Booked a studio room, which looked very nice. Good location looking over the Maas river, close to lots of restaurants and shops.

The studio is based in a house, and being on the 3rd floor without an elevator was not very convenient. Additionally, the room was not cleaned in after our 1st (of 2) night in the hotel. Parking was located next to the hotel, but very expensive for 2 nights.

We booked this hotel because it's centrally located, next to the parking garage and just across the bridge from Beluga.
It's a modern hotel with minimalist look and feel. The room was very bright and white, with a heavenly Auping bed. Because the room was so white, it looked dusty even though it was cleaned properly.
As the stairs are very steep it might not be suitable for people with walking disabilities. Our room was on the second floor with two flights of stairs in the room. Not ideal after a couple of drinks!
Overall, it's a decent hotel near the cities main attractions and great for a good night sleep.

Our stay at the Zenden Hotel can only be described as a mixed experience.

Positive aspects:
- nice looking studios
- adequate breakfast
- good location, right next to the city-center

Negative aspects:
- the free wifi did not work (even after a technician came to fix the issue)
- limited hours available for hotel guests to use the swimming pool as it is most of the time used as a sports facility for children
- quite expensive for the value you get

I wanted to take my mother and my 4 year old son on a nice short vacation during the spring holidays. I found the website of Hotel Zenden in Maastricht and was enthusiastic and curious because the hotel was renovated by Wiel Arets and had won a design prize.

Me and my partner are also interior designers working in diverse market segments, including hotels, so I was especially curious about this particular hotel Zenden.

On the pictures it looked interesting. The pool looked very nice, with a couple of small children on the site of the pool. So we were looking forward to having a swim and and we bought a swim suit especially for this occasion.

But this all never happened.

We arrived with the car in front of the hotel, in a small alley. The "owner", Martijn, was not there, but another man who was not involved with the hotel, but just with the "sport" facility, sat behind the desk in too empy - just cold atmosphere. Emptyness can be very zen and comfortable (and I know what that is – I traveled a lot in Japan in beautiful ‘empty’ ryokans) but this was more like entering a huge freezer. I checked in for me, my mother and son.

"Oh", said the man behind the desk. "We do not allow children, nor do we give out extra beds".

I was astonished, I said there was nothing on their site where that was clearly written.

On the contrary, on their site they gave a totally different impression. On the photo from the pool there are young children, which at least gives the suggestion that the place is also for kids. There were studios with kitchens and at the desk of the Hotel there was even a flyer; "Zenden Sports" with different young children on it.

"No", said the man, "that is from Zenden swimming pool and Zenden sports school"

How vague is that? It is Hotel Zenden and on the site they are promoting the swimming pool and their sports facilities. But in fact they are separate, although all located within the Hotel.

The way the man hehind the desk handeled this situation was both clumsy and very unprofessional. I have not experienced this in my whole traveling career. He offered no excuse from his side, no solution from his side, nothing.

We came all the way from Amsterdam, three hours by car to have a nice night in Hotel Zenden. Then I said "If my son is not welcome here, then we will not stay here."

He said that he "could not guaranty that they would not charge (me) the reservation"

He said, "you've decided not to take the room"

Astonished, I replied, "No we are not welcome with a child, so what can I do?"

Then he had to phone "Martijn" (the owner?) but Martijn was not available. He said that he could not do more and he would phone me when he had spoken with Martijn.

I still did not know what they would do. Are they charging the room?

Then he walked away into another room – left me alone at the desk, so that I could not hear what he discussed with Martijn. He came back and said, "Officially, no children are allowed, as a result, families book two rooms – mother sleeps with one child and the father with the other child. We first had the policy not to allow children, but now we do accept them.

What? I was astonished again! Is this a hotel. Is this for real?! In the meantime I felt extremely unwelcome. It felt so terrible. For some strange reason, he insisted on showing me my reserved room. I reluctantly joined him, and he showed me something that really did not correspond to what was promised. It looked nothing like what was portrayed on the website.

Saddened, astonished and disappointed, I left with my mother and son and we travelled to Roermond to a ordinary hotel in the city were we treated as guests, as it supposed to be.