Since my stay was "only" 3 weeks after the property opened and I had seen reports that parts of the property (lounge and sauna) weren't operational yet I asked the property what I could expect. The first reply was nothing more than "sorry, lounge is still closed but will open soon" leading me to cancel my stay. After that I was contacted with details of what was being offered as an alternative (restaurant breakfast - to be expected, and a voucher for 2 drinks and a bar bite). Plus the offer to take care of me durig my stay....

I then took the gamble of reinstating my reservation (P+C) and see what this new property offers.

Impressions from the outside:

Front: everything (and another section that didn't fit in the picture) is part of the hotel. The yellow bricks are the new facade, the other parts used to be the "Emma Kinderziekenhuis" and of which the facade has been preserved, the entire inside of the building is new.

The back of the building:

Location

The area where the hotel is located is convenient, public transportation (tram and subway) are within a 2min walk. Not as touristy as being right in the center but for me that is a plus. And lots of the sights are still an easy walk or a few minutes away by public transport. In my opinion the location shouldn't deter you from staying here even if most of what you would want to visit is in the center. A few decent bars and restaurants are also "just around the corner".

Check In

The lobby area is a bit funky with lots of green and the staff dressing in grey suits with white sneakers. I kinda liked it, but you can still see that it's a new property that has a somewhat clinical feel. Something that will probably improve once it has been open for a while and things get a bit more used.

Main entrance:

Counter for checkin to the left:

Bar and lounge area to the right:

Check-in was friendly and efficient with 3 positions of which one was reserved for WOH members (not that I saw any signs that it was used that way).

Room

Before staying I checked room availablity and strange things were happening. One moment the whole property was fully booked, the next all room types would show up. Until a week before my stay every room type was available including suites (first weekend those were offered) but after that all suites were gone.... could be they aren't ready yet. But somewhat disappointing to miss getting an upgrade. From Monday on there is suite availability again :-(.

The room I got was a standard King, but located at the back of the building so it did have a view. It's a rather small room which I found to be a bit bland and rather full with chair, desk and bed.

The decoration however is not bad:

Lots of brown is used in the color scheme though....

The bathroom was big with a nice and large mirror (including the only clock in the room).

A large shower on the right and the toilet on the left (with a glass partition making it somewhat awkward to use). The bathroom could be separated from the room with a large sliding door.

In my opinion not the best use of the space. The bathroom was rather large with lots of space that had no function, while the sink was too small for two people to use together. And that toilet should have been a separate space. The (only partially obscured) glass was rather awkward and it was noisy as well.

View was limited but still not bad:

What I liked in the room:
- plenty of power outlets and even 2x2 USB charging ports so no adapter required
- no complicated switches so everything worked as expected
- nice desk, not too big but it did the trick
- airco that wasn't loud

What I didn't like:
- rather small room with plenty of furniture (> 50% occupied by closet/bathroom).
- mirrors everywhere, a bit much
- no night light in the bathroom (at least not a functioning one)
- the bed was rather hard and the pillows are soft

The minibar is supposed to be complimentary (except alcohol) when getting a club room. I took that to include mine as well, but it's not the most extensive one I've seen. Some drinks and 2 beers but no snacks at all.

Dining

We had dinner in the restaurant on the first evening. Food was way better than I had expected it to be so that was great. Service was decent as well. But even here things are not fully operational yet. When reading about the restaurant the documentation promotes the "rijsttafel" and risotto's. But they are currently not being offered....

When promted they were able to provide a variety of dishes to resemble a rijsttafel but no explanation was given why it wasn't on the menu. The price for all this was a rather shocking €76 for 2 persons as well (just the main). Fortunately this was comped as part of the offer that enticed me to stay after I had already cancelled earlier.

Breakfast offered in the restaurant was decent with a good selection. However the egg dishes I had still need some work. One day the poached eggs were undercooked and the second day the Egg benedict was rather disappointing served on heavy brown bread and with a tasteless hollandaise.

We also had drinks and snacks in the bar one evening. Again mixed results, good service and pretty good drinks and "bitterballen". But the cheese platter left a lot to be desired, and priced at €14,50 was way overpriced. Fortunately this was comped as well with the voucher.

Overall

I still have mixed feelings about this property. I liked a lot of it but the room didn't really wow me. And some things still need improving (which they probably will in time). Service in general was rather good. Wifi there in all areas but sometimes very slow....

And after getting a rather disappointing answer about the lounge and sauna closures the recovery was great and enticed me to stay. As a gesture I was offered a free meal and a bottle of wine which was delivered to my room on check-in. That was rather nice and way more than expected (even a bit embarrasing at times).

However Amsterdam is getting expensive and this propery is no exception. A decent deal on points but rates are high at this time and food and drinks are expensive as well.

But it's good to have another Hyatt in town to provide an alternative to the Andaz. And I will probably stay again once the club has opened and suites are available.

Gym

Didn't use the gym, but it seemed to be a decent sized one....

Spa

Was still closed at the time.