The Radisson Collection Hotel Berlin is set to reopen at the end of the year, and will feature a new showpiece installation in its lobby area.
So how did we get to this point?
The former Radisson Blu Hotel Berlin was reflagged under the group’s Radisson Collection brand in early 2022 following a 12-month renovation programme.
The 427-room property retained its centrepiece AquaDom aquarium in the hotel’s lobby, which stood 25 metres tall and housed around 1,500 fish.
But early on the morning of 16 December, 2022 the aquarium – which had held the Guinness World Record as the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium – suddenly burst, pouring around a million litres of water into the hotel and the street.
The hotel has remained closed since, but in a LinkedIn post Yilmaz Yildirimlar, area senior vice president, Central, Southern and Eastern Europe at Radisson Hotel Group, said that the property would reopen with a new centrepiece ‘Living Tree’ in the lobby.
The 16-metre-high vertical garden – built around the supporting structure of the former aquarium – will feature 2,000 plants from 22 different species, planted across 36 tree-like slats, with the installation being illuminated in different ways throughout the day.
Yildirimlar said the hotel was targeting a reopening at the end of the year, adding that the property’s conference area and restaurant had been renovated in addition to the lobby area.
Meanwhile Radisson Hotel Group is also set to add the first property under its Radisson RED brand in the German capital this year.
The group’s existing Park Plaza Berlin Kudamm has been closed for renovations since November, and is set to reopen as the Radisson RED Berlin Kudamm.
Have you stayed at the property prior to its closing? Let us know your thoughts on the AquaDom in the comments section below.