I always travel solo, so please consider my comments in that light. Perhaps a family would have a different opinion. On Rick's recommendation, I stayed at Pension Peters in Berlin in 2008 and again in 2022. On both occasions, my stay there was very comfortable and the breakfast was quite good. After returning home from each of those trips, I rated the place 5 stars online. I even recommended Pension Peters to my personal friends who were planning to visit Berlin. Last month, I once again stayed at this place, but it will be the last time. The room itself was quite a bit smaller than the other two solo rooms where I stayed in the past. The bathroom was so tiny the door only could only be opened halfway because it hit the toilet. The shower curtain was 4" too short, so after each use of the shower, the bathroom was flooded. No way to avoid that. The bed was uncomfortable and the cover was way too thin. The room was cold and there was no evident way to turn on the heater. No complimentary shampoo. The breakfast, which now costs 15 Euros extra, was nothing special, and the scrambled eggs did not taste right to me. The only positive thing I can say about this property is that there is no street noise. After my stay this year, I wondered if the management has changed. It was so different than my two previous stays.
Thanks for the review,jwkjop; good to know.
I looked into staying there back in 2022 because of the good reviews, but I could never get anyone to respond to my booking request, so I finally gave up and stayed elsewhere.
By the way, you might want to submit this to Rick's staff via the Guidebook Correction form, so that they are aware of this: https://www.ricksteves.com/forms/guidebook-feedback-form
did you talk to the person on Reception and tell them you'd stayed there twice before and ask for a different room?
I once stayed at the Hotel-Pension Bella and enjoyed it. It's clean and simple.