This hotel offers great value. The combination of style, location and price can't be beat. The giant windows are great (and don't worry, the street-side rooms are quiet), the rooms look exactly like they do on the hotel Web site (minimalist chic), and the location is in the heart of one of the most interesting parts of Berlin, and a short walk to many of the major museums and sites. The street the hotel is on is a bit touristy, but walk a few blocks in either direction and you get away from that. This definitely felt like a hotel for younger people, but probably not great for families.

Two couples spent 3 nights at the Velvet in late November. It's unique, interesting, and comfortable. Felt special staying there. Good location with public transportation at the door. Lots of nice restaurants and bars in the area--all sorts of ethnic restaurants as well as a variety of traditional German places. Easy walk to the Museum Island and many other sights. Staff members were very helpful to us in everything from good dining recommendations, to providing directions and travel tips, to printing out our airline bording passes for us the night before our flight home. We aren't big breakfast eaters, so we got our breakfasts at a little place next door that had pastries, cereal, coffee, etc.

A modern, stylish hotel, the Arcotel Velvet was meant to be a little bit special, given that we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary there. The rooms are comfortable and well-designed - excepting the clothes rails which do not allow long garments to hang down! I loved the décor of the entire hotel, with the depictions of 20th century icons. Berlin is a grand, modern city and the Arcotel Velvet is in tune with this. The late-night bar was a good place to relax and splurge on well-made cocktails. It's not a cheap hotel, but I would definitely return for a special occasion.

We stayed at the Arcotel in September 2007 and couldn't have picked a better hotel if we'd tried. We booked a suite (more of an apartment) on the top floor, which was great value compared to other cities. The suite was spotlessly clean, had 4 rooms with great views and a very comfy bed. We didn't have the breakfast, as we had read it was very expensive, but there was no shortage of places to eat on Oranienburger Strasse, so no problem there. Also, don't get too concerned about the 'Working Girl's', they don't bother anyone (who doesn't want to be). Also, the post atomic looking hippy centre (I can't remember the name sorry), is definatly worth a look. We were initially put off but went in on our last night and realised we'd almost missed out on a bit of gem.
Myself and my partner are in our thirties, so were aprehensive about the hotel and area possibly being too young for us. But on the contry, we found it to be a bit of something for everyone.
The only bad point I can think of is on occasion the staff, while friendly, were lacking in customer service experience. When we were leaving, we were not informed that our cab had arrived (even though they booked it), eventually the cab driver asked us while sat in reception if we were his customer (luckily my German is good). Also, whenever we went to the bar, the barman was always trying to push us to buy cocktails, when the majority of the time, all we wanted was a beer.
But these were very minor gripes compared to the overall experience, which was very enjoyable. I definately recommend the Arcotel Velvet and Berlin, a great hotel and fantastic city!