I may have landed in Germany, but my arrival at Berlin’s Sofitel Kurfurstendamm came with a dollop of French flavour.
Set in an Art Deco skyscraper, the 311-room five-star hotel overlooks the city’s own version of the Champs-Elysées with designer boutiques aplenty, eateries spilling on to tree-lined pavements and Audis with tinted windows parking up to let the bourgeoisie set about their material hunger.
For the business traveller, the location is hard to fault – just 15 minutes’ drive from Tegel airport, and a 10-minute walk to the sanctuary of the Tiergarten, where western expats arriving from the UAE are reminded of nature’s beauty, as well as the local liberalism which means sunbathers are at liberty to let it all free.
History and fiction is not far away – the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, and for bookworms the cry of master spy George Smiley to his comrade Alec Leamas as he clambered up the Wall: "Jump Alec. Jump, man", in John Le Carré's classic The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
The hotel itself felt warm and intimate, ready to protect executives from the biting winter. The trees were already shedding their leaves.
My room on the third floor looked out on to a rear courtyard and an entrance to the Feuerwache (fire station), so ideal for anyone fearful the guest list may include a pyromaniac.
The bed was big enough to fit a small whale, the carpet – a novelty for us desert dwellers – colourful and stripy against white walls, a wooden walk-in wardrobe and a solid, stylish desk to work at. The free Wi-Fi was terrifically efficient. This was Germany after all.
The peace was bliss, having come from the cacophony of building work that starts up at daylight in Abu Dhabi.
My only quibble was breakfast. While hardly substandard, I expected a spread of monumental proportions after becoming accustomed to the feasts prepared in the Emirates.
But this was Europe somewhere close to its finest. Comfort, functionality, culture.
q&a creativity meets practicality
Art Deco you say. For those of us of not born with paintbrush in hand can you explain please?
It is a movement in the decorative arts and architecture that originated in the 1920s and developed into a major style in western Europe and the US during the 1930s, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. It represents modernism turned into fashion with the intention of "symbolising wealth and sophistication".
So, aside from stripy carpets, what other examples of Art Deco could be found in the hotel?
There are paintings by Katrin Kampmann, sculptures by Dietrich Klinge, a bronze painted by Markus Lüpertz, graffiti by the urban artist Miss Tic and art by Junior Toscanelli.
It sounds more like sleeping in a gallery.
In a way, yes, but it was never overly distracting. Business folk will be able to zone out of their spreadsheets and budget talk and take a minute to relax the mind, maybe even add a touch of creativity to their working day.
Is it possible to get any serious work done while staying here?
Absolutely. The hotel has 16 meeting rooms, a business centre, plus tailor-made coffee breaks can be arranged by the concierge to perk everyone up.
Business meets art. What’s the cost of all this?
Rooms, on current availability, start at €134 (Dh638).
ioxborrow@thenational.ae
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