FXEpilot77

So I booked a room for the weekend after next. Tried to use the diamond suite upgrade, but the andaz suite was not available. The andaz large suite is. Has anyone had any luck at getting them to give out the bigger suite if it doesn't sell? I'm willing to use a diamond upgrade certificate.

OsakaWino

In the early stages of planning a trip to London and Paris, possibly for April next year, and thought it might be nice to visit Amsterdam as the last stop, but looking at the rates for the Andaz I'm mostly seeing €400+, which seems like a lot. Is this because it is so far in advance? Is the hotel really worth that?

777 global mile hound

They have had a massive rate increase
Folks were complaining when the rates were 250 to 300 Euros last year
I'd say its worth an experience and one of the better Andaz Hyatt properties in the world
However once over 330 Euros I would venture to say use points
I'm looking at the shoulder season and its not that much less expensive
Its a bit more than London

OsakaWino

Thanks 777.

At these rates I think we'll consider it only as a late addition to the itinerary if rates come down and other plans can be changed accordingly. Thought it would be a good place to use a suite upgrade. Id did see some rates closer in at around €315, which might be doable for us if we could use the suite upgrade. At €405 + hotel tax our budget would require a nice evening lounge that could take care of most, or even all, of our evening meal and drinks.

Maybe Amsterdam will have to wait for a while until the HR opens.

RTW1

Although the Andaz Amsterdam is a nice hotel I feel it's becoming terribly overpriced... but hotel prices in Amsterdam seem to be rising as a whole, so they might get away with it.

I think prices will come down somewhat when we get closer to your target dates. Most Amsterdam hotels have ridiculous prices for spring 2014. But there are some public holidays in that period where prices will be high no matter what. Points might do the trick though... at 18.000 points it's not a bad deal.

The HR will be opening somewhere in 2015 if all goes to plan. Location is good, but nowhere near as good, for a tourist, as the Andaz.

OsakaWino

Thanks. I have a feeling that the trip will end up being postponed to either September or even April 2015 anyway. But I was very surprised to see rates starting at €405 when plugging in a few dates.

FD1971

It has always been Hyatt´s strategy to get away with low occupancy levels and high rates, AMS is no exception.

Amsterdam is well known for not having enough hotel rooms during major events and 2013 in AMS is an event itself. One should not forget that we are talking about the reopening of some of the most important museums on the planet.

As pointed out before, the train connection between Schiphol and Amsterdam is perfect, so booking a cheaper hotel at or around the airport, e.g. where the new Hyatt will open soon, is always an option.

The city is amazing.

Use trivago.com to get a precise overview of the rates available.

RTW1

That's going to be a HP where rates are still unknown...... and even though transportation is quick and easy, as a tourist I would hate having to wait for a shuttle bus and then taking a 15min train/subway ride to get to where you really want to go. A 30-45 minute ride in total, and that probably a few times a day.

And a decent hotel on the airport grounds is probably not going to that cheap either. Unless you really like the CitizenM style :-).

smilee

Just returned from a two night stay at the Andaz Amsterdam. Unfortunately I used a paid rate of about 280 euros and was expecting a hotel to match the quality of the rate. Boy was I disappointed. Let me explain the good and the bad.

Good
Location - the hotel is located next to a canal in a nice central location in Amsterdam. Its close to many museums, restaurants and attractions that you may want to visit. The hotel was very clean and was my first Andaz for this diamond member. It felt a little "W" like, but not quite as cheap/fake as I personally find W's.

Free bike rentals - if you get up early. The best thing I enjoyed about this hotel was the free bike rental we got on the first day. They have 5 bikes for the entire hotel so probably they will be gone early in the morning. But they are free.

I am in disagreement on the food in the restaurant. One of us says the food was good, however I wanted to order poached eggs medium, and they said I had to order the eggs Florentine?? poached very very soft. The next day I explained again and this time was able to order just poached eggs - one came out very very soft, the other hard and over cooked (I guess that makes medium)

Not so good
As mentioned was the inexperienced service. Every day from at least 11 - 1pm the lobby was crowded and you needed to wait 20+ minutes to get checked in or out or to ask questions. There is NO concierge desk. For some reason, even simple tasks, agents often needed to ask for help from a more experienced agent. Every day at least one of keys wouldn't work. Again I blame the experience from the staff. For breakfast at 6:15 am I asked if I could take a window seat (they refused saying the hotel was fully booked and the window seats are all tables of 4-6 so they would be needed for that) Huh? After breakfast by 7:30, I think there was a total of 3 tables sitting. Perhaps if it was 9:00 am I would understand. Again an inexperienced staff member not understanding.

