I travel on a weekly basis for my work (and have done for the last two years) and booked into this hotel on the recommendation of a client... After speaking to the staff I was informed that the hotel is designed for short stays (in their view, overnight only), which explained why there are no cupboards or drawers of ANY kid in the room. While the hotel looks fine from the outside, the inside leaves a lot to be desired!

The first thing that caught my attention was how the majority of their staff could speak very little english. I guess this is to be expected, but even the taxi drivers could speak more english! After checking into my room I found out that there were no cupboards/drawers etc, and so nowhere to put any of my clothes. Next was how the aircon unit is both very noisy and very pointless. Even when it was set to the lowest it would go, it still blowed out luke-warm air! I asked reception about this and they checked and told me it was working as expected!

Trying to put all of that to one side, I then tried using the internet... They do offer free wireless (unencrypted), however the speeds are just above dial-up. I tried it all week at different times during the day/night and each time (on two different laptops) I managed to get at most 40KB/sec. I actually got more speed through my 3G dongle! As I thought the wireless might be at fault I switched to using the cable in the room. Frustratingly, you have to pay for cabled access (12 euro's per 24 hours). How fun it was to find out the speeds when using a cable were no different, and that the hotel would not refund it.

Breakfast came, only to be greeted by signs around the hotel restaurant/bar that say "Beware, Pickpockets". I have never in my life been to a hotel that warns you about theft in their restaurant! To top that off, the food served for breakfast looked remarkably stale (the cheese slices were dry to the core!), and made me rather ill 4 hours later.

After spending a week in the hotel, it got progressively worse after day 1. The cheap vending machines they have on each floor ate my money and gave me nothing twice.. The staff were less than courteous even asking for an ironing board etc. And the final nail in the coffin, having their twin-style beds actually separate in the night because they aren't latched together (and cannot be!). I managed to bruise my shoulder after rolling over and hitting the floor.

As for the hotel being clean, how about this... My dirty and wet towels were left in the bathroom for 3 days, and despite the beds being made every day (so housekeeping were visiting), they weren't replaced. Half-empty cups on the side weren't taken away by them either. The best of all, on day 1 I had a nosebleed and there was a small patch of blood on quilt (visible from about 3 meters away). On day 5 it was still there on the quilt, they hadn't even changed the bedding!

Seriously people, I won't be coming back to this hotel ever and I recommend nobody else does. I am amazed that it has so many good reviews given how it is.... As for an awesome location, there is very little to do around the area (unless you like repeatedly looking in the Media Markt), and there are only a couple of decent places to eat within walking distance. And yes, all of the shops shut at 6, so if your back from work after then, your s#*t out of luck.

My advice, try one of the hotels in Amsterdam city center (unless you really need to be this far out). I will be stopping at the Renaissance from now on as its actually cheaper (hard to believe!), and a much better hotel.