Fredd

I can fully understand that happening given what we saw at the end of July and I would be as annoyed / disappointed as you are, particularly given that we at least chose the property in part because it has a lounge (to give a 12-year-old a taste of the high life ).

The crowding and general "feeding frenzy" atmosphere didn't do a lot for us either. I'd hate to see them react to complaints by simply shutting the lounge though. Without reviewing this entire thread I imagine that the lounge is far less crowded much of the rest of the year.

jerry a. laska

I'm not advocating for closing the lounge, just applying some standards for entrance. This is sort of similar to the problems that occurred with the Palmer House in Chicago. As I related in my first post, ~ 6 persons that I knew of were not staying at the hotel but were colleagues of a person staying at the hotel who were there to partake of the "free" drinks and appetizers. Providing some control at the door I believe would alleviate some of the problems.

runarbg

I just came home from a one-night stay at Doubletree Amsterdam Centraal. And I have some great news!
I have several times complained in this forum about charging €40 for check-in before 3pm. This time I arrived at 11am. When checking in I was told "We have upgraded you to a nice city-view suite. And your room is ready now. You can check in immediately". No mention of €40. That was great! And the suite was really nice!
The thing that I didn't like was the breakfast in the Executive Lounge. I was there at 7:15. Like each time I have been there the door was wide open so anyone could go in. I managed to find a seat (it was very full). But discovered that several breakfast items were missing, like scrambled eggs. I saw some eating scramled eggs and asked them. They said they took the last 10 minutes ago!
So I went to the front desk asking to refill the missing items. They said I had to go to the cafe and ask. And 15 minutes after I arrived they brought more scrambled eggs from the cafe!
In addition the coffee maker didn't work, so we had to go in to the cafe and ask for coffee!!

Fredd

I scrolled up to read your anecdote and fully agree with you! Given the location next to the bar/cafe, the open door would be tempting to anybody wandering by, let alone somebody guesting in a crowd.

jamesteroh

Glad your check in experience was better this time. My experience was similar (I received a sky view suite and not a city view though and not sure what the difference is since I was able to get a good view of the city). I wish all my check in experiences were like that if the room is available. In my case I would have just taken the room type I had booked if they told me it was either getting checked in right away or waiting a few hours for a suite to get cleaned. I just wanted to shower and change and enjoy the city.

On the posts about clopsing the lounge, I don't think anyone is suggesting that. And seeing Hilton would have to provide a breakfast benefit for all gold's and diamonds anyway and they just opened the lounge in the last couple years, I don't see that happening. Seeing I like to use the lounge during the day for things like Diet coke and it's only available from 6 to 8 and you can't find a seat at breakfast, I would rather have their old benefit of a full breakfast for diamonds than the lounge they have now. Even if they give gold's not on the exec level a Starbucks voucher, they will still need to do something about people just walking in that shouldn't have access. Might be harrd to do the way the lounge is set up with employees having to bring in food items from the ouside entrance.

The Chicago Palmer House lounge use to be almost as big of a zoo as this lounge and changing the policy from allowing all gold's access, to only allowing diamonds and those on the exec floors access (gold's now get a cont. buffet in lockwood's and diamonds can have breakfast there or in the lounge), it has REALLY cut down on the crowding. Palmer houses lounge requires keycard access to get on that floor though, it isn't on the ground level like this hotel

Fredd

I plead guilty to raising a red herring. I wrote hastily and was thinking about the ongoing and sometimes bitter complaints in the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf thread, first about not allowing Diamonds access to the lounge after it converted from a Hilton, then about the second-tier lounge they introduced. IIRC that lounge has been eliminated completely.

This of course is a different situation and I shouldn't have raised it. Mea Culpa.

MrSimonR

I just returned from a trip to AMS and also got one of these super tiny rooms. What a disappointment. I had booked a "deluxe" room, paying more than for a standard room, and was told at check-in I had an upgraded room. Great I thought.

My excitement soon ended when I entered the room, barely room for a small bed, and nothing much else. I had to eat room service standing up, as no table.