Spa/Workout room. If I sent my wife to this SPA she would kill me. It was usually closed I think and not very nice. The gym is a small cave in the basement as well with I think 4-5 machines and some free weights. Really in a maybe 15ft x 15 ft cave with no windows. The equipment was all newish and in working condition. I often found towels garbage just laying around not cleaned up by staff.

Diamond Ammenity/Treatment - pretty non-existent here. I got a basic room. No welcome letter. The only thing I received was the free breakfast AND as you can tell from my review, I felt it was a pretty mediocre breakfast. I also got 1000pts. I would think a basic member and a diamond member gets treated about the same here.

Would I stay here again? Possibly if the price was more like 150 euros. I can understand that maybe Amsterdam has hotel prices like Manhattan. But certainly at the price point I saw THERE ARE SOME SERIOUS SERVICE ISSUES.

I guess I was expecting a hotel with staff trained to more European standards like I experienced this summer in Poland, Berlin, Milan and Frankfurt. NOT. I wish the GM and maybe some staff would go to those Hyatts to see how a hotel can execute proper 4 star service. At least in the interim, perhaps the GM could double or triple the staff so that people could get served, and the inexperienced staff members could shadow or mentor to learn a little more about customer service. The GM - non-existent from what I could tell here.

777 global mile hound

Sorry to hear that your stay was not up to par
If you are still unhappy and didn't speak with the hotel directly to resolve these issues before leaving or during your stay there is Always Hyatt Consumer Affairs to get it on record.

This November will be my one year anniversary staying at Andaz Amsterdam and as long as the wonderful folks and management are still there on board
I can’t imagine going anywhere else in Amsterdam.
80% of my reason to return to Amsterdam is Andaz Amsterdam
I booked an upcoming stay there year to date at 337 Euros a night so my expectations will be quite high as well. Had a great stay here last year!

Certainly I agree regarding food/dining and had a number of dining execution issues during my stay.
Also saw promise and a few things were delicious but like you I also had some disappointments along the way and expected more in quality not just quantity and or variety.
More attention to detail was needed at the time.
In the future my suggestion is to ask for the restaurant manager or food and beverage director these folks can take care of service snafus
and make sure that your preferences are better met and that you are better attended too during your stay.
In the instances where I am disappointed I have never hesitated to reach out to these folks directly and almost always its as if someone waved the magic wand

Management to their credit generally has been exceptional here unless something has changed that I am unaware of.
There are folks here onboard from the Park Hyatt Milan and The Andaz Wall Street and other Hyatt Hall of Fame properties.
I’m not sure who was in the front of the house during your stay or if there were some unusual circumstances however my guess is you hit a speed bump during a busy period
The turnover rate in Amsterdam of team members can be challenging especially Amsterdam
Perhaps there has been some recent turnover?
At the end of the day when you are spending 400 us dollars for a room you deserve excellence no question there

When I initially read your post
it deeply concerned me so I decided to cross check Trip Advisor to see if the past high perception had dropped and its still running exceptionally high still
at a very impressive 91% extremely satisfied a very high guest respect index and well above industry standards.
Overall from a service perspective that is still extraordinary not that will help you feel any better about your stay.
Do agree with you 100% that the hotel should have a dedicated concierge at your service.

Like you I am a top tier Daimond member at Hyatt and other chains and I do expect within reason especially at a premium property for the hotel to differentiate
and make for a more positive experience than a general level member
I also agree the gym is skimpy and sadly it was one area I thought the property should have put more thought into
It’s my hope I will have a more positive outcome than you! I will do a follow-up report in December!So far I am keeping the faith ^

RTW1

What more magical Diamond benefits did you expect? As you stated the hotel was full, so that's probably why an upgrade wasn't offered. Those are never guaranteed, but when the availability is there they do upgrade Diamonds. Seems you got exactly the benefits that are promised.

