Kyle71473
Google
This place was so cozy and beautiful, we would definitely stay again. Just about everything was flawless. There were a few tweaks that could be made, but let me break it down for those looking for an in depth review via pro's and con's.||The hotel:|Pros:|The staff were incredibly attentive and kind. Your room is equipped with an intercom if you require anything during their office hours and i have nothing negative to say about any staff members we encountered. In my opinion, this hotel is located in the cutest area of the city. It's basically in the 9 street area and has some of the most beautiful canal intersections in the city (especially at night). It's easy to stroll around the area and get lost in the history and roam around a more quite couple of blocks. It's walking distance to almost everything and the location cannot be beat. There's a little lounge area you can sit in and order a glass of wine or small snack with an atrium that looks up to a beautiful hanging astronomy sculpture. Walking through the common areas and stairways are incredible since the hotel building is from the 1600's (while still maintaining it's original floors and staircase), it's a treat for a history buff or anyone looking for historic luxury. All the decor is classy and cozy with a nod to the history of the city and building with artwork and small design features lacking in other hotels. You can tell the design team took the time to figure out how to compliment the building while maintaining a modern approach. One huge benefit of this hotel is its breakfast. We could fill out at a card at front desk and it would be served at a time we chose (up to 10AM) and could edit the list throughout our stay. To say it was plentiful is an understatement, it was massive! If we ever had any problems we could use WhatsApp which they message you on closer to your booking and they respond asap. One night after hours i wanted to change our breakfast time and used their WhatsApp contact and in the AM they messaged me back and confirmed everything. I've never had a hotel do this and it was quite a nice perk. You can choose your room, which is an added bonus for picky hotel guests like myself. I was able to find a room both myself and partner liked and it was exactly what i expected. There's a room map on their website so you can see exactly where it's located if you have a level or view preference as well. ||Cons:|If you're someone who prefers a 24/7 staffed front desk, you won't get it here. The desk has hours from 7:30AM-11PM. This didn't bother us, however one night we had an issue with a feature of our room and had to figure it out on our own. Not a big deal, but for some people having staff available to them at all hours is important. The building can be loud due to it's age. I'll detail this a bit more in my room review, but we had a linen closet right outside of our door the staff used and the door opened and shut many times during cleaning hours making it really hard to sleep-in. We were lucky in that the room we chose overlooked a quiet garden, but i can imagine some of the canal facing rooms could be a bit louder. As i mentioned above, there's no elevator. This didn't bother us as we don't require one and understand the age of the building but if you have a disability i'd ensure you book a ground level room and the staff are available to help with luggage. One thing guests have to remember with Amsterdam is a 12.5% City Tax will be added to your total. This is not exclusive to this hotel and every hotel in the area adds this. However, some hotels include this in your final total, this hotel doesn't. So, when they send you your total via email, it actually isn't inclusive of this tax. I read the fine print of my booking so i knew at check in we would be charged this, however there was a customer at front desk who had no idea and was quite irritated. When i looked at a few other hotels, they included this so make sure you know going in.||The room (Abel Tasman):|Pros:|Our room felt like real luxury. A TV electronically came out of the bed, a beautiful free standing bathtub overlooking the gardens through a large dramatic window. Marble, brass, rich woods and leathers added a beautiful touch to the rooms many features. Our shower had two large heads in a quite large showering area. The bathroom was stocked with a makeup mirror and a Dyson hair dryer along with lovely products. Our bed was super comfy and we loved our view. Each morning we could open up the windows and look out into a lovely garden and small forested yard. You will have storage in the room, so much storage! The closet has large drawers, the trunk has drawers and under the bed also has drawers (one drawer under the bed is a mini fridge with complimentary water and prosecco). It has beautiful exposed beams, wood flooring and a rich colour palette. For Amsterdam, this room is also quite large and we never had an issue moving about.||Cons:|The main con for me was plumbing and noise. For noise, as i said further up there was a linen closet right outside of our door that opened and shut at least 20 times in the AM. I would highly recommend this staff closet is relocated as it can be a bit annoying when trying to sleep a bit later. We could also here thumping around in the room above us some mornings which was an annoyance but ear plugs fixed it and it wasn't every morning. There's not much to be done here and i assume most of the rooms face this issue due to the age of the building. Our toilet was operationally inconsistent. Some times it wouldn't flush, and others it wouldn't stop flushing. This happened about 3 or 4 times within in our week with one instance in the middle of the night which wasn't ideal as front desk was unavailable. As some have mentioned, these are moody cozy rooms and the lighting can be quite dim. We loved it, but in the evening hours it could get dark. If you're someone who wears makeup, you may struggle a tiny bit as the mirrors are tinted. There's a makeup mirror you can utilized in the vanity which they provided but you may require a little more light. In our room, i would lose a piece of furniture as it looked a tad bit over furnished as well.||Having said all of this, i would absolutely recommend this hotel and we will be going back when we visit again. The location, cozy room, staff and historic charm all make this place my go to for Amsterdam. A huge thank you to this hotel as they've created something really special here!
