I stayed in the Arcotel Velvet on a Sunday and a Monday night at the end of July. Overall it was a decent hotel, and I would certainly consider staying there again, although I would probably stay closer to Hackescher Markt.

Pros:
- Appears quite new, very clean, well-kept
- Good air conditioning (rare in Berlin, as very few stores and bars seemed to have AC)
- Large windows let in a great deal of light
- Hotel feels safe and secure
- Location is decent, especially if you want to go to cool bars at night

Cons:
- Mattresses are rather hard, and pillows are rather small and thin
- Shower has no shower curtain (by design), and thus a modest amount of water splashes on the bathroom floor during a shower
- Internet connection in the rooms is through a normal networking cable, not wireless. The desk will provide you with a networking cable if you need, but I think that they charge for this. Internet access in the room was rather expensive: 2.50 euros for 30 minutes, 9 euros for 12 hours, or 12 euros for 24 hours

Other comments:
- The flat-screen TV is nice and modern, with good speakers, but it seems a bit too small when viewed from the bed. A DVD player is also in the room.
- The location is pretty decent. It is just a few doors down from Tacheles, which is a cool outdoor club that seems to have been cobbled together from scraps. There are also several other bars and clubs along the street. A few of the restaurants had large outdoor seating areas next to them. One of the Indian restaurants which was almost across the street from the hotel had a very large outdoor seating area that was decorated beautifully with many lights. The hotel is at the northwest end of Oranienburgerstrasse, very close to the Oranienburgerstrasse Tor U-Bahn stop. There are 2-3 doner kebab places nearby that are open very late. There is also a McDonald’s by the U-Bahn stop that is open until 02.00 or so. A café next door to the hotel, Café Ambulanz, is convenient for a “to go” coffee in the morning. The hotel is only a short walk from the Museum Island. There are almost no retail stores along Oranienburgerstrasse, so it is not an interesting street for shopping at all. While I liked the location of the hotel, I would rather have stayed down near Hackescher Markt, as the square there is surrounded by a number of restaurants with very large outdoor seating areas. Street performers would entertain in the square. It seemed like a nice and festive atmosphere. While it was only a few long blocks from the Arcotel to Hackescher Markt, it was a bit far at the end of the night. Hackescher Markt does have more people there, and it is close to an S-Bahn station, so the noise there is probably greater. I also liked all of the shops along the main shopping street, Kurfürstendamm. It was very pleasant to stroll along by the shops, and the area seemed nice and bustling overall. I will probably choose to stay near the Kurfürstendamm next time.
- To summarize about the location: The Arcotel Velvet is close to some fun bars, including Tacheles, a few restaurants, and little else. I might have preferred the Hackescher Markt (a few long blocks from the Arcotel) at the other end of Oranienburgerstrasse, which is a beautiful square with a number of restaurants with outdoor seating, as well as a few bars; it seemed a bit more fun overall. I also really liked the area of the Kurfürstendamm (Ku’damm), a broad boulevard full of interesting shops and restaurants, which makes for a great stroll; it is rather far from the Arcotel.
- The room numbers are backlit numbers beside the door. Unlike another reviewer, I did not find them hard to spot or read at all. When you are in your room, you insert your card key into a slot near the front door in order to turn on the power to the room (which was explained well at the front desk). When you do so, it also changes the light on your room number from green to red. Thus, when you are in your room, your room number is red, and when you leave your room (and take your card key with you), the light changes to green. This is nice because it is like an automatic “do not disturb” indicator. However, it also obviously lets anyone else on the hallway know that you are not in your room. The hotel seemed very safe and secure, so I really was not bothered by this, but I figured I would point it out for anyone who might be concerned about this.
- Another reviewer or two mentioned that there are streetwalkers on the street by the hotel. I did not see any near the hotel, and I only saw a few when I walked down Oranienburgerstrasse to Hackescher Markt. Perhaps it is different on a Friday or Saturday night.

My wife and I stayed three nights in a Velvet suite in this Arcotel property in Mitte during July 2006. We paid 210 euros for the first two nights and 310 for the final night (which was the day before the World Cup final in Berlin, hence the price increase) booked on the arcotel web site. Breakfast was an additional 15 euros per person each. The suites are on the top floors and have floor to ceiling windows with great rooftop views over Mitte. Some of those windows look out onto one of Berlin's (in)famous beach clubs with trucked-in sand and lots of loud music. External blinds were in place, apparently to shield the room from the noise; our blinds didn't work initially and, when fixed, didn't shield much. We needed ear plugs to sleep. The air conditioning only worked in the bedroom; the living room part of the suite didn't have any vents, so it stayed quite hot throughout our stay, almost to the point of unusability. There is a little kitchenette from Ikea, but no real way to prepare anything except ice cubes and coffee; don't expect to use these suites like an apartment-hotel. For all the space in the suite, the bathroom was too small. Even at 210 euros, we don't think we got much value for money as we couldn't comfortably use the entire suite. Unlikely we will return to the Arcotel Velvet.

Stayed here last year and can't fault it. Brilliant location - plenty of bars, restaurants nearby. Good for transport. Funky rooms and one of the best hotel bars I've ever been to. Top notch all round.

This has to be one of the nicest hotels we've stayed in. It is a fairly new hotel which is located in a very lively area on the east side. The street is filled with restaurants and bars and lots of people. It is very close to the U-bahn as well. The rooms are very spacious and decorated in an arty & modern way and was also very clean. The walk-in shower is huge - one of the biggest hotel showers I've even seen, and something we missed when we stayed at other places on our trip! We faced the back of the hotel so it was pretty quiet. Someone mentioned the prostitutes on the street - it definitely didn't come across as a sleazy neighbourhood at all, and these girls all look like models and are pretty harmless. One thing we didn't like is that when we put the do not disturb sign on the door, our room got cleaned anyway. I think this might be due the fact that we weren't in the room (as you have an electronic key you have to have to use the facilities and it indicates when you are there or not, but that's not big deal). We would definitely stay in this hotel again.