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We stayed here as a birthday / anniversary present from my better half - we much prefer the small friendly hotels and we weren't disappointed - we had a junior suite which was just as advertised, I have to say we did see the standard rooms and they were a tad on the small side.Service was great, the lads on reception helped us out with restaurant recommendations etc and we just went off exploring.Perfectly placed for shopping, the Helmut Newton Foundation and of course the gay friendliness of the area. It was refreshing to be able to be so relaxed together - there was none of the odd undercurrent you can get in straight places!!Girls - don't be put off that its primarily men staying here (sorry guys we found your secret!) its a great place. Our only disappointment was that the sky bar is a summer only thing - its outdoors and not an enclosed space - this wasn't obvious when booking and was one of the things we were looking at using.

My best friend, Owen, and I stayed in Berlin May 1 - May 5 for the second time and had an excellent stay. The staff are excellent and friendly. Chris on the front desk was esp good at finding some not so easy to find information about rowing clubs in Berlin. Keep it up!!

Just came back from 3 nights at the Axel Hotel and would definately recommend it!Having read all the reviews saying that the rooms are small I don't know what they were talking about, the room were of a good size, definitely enough for our stay anyway! Hotel staff were friendly and helpful, and they had a secure luggage storage area for before we checked in to keep out luggage.Location is perfect literally 2 mins walk from the nearest U-Bahn stop, and about 5 mins from the main gay bars and clubs!Would come back here again defiantly!

Coming for a short stay in Berlin to celebrate my birthday, my partner and I had booked a Junior Suite at Axel for two days. Our expectations were quite high - not only did we have the impression of a rather up-scale hotel, but it was also the first time that we'd opted to stay at a gay-oriented (or "heterofriendly", as they label it) hotel. We were rather disappointed, all in all.Reception service was professional, if not very warm or welcoming. Information was at a low point: We only found out that the sky bar wasn't open early May as we couldn't find it and had to ask; after informing front desk at departure that a/c only blew in hot air, not cold, we were told that city regulations didn't permit a/c-cooling this time of the year; all things it would've been nice to know in advance.The worst thing about checkin was that we weren't asked if we wanted a smoker's room. As we got to our room on the second floor, we discovered that it was - and we're not smokers. Obviously, we should have changed rooms at once, but for real, I got the impression that since they hadn't given us a choice, all rooms had to be smoker's. The morning after, complaining about a malfunctioning shower, we asked for a change of room, and by chance I learned that all rooms at second floor are smoker's rooms. This is of course a perfectly reasonable arrangement to cater for smokers. However, it is NOT AT ALL acceptable not to be presented with a choice. Decidedly unprofessional!The junior suite was designed in an interesting, if not very practical way. Just an example: We were encouraged to leave towels on the rail, indicating that we didn't need clean ones - but the room wasn't equipped with a rail :-) The room showed sign of wear: Cracks in glass tabletobs, scratched walls, missing hooks etc. and the black colour of the walls showed every speck of dust in the most disclosing way.The restaurant and bar of the hotel had (recently?) been replaced by a tacky place called Hamburger Marys, that didn't match the design of the hotel at all. Breakfast was served here - a rather average buffet with yogurt and salmon not refrigerated...The spa at the top floor was nice, but rather small. The steam bath and the sauna would maybe seat four or five persons each, and the outdoor jacuzzi would seat four comfortably and six ... intimately ;-) We went up there on late afternoon and had the place to ourselves, but returning the same evening the place was crowded (meaning that about 10 people were there).The location of the hotel is great - just between Motzstrasse (the main gay street) and the shopping streets Tauentzienstrasse and Kurfurstendam with the U-bahn at Wittenbergplatz literally a few steps away, this is a great place from which to explore Berlin. However, the place seems to rest a little to much on its reputation: I got the feeling that the managers think "Hey, as long as we label ourselves "gay" or "heterofriendly" people will come for the buzz of it" - but just because we're gay, we still expect to be treated as guests in a professional way in surroundings matching the price paid. We were not, and as such, we wouldn't return. Sad, really, as it is really nice once in a while to stay in surroundings predominately gay, something straight people hardly ever understand :-)

Three friends and I had long tried to plan a Berlin trip and, finally, everyone managed to clear his calendar for the third weekend in April, 2013. We were initially scheduled to stay at Axel Berlin for 3 nights, but the Luftansa strike kept us there for a fourth night. The hotel is very well located and the rooms were nice. Also, the staff was very friendly and helpful (cute too). We all had a great time.