Susan D.
Yelp
Ugh... I hate having to write negative reviews... and you can tell by my stats that I don't do it too often. But... after being woken up 2 times this morning by some kind of drilling/banging noise, coming from the roof, I can't say I'm very happy with Room Mate Aitana. Yup, the 1st time was at 8am and the 2nd time was just before 9:30am... absolutely unacceptable. Yes, it's a beautiful hotel. Yes, I got fairly 'decent' prices with an early bird special on Agoda.com. But no, those facts aren't soothing me right now.
This hotel is visually pleasing and brand new so the rooms are clean and more spacious than what you'll typically find in Amsterdam. I was very excited about the find when I was planning the trip. Unfortunately, there are too many things they need to work-out to make it a great experience. Most importantly, the water in the shower runs hot, then cold, then hot, almost at a regular tempo. This does not make for a nice shower, though their shower heads are nice. Also, the hot water in the sink tap is extremely hot, burn your hands hot... so beware. You can see the pressure changes if you turn on the sink tap and let it go for a couple of minutes. We changed rooms, hoping to solve the hot/cold shower issue but it didn't help. Luckily, I requested a room with a bathtub on our 2nd room so at least I could run a bath and have the water mix before I got in. Other annoyances include room keys that rarely work. I had to go downstairs to have them reprogrammed multiple times and once they had to send someone up with me to open the door. Of course, we had to go downstairs if we needed something because we couldn't get them to answer via phone.
Anyway, the staff at Aitana, from the reception to the room cleaning, were all very pleasant and nice. And again, the decor and rooms were great, though not well lit... too bad about all the little kinks. I hope they have them worked out soon (the hotel has been open less than 2 months right now).
It's a bit of a walk to the central areas, about 20 min, which would have been fine, had it not been raining, cold and windy all 3 days we were here. There are no taxis right outside so they'll have to call one for you (plan in advance) or you'll have to walk to Central Train station, which is only about a 10 min walk. From there, it's easy and much cheaper to take the track trains that go around the city, anyway.
Would I stay here again? At this time, probably not. Paying $600 for 3 nights isn't something I do often so when I do, I expect to be able to wake up when I want and have a shower that doesn't play tricks with water temperature.
Won't see ya there.