Capitol Zentrum - 24h -

Ordinarily, I might pull my punches in a review in light of the fact that there are real people who work hard and put their time and effort into making hotels what they are. Thanks to reception-tron - the ATM which completed our check-in - I did not meet a single human being on the hotel staff, and therefore feel I can be brutally honest. The hotel building has an unassociated casino on the ground floor, while the hotel itself occupies the second and third floors. Should you ever forget this detail, the secondhand smoke and cacophony of gamblers will swiftly remind you. If anyone in your party is prone to epileptic fits, I'd recommend avoiding the second floor, as the flickering fluorescent lights would be an easy trigger. We did not have high expectations for the room and amenities - given that this is a budget hotel - but we were still underwhelmed. The white tile of the bathroom walls had several visibile vestigial hairs from previous guests. The black plastic of the bathroom floor, shower and toilet almost fortunately concealed whatever else might be lurking. of course, the Poco furniture was cheap. In this case, it was particularly noticeable given that the proprietor hadn't measured the appropriate space for bed side tables or desks, and that as a consequence, drawers directly abutted walls. While not a significant quality of life issue, it serves to illustrate the attention to detail taken. But let us not bury the lead. At about 0230, we began to hear an angry wrapping or banging on a door out in the hallway. Due to the lack of soundproofing, we weren't sure at first whether it was our own door, luckily it was not. At first, we decided to be patient...perhaps reception-tron had improperly dispensed a key. However, our aspiring percussionist companion's problems ran farther deeper than a mislaid key. The knocking was violent and incessant over the course of about 45 minutes all told. It ultimately turned out to be a sort of cold war domestic dispute between our door knocker and someone inside the room who refused to let them in. We repeatedly attempted to call the reception, but the line was busy. After those 45 minutes or so, we decided to call the Polizei. For what it's worth, that's the first time I've called 112 in about 4 years of living as an ex-pat in Germany, which should speak to the severity of the incident. Thanks to the aforementioned paperthin walls, the person violently banging and yelling almost immediately ceased after I began describing the situation to the Polizei. When they did arrive and came through the front door, the situatino had been resolved. To our knowledge, the front door is supposed to be open until 0100, after which you can use a code provided to unlock it. We found this concerning, due to the fact the public has unfettered access to the hotel prior to 0100--if the Polizei were able to enter freely or had been able to acquire a code we are unsure of. As an aside, while I was looking for an alternate phon