Hotel Damrak - Amsterdam, Netherlands     

On reading the reviews from this website too be honest I was expecting to stay in the most run down grotto in Amsterdam! But to my surprise it was far from it. We arrived to the hotel late (11pm) to be greeted by a friendly receptionist. Our friends had already checked into the rooms so we couldn’t wait to get seeing what they where like. I read reviews that the carpet is filthy?? …. A surprise to me as the rooms have wooden floor!! We paid ?50.00 PPPN and I feel this was VERY good value. You can walk to all the attractions in Amsterdam and you are a stone's through away from both central station and Dam Square. I think the bad reviews of this hotel have basically came from "complainers" this is my first time writing a review on this site but I felt I should show the hotel in a light in which I saw it. Clean, nice staff and does exactly what you need for Amsterdam. Let's face it if your going to Amsterdam to sit in you room all day and watch TV ….. Then your in the wrong city! Would recommend this for friends, although if I was family or going away on a romantic weekend then maybe splash a little more cash. Enjoy the DAM!

I went with my mum to Amsterdam for a sight seeing break and we booked this hotel as it sounded central and was close to where the tour buses and boats left from. The on-line reviews seemed fair for the price and we booked a single room each. I really don't know where to start describing what we were presented with. The rooms were shocking - very tiny and dark. If I'd had a cat to swing it would have hit its head on the way round. A small single bed was pushed up against the wall with a pillow and throw/duvet folded on top (it was a make your own bed up style). The sheet however was already on the bed and I noticed a rather dark curly short hair on it - grim. There was a TV but it had wires sticking out the front so I wasn't going to touch that. There were cigarette burn marks in the walls and ripped furniture. The only ventilation was from a small window that opened out on a small smoking area in the middle of the building - this was filled with rubbish and pigeon excrement. If you opened the window then mosquitoes and flies came rushing into the room. The cleanest place was the bathroom, but I was not going to sleep in there. I refused to unpack and preferred to carry all my valuables in my handbag than leave in the room or safe while we went to find alternative (and much better) accommodation. I can't comment on the double rooms - the pictures of which enticed us in the hotels advert, if I had been aware of what the single rooms were like I would not have considered this hotel for our stay at all. Even the location leaves a lot to be desired, what the reviews don't tell you is that Amsterdam is having a new metro system built. The street the Damrak is on, and area from which the canal trips leave from, is filled with large cranes and noisy diggers obscuring the view of the canal and historical buildings. Apparently its going to be like that for a few years yet. If I had been a backpacker only needing a one night sleep over then this hotel may have just been marginally suitable, but I would say ?50 a night is incredibly steep for that purpose. I'm 36 and my mum is in her 70's - if you are of these age groups and are looking for a respectable hotel. Look elsewhere.