Hyatt Place Amsterdam airport (Hoofddorp) REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
Aug 21, 2016, 8:31 am
Aug 22, 2016, 1:25 pm
Oct 10, 2016, 9:58 pm
According to maps it appears the train station is about 1.5 KM away so probably a 20 min walk. Just curious if its a safe walk at night?
Oct 11, 2016, 2:26 am
Alternatively from the Airport
Take bus (300/310/361/365/370) from the airport plaza and exit after the tunnel at the stop "De hoek". This is near the McDonalds. From there the walk to the hotel is only 500 meters or about 5 minutes.
Alternatively from Hoofddorp Central station
Take bus 169. This bus runs every 30 minutes and the ride will only take 5 minutes. This bus stops in front of the hotel.
Oct 18, 2016, 3:33 am
On the upgrade note, I've just had my 10th stay here and received a bottle of wine. I have also organized events here, but never ever received the larger room.
I agree it's a good hotel.
Oct 18, 2016, 9:58 am
On the upgrade note, I've just had my 10th stay here and received a bottle of wine. I have also organized events here, but never ever received the larger room.
I agree it's a good hotel.
Dec 29, 2017, 2:42 am
I had a 1 night stay here since I needed to keep my points active. Am not really a Hyatt person due to it's limited property footprint.
Location:
Situated in an industrial area of Hoofddorp, so there is nothing much around. You can walk to the center of Hoofddorp, but it'll take about 20-30 mins. The airport shuttle runs twice per hour. Pick up is at the Schiphol Travel Assistance (STA) area which is all the way at the end of the Schiphol terminal complex (walking towards the Citizen M hotel) towards Terminal 4. Do take care that this is away from the normal bus stop for hotel shuttle. There is a sign at the normal hotel shuttle stop, but the sign is not absolutely correct (it states 200 m, but in reality is less than 200 m). Other than that, there is no clear direction on where to find the shuttle. It does not help that in the terminal itself, there are still currently limited sign indicating the direction to Terminal 4 (which I did not even know existed even I use the airport often). I would say it is in the lost part of the terminal. The shuttles are timed rather nice if you need to connect to the fast train towards Amsterdam Central station and coming back from Amsterdam Central.
Check-in:
I did an online check-in the day before. Arrived at the hotel with no one in front. However I was told that my room was not ready and because I did the online check-in, the front desk associate could not change my assigned room. This was my first to be told this, but again never done online check in with Hyatt before, so I assumed it was just an IT issue and played along. Waited in the lobby and during the whole wait, I saw people coming in and everyone was getting a room. After 30 mins of waiting I asked again, and was told that the room was still not ready. This time I questioned about the "Computer says no" situation and another associate checked together and said that since I was a Hyatt member, they most probably need to prepare additional amenities (which is very strange to me since I am just a basic member). I insisted that they check and was told to take a seat. After a couple of mins, I was presented with a key.
Therefore I do not understand what crap I was told earlier that nothing could be done when the computer said No. I was closed to escalate the issue to the what I assume was a manager since he was around the area, but decided to let it go.
Room:
Assigned a room on the 6th floor, just around the corner from the elevator. I was surprised that the size of the room was quite spacious (comparing this to the Hampton Inn down the road) and there was a nice sofa area. The room looked very comfy as the first impression. (I have only stayed once at a Hyatt Place in the US sometime ago- which was more basic).
View of the room was towards the airport. Only complaint here is the shape of the hotel, (T-shape) this means that other rooms can see into each others room and that you will have to use the shade to get some privacy (and defies the purpose of the nice floor to ceiling window).
Internet speed was good and stable.
Shower area was nice and spacious, though a pity for such a nice walk-in shower, the water pressure was very low and you had to virtually stand at the edge to have a proper shower. There seemed to be also a connection between the shower area and the sink - one would get extremely cold or hot when both are in used.
TV channel selection was good and quality was good. There are tea/coffee making facilities including a fridge.
From amenities point of view, this has got to be one of the better hotels that though everything out - different amenities available for free, purchase or for lend.
Breakfast:
As an airport hotel, it is good that they start at 600 am and I did see that they have package breakfast for those that need to leave earlier. One of the better breakfast among the different hotels where breakfast is complimentary for all. Compared to the Hampton Inn and HI Express, I would say the one here at the Hyatt Place is the winner - with a good variation and quality seems to be much better. The seating area and service utensils was definitely much better. Of course there will be no comparison to the properties in North America both from quality and atmosphere. The staff were friendly and helpful - close to being a full service place which is a big thumbs up.
Staff:
In general ok. Was not super impressed with the front desk associates which did not give a very welcoming feeling and they always seem to be busy with their own work or chatting among themselves. What irritated me was that I requested for a late check-out on the day of departure to the morning staff, and later with the change in shift, at around 1230 I received a call from the front desk reminding me of the check out time which I indicated that I have already requested and was granted a late check-out. So not sure why the miscommunication in their computer system.
General:
In general, besides the different letdowns ( shuttle pick up info, online check-in room issue, late check-out), I was impressed with the property. The standard was much better than what I had expected compared to other hotels in the same category. If they can just improve on those points, I believe this can be a solid property and certainly improve the money for value of the stay. I would certainly choose this property again if the price is right and my usual hotel chains are not available.
