Missed the mark
My experience of this hotel is similar to other 3 star reviews. After a 3 night stay: In short: underwhelming, at times annoying, next time I will stay elsewhere. Here’s why from my experience : check-in: I suppose the self check-in is meant to be more efficient but in practice it is unnecessarily complicated and unwelcoming in a cramped space. Obviously guests find it challenging since there are always several staff on hand to assist and from observation, guests prefer to be assisted than figure it out themselves (me included) - no surprise given we are weary travellers. The rooms are variable. Our first room (superior) had a frosted glass box for a bathroom. The bed was flooded with light at night through the shower wall. We asked if there were other rooms with different floor plans (there are) and were moved to a bigger room with a bathroom and a separate toilet- apparently in the same room classification. That was better but still had glass doors although the light leakage was not as bad, because of the better floor plan. Room amenities: good quiet air con, block out drapes, kettle and coffee pod machine, nice brand of tea, safe but no fridge (annoying!). Limited cupboard space to unpack clothes, no luggage rack. Huge comfortable bed with very plump pillows. The decor is not great: there’s a Dita von Teese book in every room and bad graphics of corsets over the beds. There’s a make-up station near the bed with a mirror ringed in dull lights which is hopeless for actually putting make up on. There’s blue “mood” lighting and tall mirrors on the annoyingly tiny bedside tables. If I think about it too much, it’s actually offensive - (hetero-) sexist, and out of date. Bathroom: big bench for toiletries but severe downlighting over the mirror - bad for make up. Lights are all on or all off, not nice when you are in the bath. No hooks to hang towels, despite huge wall space for them, so weird- what do you do with a wet towel?! Service: dysfunctional. The bath had hair in it and an obvious black ring around it and when I asked to have it cleaned, it wasn’t. Asking again, a young man arrived with a bottle of spray and a towel(!) to scrub it. I later learned they do not have housekeeping after hours (it was early evening). Then when I realised late at night that I had accidentally left my pyjamas in our first room, reception could not reunite me with them, since they don’t know where housekeeping stores lost property- crazy. After a cold night, I got them back the following morning. Breakfast: an OK selection- a bit of everything. The pastries were on the hard side and if you are gluten intolerant, there’s not much on offer. Coffee pretty awful, but that’s not unusual at all hotel. It was one of the more expensive hotel breakfasts I’ve had. The nearby crêperie is a good alternative. The location is good but noisy and Rembrandt square gets very lively of a night- it’s a youthful town. So overall, fine, but not good enough to want to stay there again.
