The Savoy by Caroline Major

Step through the front doors of the Savoy and it feels just as a newly made-over Grande Dame should feel. There are polished brass plates on the doors, sparking chandeliers, well-plumped deep red leather sofas and an imposing reception desk.

Follow your nose, though, and it quickly becomes clear that this is a man's hotel, much more the duke than the dame. The Cigar Lounge exudes masculinity and is one of just 90 in the world licensed to sell Cubans. The hotel claims that once you sink back into one of the tub chairs you’ll be difficult to move. This might well be why custom extends into the small hours and then starts up again as soon as the business day kicks off in the morning. Perhaps the draw is the woman who spends her evening hand-rolling cigars for members and guests?

Flanking the other side of reception is a lovely bright restaurant with big windows and more red punctuated with purple and gold in a contemporary take on luxe. Arrive in the morning to be greeted by the lady who’s been serving up breakfasts to her established clientele for 25 years. Out the back is a pleasant decked garden, lovely in the strong summer months with which Berlin is blessed.

The rooms
The reality of a long-established cigar smokers’ hotel is delivered as soon as you enter a room at the Savoy, although it is clear also in the corridors. The hotel has never gotten its renovation and maintenance strategy right and as a result has a trove of inconsistently decorated rooms. Works appear to have been done to a ‘fix it when it breaks’ regime. As a result, rooms can be a crushing disappointment after the funk and fantasy on the ground floor.

My room was decorated with 1980s abstract pastel wall panels, framed in stained, lacquered bamboo. Those were accessorised with chunky gold curtain rods suspending more of the same fabric in completely functionless swathes from the ceiling. The bold new purple and red carpets selected to fit the renovations downstairs provided a shocking contrast yet their thick, soft quality underfoot was luxurious.

Another room I saw maintained heavy built-in furniture from an extension completed in the 1950s. This had a much more pleasant character, but in other parts textured apricot wallpaper has an out and out boxing match with the new carpets.

That said, if you’re unfazed by bad interiors, the rooms are large for Berlin and very comfortable, as well as fabulously serviced.