A welcome letter is nice though, but those have gone with the Diamond amenity points.

Just accept rates in Amsterdam are (ridiculously) high, and in general it's not a place known for exceptional service. Exactly like NY I would say. You don't really get value for money here....

FD1971

A typical stay...

The Andaz AMS continues to underperform on many levels.

It is a disgrace for the properties in Milan or Zurich to be mentioned in the same context.

There is a clear seperation between Andaz and Park Hyatt and Amsterdam is a nice example.

In every aspect, and the Andaz LSS has potential to disappoint, especially when the City is full, Andaz Amsterdam is probably the most underwhelming Hyatt property in Europe aside from Belgrade...and we all know that Berlin needs a renovation (dropped from a No.1 Tripadvisor rating to a Top 20 position in recent years), Hamburg needs a renovation (still TA No.1,though) and Warsaw gets old as well.

As pointed out before, I do expect the Hyatt Place AMS to become a very very good alternative. Certainly not as convenient as the Andaz, but it will be one of the largest Hyatt properties in Europe (more than 300 rooms), it will be in an area with huge competition already and rates for 4 star properties in the Euro 60-80 range quite often over the Weekends.

On top of that, there will be a shuttle to the nearest Station that will get you to AMS Centraal in a bit more than 20 minutes.

Aside from the Hyatt alternative, there are many comparable Hotels quality-wise that go for 50-70% of what the Andaz typically charges and considering the mediocre Diamond Treatment, the only difference might be 1000 points, if the competition offers free breakfast anyway.

Not worth a premium of 150-200 Euro, at least in my opinion.

RTW1

Apples and oranges, don't you think? And lot of assumptions for an hotel that hasn't even opened yet.

Sure, rates will be lower. How low is still unclear. Comparable hotels in the area regularly run in the €100-150 range during the week. It's only those weekends with an empty business area surrounding the hotel that you will get a better deal. But the location is crap for tourists visiting Amsterdam, unless you fancy spending at least 30 minutes one-way each time you are getting into town. Nothing of interest in the area and no decent facilities outside the hotel, unless you fancy McD. Transportation options are decent, but it will still take a lot of time getting anywhere.

It's nice there will be more Hyatt's in Amsterdam, but the HP will "only" be for those looking for an airport hotel or presumably if you are really traveling low-budget.

I work in the area, so it might be a nice place to stay when I need to be in Amsterdam early or late :-). An easy drive since it will be just of the freeway.
But not really an alternative for an hotel right in the center of Amsterdam. The planned HR might be that, although I suspect rates will be somewhat high there as well....

FD1971

Most readers are looking for a decent place to stay and probably also visit the greater AMS area as well as other sights in Amsterdam that are more distant from the Andaz.

The convenience of the Sheraton at Schiphol (no bags to carry in trains, trams and on narrow streets) or the Hyatt Place should not be underestimated, the upgraded rooms at the Andaz are also close to 40 sqm. , so nearly 50% more spacious in comparison to the Andaz at 25-50% of the rates.

That gets you a lot of apples and oranges. @:-)

It would not surprise me, if the Hyatt Place becomes way more popular fast.

It is up to everyone to make their choice where to stay, but at rates of $ 400 and higher for nothing more than a rock-solid property, I guess we will see quite some people at the HP, who will only stop at the Andaz for a quick look and lunch ( and still save $ 200 incl. lunch )

RTW1

Yeah, it's really hard to miss al those posts on this board where people are raving about their stay at the Park-Inn Hoofddorp compared to staying at the Andaz :-).

Those Diamond upgrades will be guaranteed as well....none that is.

And sure, I also feel that the Andaz prices are over the top. But they still seem to sell a lot of rooms.

And what is the price of enjoying a late night drink (or whatever) and then strolling back to your hotel, instead of walking to the station, having to take a 20-30minute trainride and then walking 20minutes through the most desolated area you can find in Hoofddorp.

Don't get me wrong, variety is good. But they will be competing in two different leagues. And your comparison with the Sheraton is a bit misleading as well... That location is way more convenient for most, but also commands higher rates than those hotels located in Hoofddorp.