Amsterdam The Waterfront Hotel

( 2 stars , Amsterdam , Netherlands )

you discover at your arrival that the hotel is just beside a night club, and the manager looks surprised by the fact that you can't sleep before 4.30 am!

I love to travel and have stayed in countless hotels, motels, hostels, and such the world over. Staying at the Hotel Waterfront was by far the worst lodging experience I have ever had. I have much to say about the hotel, so I'll try to be concise... here are some major bad points followed by a stroy that everyone should read. (A) NOISY. The hotel is located directly next to a discotechque. The noise of the disco is bad, but the patrons leaving the place at 4AM, screaming down the echoing canal is beyond tolerable. Street noise is also very bad as the old windows don't insulate you from the noise very well. (B) NEEDS REPAIR. This place is by no means a filthy place, but my room was a bit run-down. Cigarette burns in the drapes and carpeting. The shower went from freezing to scalding and back in a matter of seconds. The photos of their rooms on their website are not a fair representation of what your room will actually look like. They're touched up and dressed up. (C) RUDE & VERY UNTRUSTWORTHY MANAGER/OWNER. We decided to check out and find other accomodations based on our first night's stay. We agreed to pay the one night penalty just to be done with this awful place. Unfortunately, my troubles with this hotel and it's owner did not end for several months after my check-out. When you check in, they make an imprint of your credit card and urge you to pay in cash at check-out, however they make you sign a credit card slip that states your full amount. When we checked out after the first night, we agreed to pay for two nights. When we returned home we found our credit card had been charged for the full eight nights. We called the owner and he said he would credit our account. A month later, nothing had been credited to my account so I filed a complaint with MasterCard. In response, I was harrassed with phone calls from the owner in the middle of the night, made to my home, screaming profanities at me for disputing the charge to my card and posting a negative review of his hotel on an Amsterdam travel website. I urge everyone... do NOT stay here under any circumstances. Dealing with this hotel and its owner ruined a good part of our trip and it was a decision I regret to this day. Simply awful. Don't just take my word for it, check out other online reviews and you'll find dozens of people that have also had William van der Ham, the owner, attempt credit card fraud with them as well.

+ location excellent - no elevator--very steep narrow stairs to room.

The location of this place is great...It is on a canal, right around the corner from a tram stop...On that corner is the Amsterdam equivalent of a 'real' grocery store--Albert Heijn, so you don't have to eat every meal at restaurant prices...They have good prepackaged salads, meats, cheses, and bread...The Flower Market is right across the street from the store...If you cross the canal at that corner and turn left, you are about a hundred yards from a "Beer Garden" of sorts-plenty of choices, and they serve a full menu as well....The breakfast was standard fare-meats, breads/pastries with assorted jellies and cheeses, juices and coffee, and fresh fruit...We got there early and they let us leave our luggage in the office while we got a start on our day...Our room was actually the one on their website, and we found it just fine-comfortable bed, very nice bathroom, and a wonderful bay window that opened that we spent plenty of time canal and people watching in...The stairway IS narrow, and I don't know what any of the other rooms were like, but we met other people staying there who were return visitors who seemed as satisfied as we were...Yes, there can be some street noise at night, but there is going to be anywhere you are in the city-come on--YOU ARE IN AMSTERDAM! The staff was friendly and helpful to us....I would go back in a heartbeat!

+ The location and the external aspect of the building - Towels not changed daily-staff non-existent

+ nice breakfastroom - there is a night club rigth next to the hotel an it was just to noisy to sleep