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About us

OTA-Berlin was started in 2002 by a Canadian, who had previously served for 8 years as Business Development Manager in the Telecom industry in Prague, London, Paris and lastly Frankfurt. During this time he lived on average almost 4 months of the year in various European hotels. He found that no matter how nice the rooms where, they remained a succession of small boxes with minor variations on four walls, mini-bar, cable TV and bathroom.

Hotels with small kitchens [known as ‘Suite-Hotels’] where a slight improvement but remain small hotel entities, and are often situated far away from city centres.

Another alternative presented itself in the form of renting large furnished apartments in the city centre and through the medium of the internet it is now relatively easy to find such serviced-apartments in most European cities.

The founder started ‘Old Town Apartments GmbH’, better known as simply ‘OTA-Berlin’ in the summer of 2003 with 2 apartments and the company has since grown to its present size of 46 apartments in 4 different properties in the popular Berlin area of Mitte / Prenzlauer Berg.

OTA-Berlin now employs 8 full-time and 11 part-time staff in Berlin with German management and employees with 9 different nationalities.

OTA-Berlin apartments are especially cost-effective and popular for groups of four or more and for families with children. Over time it has been shown that most of our guests originate from either of these two groups.

For this core customer group, for example in a one-bedroom apartment, two persons can share a bedroom and two persons can sleep on a sofa-bed in the living room, often at half the price of a hotel. OTA-Berlin serviced-apartment also have a normal kitchen and therefore restaurant bills that quickly add up can be avoided.

With its dynamic historical past, its diverse and sophisticated culture, and increasing political importance, Berlin has grown in stature over the last 20 years and has become a major tourist destination. It is increasingly the important ‘must-see’ and ‘must-do’ city in Europe and OTA-Berlin has expanded its business accordingly.

With low-cost carriers increasing the flow of short-term travel to Berlin, the needs of discerning travellers for an alternative to hotels has increased and hence our slogan arose “.....OTA-Berlin, the intelligent alternative to hotels in Berlin!”

Because OTA-Berlin is locally owned and managed in Berlin by Berliners, we offer an intimate understanding of the immediate surroundings in Mitte / Prenzlauer Berg - something larger and impersonal hotel chains often ignore.

OTA-Berlin shares its local knowledge of the area with you, including information from previous guests on matters relating to Berlin like dining out, stores, pubs and clubs, museums, tours, sports facilities and current cultural events.

‘OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog’ is part of OTA-Berlin and provides OTA-Berlin guests a quick overview of the cultural, sports, social and other related activities taking place in Berlin during their stay.

With daily commentary entries, descriptions of events, and other material such as photographs or video, the blog has become popular amongst a growing number of OTA-Berlin guests – a way of keeping in touch with the city until their next visit.

‘OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog’ has existed since May 2008 and its entries are displayed in reverse-chronological order.