Cheers!
Dec 29, 2017, 7:53 pm
Dec 30, 2017, 3:03 am
Jan 2, 2018, 9:19 pm
Mar 13, 2018, 10:05 am
On arrival nice greeting and told F&B manager wanted to speak to me. In room two welcome notes including one inviting me to a wine tasting. Got a call about 30 minutes later from "R" who is a recently promoted team leader inviting my wife and I down to the bar for a drink and a chat.
Very pleasant 10-15 minute talk and some nice wine. Never had this when staying as a Globalist!!
Apr 3, 2019, 12:05 pm
Hyatt Place Amsterdam Airport
Rijnlanderweg 800 Hoofddorp, NL 2132 NK
OK hotel, not the more organized (9 Photos)
Hyatt Place Amsterdam Airport
Main purpose to stay here was to keep my points active and since I had an early morning flight, this was a good reason to stay here before my early morning flight. This was my 2nd stay at the property, last stay was back in 2017.
Location
The property is located about 10 mins by shuttle from Schiphol airport. The shuttle runs every 30 mins from the STA center at the end of Hall 3 of the arrivals level at Schiphol. Around the property there is not much of anything except some office buildings and a petrol station. I believe you can walk about 20-25 mins to Hoofddorp station.
Check In
I had done online check-in the day before indicating an early arrival request. However upon arriving at the hotel early (since I wanted to take the opportunity to visit friends down in Amsterdam), even at around 11 am I was told no rooms were available. I believe this was also the 1st or 2nd day where Hyatt HQ introduced the un-customer friendly fee of early check-in/out of ~30 Euros - I was told firmly even as a Hyatt member (even Elites) do not get this waived. Anyway, since no rooms were available, I kept my bags in storage and left back with the next shuttle to the airport to get the train down to Amsterdam.
Noticed that check-in efficiency at the hotel has still not improved - even with 3-4 staff behind the desk, not all were working on check-in and only 2 were doing the check-in, with each person taking close ~ 5 mins. Not sure why this is the case, is it just that the check-in/out software is not efficient or the staff not properly trained.
Room
Upon returning later in the evening to the hotel, I stopped by the front desk (again another wait for about 10 mins) to get my keys. I was assigned a standard room facing the parking area of the hotel and views of the office buildings around the hotel.
The room was quite spacious - with a sofa set and a long working table. There was tea/coffee making facilities available. The climate control worked ok luckily not with too much blowing noise even at the high fan settings.
Bathroom was ok in size with a walk-in shower. Amenities were basic, with the normal toiletries and a list of items that you could either borrow or request complimentary and items which were for sale (prices seems reasonable).
Internet was complimentary -stable and sufficient for the usual online acitivities. The TV selection was good with a good mix of international and local options.
Dining
Breakfast is complimentary for Hyatt members (both elite and non-elite). The breakfast selection was quite good (slightly better than the Hampton Inn) and staff were fast in refilling the dishes. They had about 4-5 different hot dishes. However if I remembered, the last time the quality seemed to be slightly better.
The breakfast area was quite large, so even though the hotel was crowded, it was still able to accommodate the crowd - and staff did clear tables fast.
Service
Service in general was OK - only not really the most accommodating. As mentioned, they do have the shuttle to/fro the airport. However this was very badly organized. Outside of the peak hours, it is ok, but during the peak hours (which to me the hotel could have estimated based on experience) the whole process is a joke. The worst was on the morning of my departure - had made a reservation the day before. However on the morning of the shuttle, the shuttle was filled to capacity - and the driver of the shuttle was the rudest person with totally no logical way to handle the situation - at first asking if every one had tickets - without checking and loading bags into the minivan without first checking if there was sufficient space - than when there was not sufficient seats, denying passengers whose bag he has just loaded from standing (understand it is illegal to transport more than what is permitted) and just shouting that he will not move if those without a seat getting out of the van. However what was worst was the front desk staff - if they had known about the situation - they could have informed and gone out to co-ordinate the situation. Later I discovered that the hotel did order another taxi - but ordering one without taking into account the number of guests that still could not get on the shuttle - luckily it was 1 person too much and the private taxi driver was ok to just take an additional person - of course leading to a uncomfortable ride to the airport. The above situation was not the first time as I saw the same problem on the morning before when I arrived. I was told by a few other fellow guests that this was often the case at this property.
Overall
All in all, an ok property in general, but would not really recommend this place due to the attitude of the staff in general and some of the services which just seems to half hearted.
Also in addition, after my stay I did get a survey about my stay which I mentioned about the different short comings - and the response received was rather sad - that during my stay the hotel was full, therefore service was not up to standard - to me this is clearly an indication that something is not right, the staff are just not bothered/pro-active enough to address the issues. If they know that the hotel will be full, than someone should take lead to make sure things run as smooth as possible. A very poor showing in my opinion and being full should not be an excuse that quality degrades - a hotel is built and run based on the number of rooms that the hotel can accommodate.