 'pillow menu. But it doesn't exist and when I asked for firm pillows... they don't exist either. So this is a problem.

The other problem is that if you allow the maids to clean your room they remove the extra pillows without replacing them! And if your towels are dirty they take them away but don't give you a new one!!! And they knock on your door and want to clean your room at 8am! So I ended up having to use just one towel for everything by my last day and suffering with depleted cloth puddle that the pillows become.

Other than this Victor's hotel is excellent and I highly reccomend it... I especially love the free calling round the world which is a wonderful help... and everything is good. But take 1 or 2 inflatable pillows with you if you snore or have acid reflux! (As many many people do). The pillow menu really does need to exist and offer both synthetic and firm pillows for health reasons... not because I am being picky. But it's a 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 for...

Very fast WiFi especially in the lobby/bar/lounge. See screenshot.

Nice decent hotel very suitable for business travelers. Maybe a bit too decent sometimes.

Very good breakfast and not expensive with 12 euro it's worth it. Good they give you the cheaper option when checking in.

Heavy doors of the room make it quite soundproof. Small bar for bytes and a drink. Good they don't have the stupid system that you have to enter a room card before you can use power. It just works. That's very convenient, in this way you can charge your devices while you have breakfast or dinner.

It's about 1km to the nearest u bahn by foot it's Franz Neumann Platz u bahn station. There are buses in front of the hotel that also go to the u bahn. From there in 20 minutes in the city center. You can go with this u bahn directly to Kottbosser Tor or Alexanderplatz stations.

Also a compliment to the elevators. There are three of them. You never have to wait. Great work!

There is a lake behind the hotel , not large and not particularly beautiful, but it's a lake. It has a running track around it.

There are not many (convenience stores or bakeries) around the hotel. You need to walk a few hundred metres for that.

Check-in took sometime, not a big problem but they do everything very strict so it seems. Not super flexible staff so it seemed. But in the end it all worked out and everyone is friendly.

No fridge in the room.

Anyway good hotel worth a stay, good beds also with...