Back again for a short stay, and this time they upgraded me to the Presidential. It has a bedroom with sofa, a large bathroom with the tub in the middle, a kitchenette, a quite large living room with another two sofas plus dining table, a conference room with yet another large-ish table, and an outdoor terrace overlooking Prinsengracht canal (incidentally, there are other rooms on this floor that clearly have a canal view as well, contradicting what an earlier poster said). And unlike my last stay, there was even enough lighting in the room.

It was all so nice, if only...

...someone had remembered to turn on the a/c in the room when we checked in (at the latest), instead of me having to call when the room temp reached 29C and was rising.

...the quirky lighting system worked as it was supposed to. There is still a large bathroom lighting fixture that no one seems to know how to turn on.

...they didn't run out of some breakfast items at 10:30am on a weekend day when breakfast is served until 11am. Or, after taking our breakfast order, they had remembered to submit it to the kitchen.

To sum it all up, this is a nice hotel that could be extremely nice if the service issues were resolved.

Ha, I got the same room two weeks ago. Also couldn't figure out how to turn on the chandelier in the washroom.

:)

Got an electrician coming by to see about the lights there (now none of them work) in about 30 minutes. Hope it can be fixed!

Haha. Those light fixtures. So complicated!!!

My wife and I spent 3 nights in a standard suite a few weeks ago. I too had an initial struggle with the light switches, but was able to figure them out eventually. Enjoyed the dimming feature. Overall a very enjoyable hotel with very helpful staff. My wife especially liked the hotel. The positives FAR outweigh any minor annoyances.

The electrician says that the large bathroom lighting fixture is supposed to be together with the rest of the bathroom lights. Says they will work on fixing it, was surprised to hear it was like that two weeks ago!

The other control sets the TV sound volume when played in the bathroom.

Again, the main flaws here are not in the electrical system but in the service. I agree that it is still quite a nice hotel even in its current form, but could potentially be an excellent hotel if these problems are fixed.

Just finished a four day stay here. Two nights were in an entry level suite (on the corner of the building, there was no view but it was a very nice suite for my family of three with the roll away added -- it was a points suite upgrade) and two were in a regular room using a points and cash booking. The regular room was a canal view (VERY highly recommended) thanks to my diamond status (we had a second room in my non-status wife's name and it was an interior airshaft view -- but better than it sounds thanks to mirrored glass, decorating and the elevators. My daughter was not bothered by this in the least so I did not request a change)

This stay was at the tail end of a long European vacation with the family. Earlier in the trip we had stayed at the PH Vendome and PH Zurich. While both of those stays were excellent, the Andaz was clearly the family favorite. We all thought that the two PH's were kinda stuffy (as they should be), but the Andaz was refined while maintaining a relaxed / casual vibe. The staff were excellent (several went well above and beyond expectations to help with issues related to my daughter loosing her purse) and they also made several -very- good suggestions for local activities which were off the normal tourist track. At no point did I feel that the service was lacking.

Room service breakfast was included as the diamond breakfast amenity (we got it all four mornings) -- I recommend the french toast.

There were two tiny issues with the stay, but these were limited to two missing room service breakfast items (which were quickly sent up after a call), and getting billed for two of our four room service diamond breakfasts (this was also quickly rectified at checkout). These things happen everywhere (even in Zurich).

Overall, the staff, the design of the common areas and the canal view room have combined to make this my favorite hyatt property.

If you wouldn't mind telling me how you managed to upgrade on points for two nights? I was trying to make a booking last week for our trip in a few months and they said there was a minimum three nights for a suite upgrade using points. Did they waive it for you because your stay was for four nights (even though you were switching rooms)? Just curious, as I am in a similar dilemma with our son not fitting into any "normal" room.

If you pay the minimum of the Hyatt Daily Rate for a nonresort and Hyatt Daily Rate deluxe room for a resort, you can upgrade to a suite for 6000 points per night, with no minimum stay.

If you want to book a suite using all points (32K pts/nt for the property), you need to book a minimum of 3 nights.

Thanks!! Makes sense I guess, award night rules are different.

Anyone stay here recently and gotten a complimentary upgrade as a diamond? I have a stay later this year for just a night while passing through so I'm trying to gauge if they usually upgrade. No biggie if they don't.

Is it still the Andaz Suite they use for upgrades if you use a dsu? What about if you don't use a dsu? Thanks!

^ my impression from a single stay is that diamonds are placed in canal view rooms rather than typically upgraded to suites. YMMV.

upgrade?
 

i had booked a room using my free nights with the hyatt c. card and was only able to get the basic (with 1 king bed)

i emailed ahead and asked for a room w/ 2 beds (indicating that i was now a diamond member) and sure enough they had upgraded us - no canal view, but it was a very nice room and we appreciated having 2 beds since we're not a couple

and of course the free breakfast is great, plus the service is outstanding

Thanks BobR and 2Ruse for your data points!

Quick question. We are going to be in Amsterdam for 2 nights and debating between Andaz (1st night on P&C, 2nd night expensive @390 euros - no DSU either night) and the Pulitzer (very reasonable C&P both nights). The Pulitzer rooms (at least many of them) can only be accessed through a maze of up and down stairs (indicated in reviews). There in no mention of this at the Andaz - so am I correct in assuming they aren't for the most part? This could sway my decision since I have some mobility issues and well have a bit if luggage since this is a pre cruise stay. Note that I'm Hyatt Diamond and SPG Platinum. Thanks!

I've sent an email to the Pulitzer asking about this issue but no reply as of yet.