The Ritz-Carlton Berlin
Woman power in the Roaring Twenties
The Ritz-Carlton Berlin at Potsdamer Platz is a homage to the glamorously sinful Berlin of the 1920s. Today, every guest stepping into this grand hotel with its bright sandstone Art Deco façade feels like a star in the Roaring Twenties.
In the lobby, the hotel welcomes its guests with a richly ornate open marble staircase and crystal chandeliers, glittering like of a sea of flashing cameras. The wall is decorated with stylised champagne glasses, while pride of place over the marble fireplace is given to a reproduction of the 1928 watercolour She represents by Berlin painter and graphic artist Jeanne Mammen. Here, the hotel pays tribute to the bubbling vitality of Berlin’s women – just as it does to their spirited wanderlust! The minibar in the rooms is designed in the shape of a wardrobe trunk – an allusion to Marlene Dietrich’s much-loved song Ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin (I still have a suitcase in Berlin). So here, every guest not only has ‘a suitcase in Berlin’, but it comes in the shape of a trunk filled with drinks and snacks.
Today’s stars also enjoy living the luxury life and love to stay in the Ritz-Carlton Penthouse on the 12th floor. Measuring 285 square metres (3067 square feet), this is Berlin’s largest suite and even has its own separate entrance. Yet it would be a shame to miss one of the most charming daily events in the city – welcoming the long Berlin nights! Every evening at 6pm precisely, you can watch the little ceremony when the mirror installation in the lobby ushers in the change from day to night. In suitable style, night in Berlin is traditionally welcomed with a glass of champagne.
To find emotional moments of another kind, simply step outside the hotel and turn left. Berlin’s Ritz-Carlton is in the immediate vicinity of the former Berlin Wall. In November 1989, at this historic spot, the first four sections of the 155-kilometre-long Berlin Wall were removed. Today, you can find six original pieces of the Berlin Wall in front of the hotel – in some rooms even visible from the windows!