Concierge.com's insider take:

Just steps from the Brandenburg Gate on the historic Pariser Platz is Berlin's original "Grand Hotel"—indeed, the movie of that name, starring Greta Garbo, was filmed here. Though Garbo famously uttered the words "I want to be alone," other celebrity guests (including Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Mann) flocked to the Adlon for an entirely different reason: to see and be seen in the grand lobby, a favorite gathering place of intellectuals and art-world glitterati during the hotel's heyday. The original turn-of-the-century building burned down in 1945, but it has since been lovingly rebuilt. The second-generation Adlon, opened in 1997, includes faithful reproductions of the stained-glass dome in the lobby and the coffered 14-karat-gold–plated ceilings. The rooms and suites, meanwhile, are a retro-modern hybrid of Art Deco and Asian fusion. The Roman-style Adlon Spa occupies the basement, and a Michelin-starred restaurant dedicated to French haute cuisine, the Lorenz Adlon, is on the Bel Étage (the second floor). There is one recent development that is less welcome, however: With newer luxury properties opening in Berlin, the Adlon has expanded to 303 rooms and 81 suites in an effort to attract more conference business. The large and sometimes noisy crowds in the lobby and other public spaces tend to take away from the old-world glamour.