I didn't even have a floor lamp in the room, it was so dark in the room, I had to work in the bathroom (the only place with any light). Room service was a disgusting microwave meal that has gone sticky and cold. All the fittings in the room are cheap white plastic (looks like a UK Travelodge). Except it costs considerably more. I paid EUR307 for one night, which was a disgrace.

The chair didn't fit the work desk (far too low), and I asked for an adjustable or higher one. I was brought one from somewhere, which had nasty white spots and stains, obvious what they were.

The iron was broken and didn't work, the thermostat didn't work. Actually it was worse than a Travelodge.

The Lounge, as noted, is a waste of space. At 8pm, the coke is locked away, and nothing available apart from water and coffee (no milk).

Breakfast was a zoo and not very nice.

Staff were quite unpleasant.

This is not a premium hotel, the room I has was not fit for business travel use, it is a cheap budget-style hotel in a good location. For Eur100/night it might suit some (although there are much nicer places with character in the town). For EUR300/night, it was a disgrace.

AtlantaAngel

My husband and I stayed here for 4 nights this past July using points. Our flight from the US arrived early so we were at the hotel by 8:30am (the hotel is super easy to get to from the airport since you can take the train from the airport to Amsterdam Centraal and then the hotel is right next door). When we got there, we tried to check in early but they had no rooms available. They did give us immediate lounge access so we could get some food and coffee. We had them hold our luggage and walked around a bit and when we came back at 11am they told us they had a room but it had no view...so we declined and kept waiting. Finally at about 11:30 they told us our room was ready, and we were put in lovely city view room. We were not charged an early check-in fee, but we are Diamonds and also I had emailed the hotel ahead of time to request an early check in (the response was - sure, if a room is available). The hotel was great - very modern and a perfect location. I agree with everyone about the lounge. It was impossible to find a seat half the time. It's made worse by the fact that practically anyone can walk into the lounge. They don't check to see if you are actually entitled to have access. We actually stayed at the Doubletree 3 nights and then went to Paris for a few days via train, and then returned to the Doubletree for a final night before our flight back home. The last night we were upgraded to a very nice 2-room suite, although it did not have a city view. Overall it was a great stay, aside from the zoo-like atmosphere in the lounge. Both rooms that we had, by the way, were MUCH nice than the room shown in the post above! We also found the staff to be very accommodating.

banffflyr

Do the city suites have sofa beds? We're staying here with two small kids in March and are wondering what the strategy is for accommodating 4 in a room. Thx.

baccarat_king

Not as far as I know. Only a regular sofa. Roll-away beds are 60€. I only know that, as I just inquired for a relative. We didn't go ahead with the request, so I have no idea if it's per stay or per night.... but my guess, is it's per night.

banffflyr

Thanks for the info. I've had Conrad properties waive the fee for rollaways for me due to my Gold status. Sounds like Gold status might not get me far at this property?

baccarat_king

I am dealing with a coordinator (involves an event); and I had just processed our confirmed suite upgrades (City Suites). I inquired about the (potential) roll-away for one of the suites; but the guest is non-status. No idea if they would waive the fee for a Hilton Gold. That type of waiver sounds quite discretionary. In a "general sense" European properties tend to "play by the rules," but of course, it never hurts to ask and discretionary waivers are always YMMV. If that fee is per day, it does seem a bit "steep," IMHO.

JonIND

At least when we stayed this past July, the rollaway bed fee was waived for a child under 18 staying in the same room as the parent. banffflyr may want to contact the hotel ([email protected]) to confirm whether this is still the case. Also, we only had one child, so it may be different for two.

MahiMahi524

Seeing all the comments about the overflowing lounge, I expected a zoo when I was there Saturday morning. Actually I couldn't find the lounge, and the staff directed me to the restaurant, where a full breakfast buffet was being served. Not too many people at 8:30 AM, and actually a pretty good variety of hot and cold food. It did seem a bit busier around 10, but didn't seem like it was overcrowded. Maybe it's just because it's the weekend, but it did turn out much better than anticipated.

Kacee

February is not exactly high season in Amsterdam. Was the lounge even open?