Hotel Aspen - Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Amsterdams little jewel
Posted: Fri, Sep 14 2007
A friend and I stayed at Hotel Aspen from 8/8 dep 11/8 in a twin sized room. The room was very large and the bathroom just as large (be careful about the step leading to the bathroom in Rm.2 as I tripped into the bathroom several times..haha). I loved our large bay window with window seat. It was a nice place to sit and relax after a long day. The owner was very friendly and always available to answer any questions. He was there to greet us every night as we climbed our way up the steep stairs. We read about the hotel on several websites and were well prepared for the steep staircase, which was a bit daunting at first. I will admit I was slightly nervous about how we were going to get our luggage back down the stairs upon departure, but we managed!! The location of the hotel was great, close proximity to the Anne Frank House, Dam Square and all the other sites of interest in Amsterdam. Plus, it is close to Central Station!! The downside to the hotel might have to be the small single beds. Mine was slightly lopsided and I felt like I would fall off of it on a few occasions. One recommendation might be to provide plastic cups that are wrapped in plastic instead of unwrapped plastic cups being left in the bathroom. With that said I would still happily stay at Hotel Aspen again and will recommend it to others (who are fit and healthy to cope with the stairs) as the price and location outweighed anything that might have been negative. There is a fairly large grocery store on the corner near the hotel so a great place to stock up on water and snacks, which will help to save money. However the cafe's are all really nice with reasonable prices. My new favorite store has also got to be Hema! Loved it!!!

The rooms were fine, the owner a pain
Posted: Sun, Aug 26 2007
Okay, so this place came recommended through Ricks Steeves and a cool liitle book called "Get Lost". It is easy to find from Central Station, about 15 minutes, the building it is in is huge, and surrounded by other small hotels, coffee places, restaurants, and pubs. There is an Albert Hein grocery store nearby, as well as an internet café. The stairs are indeed steep, I definitely never ran up them...The shower room is in a closet, and be warned, there is no place to change or do anything in there but IN the shower- it's tiny. The single room is also tiny- with a sloped ceiling that make it even smaller. Included in the room was a tiny sink and mirror, a tiny closet, and a tiny (but comfortable and clean) bed. No breakfast is included here, but with so many places around I didn't miss it, and wasn't looking for it anyways. You can walk just about anywhere in the central part of the city from here, shopping, canals, museums, etc are all a reasonable walk away, and a tram runs through constantly if you don't feel like walking. The street around here is very safe but if you are put on the street side of the building you can hear cars, trams and bicycles going by all night. BUT! The owner is strange, as reported in an earlier review. I had just arrived, had barely been able to sleep the first night, and first thing in the morning around 7am I received a phone call with the owner accusing me of having had a visitor and how when he found out he was going to have me leave, etc. I was shocked and tried to explain that he had heard the neighboring room but he would have none of it- I could tell he didn't believe me and at this point I was getting angry. I just so happened to walk down the same time as the neighboring couple, and I made a fuss, pointing at them and really making my point that it was THEM he had heard. He kinda shrugged and said, "I didn't hear them come back." No apology, no nothing. It just made me wonder, was he listening at the doors or what?! But luckily he went on holiday the next day and the next caretaker was much friendlier- and when I did have a visitor, I just payed the extra charge and it wasn't a big deal. But! Because of that I would never stay there again...

very close to everything, good room and showers!
Posted: Thu, Aug 09 2007
We stayed in Amsterdam for 1 day in the begging of June of this year: my mother over 50 years old (very physically active), my 20 year old sis and myself. I must stay it’s about 10-15 min walk from Central station so there is no need to take a cab (just a waste of money). Print off the area map from Google and there you go. As other people said the stairs are very steep! Just be careful! Room was ok. We got the quadruple room as the hotel doesn’t have triple rooms, I think, not sure. We had private shower. Water pressure was good; shower was sparkling clean as well as the room. We got the room on the third floor with windows facing the back of the house in the quite neighborhood. The mattress was very comfortable especially after a lot of walking. I would stay in this hotel again if we get a chance to go see Amsterdam. Btw, take a canal bus tour. It’s around 18 euros but it’s much worth it cause you can hop on and off as you want.