Hotel is situated right in the hustle and bustle. Food and entertainment all around!

I was at the SIbos event during the week and was staying at a premium hotel before switching to accommodate my own pocket. And you do pay for what you get! I shouldve booked earlier!

Now, if you have large bags you may have to negotiate some crazy stairs which are in the back of the hotel.

Attendants are nice and friendly.

In my view, this is a great hotel if you are one of the weed smokers or out to get mildly wrecked. Definately not for the couples that want a peaceful sleep! The street in the back will keep you up or interfere with your sleep with the drunken bafoons shouting. Windows are not great.

The first thing I noticed is the pungent smell of weed, eearrgh

You may be woken up by the stoned giggling residents in the next room or rooms above... The stink of smoke is horrible.

The smoke alarm is covered with plastic. Given people can smoke whatever they like in their rooms the fire hazard is greatly increased. hmmm, safe.

There appears to be a mouse problem or at least there was...Mouse poison may be found in the wardrobe area.

You may experience a sewage smell after rainfall, I believe this is normal. Just run the shower for 5 mins and the smell disappears. Something to do with the stangnant drainage water.

The shower doesnt look upto much but is quite ok.

Bed is really soft, probably broken. Very uncomfortable.

Hoovers get turned on at 8.30am!!!

All in all, this place is fine if you are drunk or too stoned to care. If you are in Amsterdam to party and/or smoke.. then this will be suitable for you.

I stayed at this hotel for one night in April due to the volcano ash cloud which delayed all the flights in that period.
The hotel we had stayed in until that time tripled the prices over night as a result of the high demand for rooms in that period of time, with everyone stuck on the ground for what seemed then an indefinite period. We searched for a cheaper alternative, for one more night, as we were short on cash, having in mind that the following morning we had to take the bus back home, which was an extra cost.
We went to Damrak Street, from hotel to hotel asking for the price for one room, and we found the cheapest room here, EUR60 for a shared facilities room (the hotel had rooms with private bathrooms too, but they were more expensive).
We didn’t have breakfast, as we were leaving very early in the morning.
The conditions were very basic, and the furniture rather old, but the room was clean enough and so were the shared toilet and shower. There was rat trap in the room, but fortunately it was empty :). However, I haven’t seen a more expensive room, with private bathroom, it is possible that it looks better than the one we stayed in, I don’t know.
The stairs were narrow and pretty hard to climb, especially with luggage. There is no elevator.
The staff was polite and helpful.
Overall we put aside the drawbacks of this hotel bearing in mind the fact that it was the cheapest we could find in a time when all hotels increased their rates. For the moment, it was the solution to our problem.
I would recommend this hotel for someone constrained by the budget; it is somehow an alternative to a hostel. It is OK if you just want to have roof above your head.

Quite good choice but it coulb be better. Nevertheless, best among the hotels we found in that part of the city.

We have just returned from 3 days in Amsterdam. We hadn't booked any hotels and found the Van Gelder after a lot of walking about!! I was able to check the room first before taking it. Value for money, the room was no.26 which faced onto a shopping road at the back of the hotel. The staff were friendly. The room was clean, and it was cleaned every day with new towels. Breakfast was continental and adequate. Only downside was that there was no tea/coffee making facillities in the room.