Ku' Damm 101, Berlin, Germany

Funky, fun and excellent value, Ku’ Damm 101 is a Berlin design hotel that appeals to businessmen, club kids, musicians and architects alike. The zebrano-wood reception desk, circular lobby bar and illuminated columns are straight out of an episode of Star Trek, and the palette of light blues and greys is bright and modern but also warm and welcoming.

The facilities

Ku’ Damm 101 has no room-service, but there is a vending machine for snacks and the design hotel’s circular lobby bar dispenses cocktails, health drinks, sandwiches and finger-food until midnight to a soundtrack of groovy tunes. Beside it, the ‘Landscape Room’ is lined with bookcases packed with design books. It often serves as an exhibition space for art and architecture students, and as it has a laptop with free internet access, it is also used for informal meetings. A bijou landscaped garden behind it is a popular sun-trap in the summer months and leads down to Ku’ Damm 101’s large private car park.

The breakfast room and several conference spaces span the top floor which has expansive views over Berlin. The design hotel’s basement is solely devoted to its spa which has a steam room, sauna and a treatment room for Shiatsu massage and Gua Sha. There are also regular sessions of Hatha Yoga and Power Yoga.

Ku’ Damm is one of the few hotels in Berlin that is fully adapted to guests with disabilities. Some rooms have been specially designed to suit their needs and corridors have brush signage for the blind.

The rooms

The design hotel’s 170 rooms come in three categories. All have under-floor heating and the same, simple but space-age design with TVs housed in wooden cubes and heavenly beds identical to those in uber-luxury Berlin behemoth The Adlon. Rooms on some of the floors are strictly no-smoking.