Swissôtel Amsterdam
 

Introduction Overall a very disappointing stay (first for me since Swissotel joined Le Club). The Platinum experience was poor, the room mediocre and the service left a lot to be desired. To top it off the room was extremely poor value for money. Check In Things did not get off to a good start. Check in was not prepared by the hotel. I was asked to fill in all the personal details. When I told them that they have everything on file already suddenly it wasn't needed any longer. Why then ask me? No "thank you for loyalty", no upgrade offered, no drinks voucher. Instead I was given a welcoming speech noting that the room and the balcony were non-smoking. Needless to say I have no problem with the room rules but as the room was specifically booked because of the balcony (which costs more) I told them that the balcony rule was absolutely ridiculous. I refused to proceed with check in and told them that if that was their attitude I shall transfer to the Sofitel (same room rates, much better hotel). Management was consulted and balcony rule was rescinded. Pathetic welcome. The manager escorted me to the room. Room The room booked was a junior suite but in effect it was just a large room, sparsely furnished. My travel companion called it IKEA chic. It featured a king bed (comfortable), a desk and a mini sofa with a tiny glass table. The TV was teh smallest TV I have seen in a longe while in a hotel. Yes in Amsterdam space is at a premium but if you are charging premium prices I expected more. At least a further armchair was missing. Socialising in the room was uncomfortable as we could ony sit on the mini sofa.When I entered to room I immediately noticed that it was properly cleaned. The glass table was covered in finger prints. The aforementioned balcony turned out to be a tiny ledge with space for 2 adults standing, no more.The bathroom was bijou at best. The shower was good and simple to use (a rare thing these days with overly complicated controls). It also had some vases but of course no flowers... Toiletries were were luxurious. the room also had a mini bar and Nespresso machine as well as a tea set. Service Service was mixed, varying from almost rude to excellent. The whole check in debacle left a bad taste. However the cleaning staff were excellent (when they rectified the fact that the room had not been properly cleaned) as was one of the room service guys. We had asked for some ice to be delivered to the room and were presented with an ice bucket, limes, mint, straws and nuts. Excellent! However when we asked for a bottle of wine to be delivered on the second night the response was "we are not sure if we have any" and "we have no wine glasses, use the ones in your room" (there weren't any). Not exactly excellent... Elite experience I already mentioned that the drinks voucher was not ready at check in. It can be used in the outsourced restaurant/bar (which closes very early at 22h). Not having read the small print (only beer or wine) we ordered a G&T and a mojito (at €500/night not unreasonable) it required some negotiations.The welcome amenity was a cheese board with a small bottle of wine (think airline size). Cheese was nice, wine was stingy. Dining I only had breakfast at the outsourced restaurant. There was a decent choice. It was surprisingly reasonable at €17.50 (as was the room service menu). The costs were waived due to the trouble at checking in. Unfortunately the "hot" buffet was anything but. Location The location of this hotel is very central, 10 minute walk from the central train station. The city can easily explored on foot or via tram which stops right in front of the hotel. Noise insulation was very good (plenty of inebriated revellers at night time outside). Overall Overall this was not a good stay. There we small positive sparks during the stay but the hotel largely disappointed. Value for money was extremely poor and while some attempts were made to compensate I could have stayed in a very nice room at the excellent Sofitel nearby for the same rate. I definitely will not return.

Excellent review, highly appreciated your non bias view and it certainly baffles me when a top premium property shows issues very small issues, such as the bottle of wine, missing chair in a room, or wine glasses (?). Needless to say there are Ibis (!) who do not impose such restrictions on the drink voucher. Cheap.

It's scary looking at what is going on with AccorHotels at the moment. Needless to say they bit off more than they can chew.

The website, hotels not following SOP, rogue management, deteriorating customer service.

Scary.

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I have to reluctantly agree. This year I have yet to have a truly memorable stay. A lot, far too many, were beset by problems, big or small.

Thanks for the review Starflyergold. What a shame really...

Indeed, ridiculous.

:D :D I like that. I will likely reuse this term in future reviews if not copyright :p

That's unbelievable when you pay 500EUR a night and, on top, for a Platinum member.

Looks nice and good indeed.

Reading you I realize that unfortunately, it's the same for me. Outside my SE Asian tour of february/march (Sofitel Singapore CC, Phnom Penh and Angkor/Siem Reap) which was perfect, most of my Accor stays have been with problems minor or majors. Housekeeping/cleanliness comes on top of the problem encountered and, second, LCAH non-compliance/lack of status recognition. A very bad slope requiring strong actions.

Funny that you should have the same experience. I know Accor used to be a keen reader of FT, but lately I am not sure this is the case any longer. The absence of the Accorhotels Concierge just further confirms my hunch. It is not good enough to say Accor are strong in Asia when they are trying to be truly global player but fail at dirty towels or uncleaned rooms.

I know that Accor people are still keen readers of this forum.

I wonder also what happened to Amy. She's been silent for months now.

But even in Asia, my good experiences I reported for Singapore and Cambodia cannot be generalized to the whole continent. My last stay at Sofitel So BKK was not exempt of problems (that I reported here). But, overall we all know that, generally speaking, Asian hotels are way better than anywhere else.

Well this hotel is definitely on my black list. They finally responded (not the GM mind you) to my post-stay survey and completely missed the points made in my review. Oh and they mispelled my name....:rolleyes:

They really got me at the supposed Le Club rules....... :mad: I'll take my business to the Sofitel next time...

So now not only can AH get their horrible French properties to comply to the basic LCAH rules, but new hotels integrated into AH are free to set their own rules too.

Great.

Way to go AccorHotels.

Oh... I hear Hilton is status matching.

Yesterday the GM of the hotel called me. We have had a good and frank exchange about what went wrong (and what went right). He agreed that the balcony issue was bizarre and could have been handled much better. Staff training is to follow.

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Though it shouldn't take so much effort to get it right. GM should have been switched in after negative email/survey.

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Interesting, seems they haven't learned a thing.