Hotel De Looier, Amsterdam

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Average
Quality of Rooms	Average
Standard of Service	Average
Quality of Facilities	Poor

Advantages:	Nice quiet locale, cheap (relatively speaking) and cheerful .
Disadvantages:	Dated decor and basic rooms

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

On my recent trip to Amsterdam I was lucky enough to have the hotel and flights sorted out by one of my buddies - good man! He booked us in to The Hotel De Looier, which is a former diamond factory ( in the 19th century) in the antique district of Amsterdam, 5 minutes walk from the Leidseplein (one of the main bar/restaurant areas).

CHECKING IN

The checking in process was fairly quick and easy, although there only appears to me one member of staff in reception at any one time, so at busy times you could probably find yourself waiting a while to be seen to. With that in mind, I imagined that checking out would be a slow process but we only waited very briefly, probably because my friends took so long to get ready that we were quite probably the last guests in the building!

The lady who checked us in spoke fluent English, as did all the staff (and all Dutch people in general, apparently), and was very friendly. She asked if it was our first time in Amsterdam, which for most of us it was, then produced a map for us, on which she marked major areas of interest and good places to shop, eat, etc., before indicating a series of leaflets on the counter with various excursions that can be booked through the hotel.

She also warned us not to smoke cannabis in our rooms as there's a 400 euro fine for that! Of course, none of us would have anyway, but it seems that the general view on young Englishmen in Amsterdam is that their primary concern is to smoke as much cannabis as possible - it had already been assumed of us by some Dutch guy on the train immediately after our arrival (though he then asked if we wanted to hang out with him for the evening, so maybe he was just hoping we wanted to do the same thing as him!) Anyway...

THE ROOMS

Between the 5 of us we had a twin room and a triple room, so we thought. In reality, my twin room turned out to be a double room, so it's just as well my room buddy and I are close friends! Actually, I wasn't really surprised because the look in the eye of the woman at reception when we checked in warned me to expect as much. Being English, we didn't like to complain, so I don't know whether they'd have been able, or indeed willing, to change our room for us if sharing a bed had been utterly unacceptable to us.

The room was adequate but hardly spacious and there was just enough room for the double bed, wardrobe, desk and wall mounted TV with enough floor space to walk between them without having to edge past things. The en suite was adequate for my small frame, but my room buddy, being 6 foot 2ish, found the only way to accommodate his legs when seated in there was to have one knee in the shower! On the plus side, the shower was very good with plenty of power and the shampoo they provided was pretty reasonable and didn't offend my sensitive skin.

The triple room shared by my other friends was far more spacious and included a chair and a small table and had a larger bathroom. Both rooms had three large windows, so there was plenty of light, but I'm not sure it was possible (we didn't find a way) to open any of the windows in the double room, which would have been a Godsend on the first morning as the heavy meal and alcohol of the night before played merry hell with our digestion, thus rendering the room something of an explosion hazard!

THE BAR

The bar looks like something from Neighbours circa 1987 (check out the photo and you'll understand), but it had a certain type of kitsch charm. I'm not sure what time the bar area is open until as we only made use of it once and that was in the early evening. Sadly I can't really comment on the variety they offer either as we only had bottles of beer or water and there wasn't really much else in evidence. When we were in there they didn't have any music on, but they did have a TV on showing, perhaps unsurprisingly, a Dutch TV show.

The bar room also doubles as the breakfast room, serving from 8-10 a.m. complete with the sort of continental breakfast you'd expect; ham, cheese, bread/toast, various jams and marmalade, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, fruit juice and a selection of teas & coffee. You could also order hot food, but we didn't bother. They also have chocolate cake but, given that it was next to the brown bread, I assumed it was some sort of rye bread and proceeded to top it with cheese and ham before tucking in... As a matter of fact, the combination worked rather well and I finished every bite!

THE PRICE

The prices vary significantly depending on the time of year, although the website quite unhelpfully fails to indicate what dates considered high season. The prices are (low season in brackets): Single - E110 (99), double - E139 (110), triple - E149 (139) and family - E159 (149). At the present exchange rate, that works out at about £74 per night for a single room and £94 for a double during high season.

MY VERDICT

The de Looier is reasonably well situated and is certainly in a quiet area away from the bulk of the other hotels, which suited us, but may not be ideal for those intending to give themselves the least distance to stagger back after whatever their intoxication of choice. However, the front door is always open and the reception is manned around the clock, so in that sense it's perfectly suited to those intending to return in the wee small hours.

To be honest, the place looked like it could do with re-decorating and this is my only major gripe. As I mentioned earlier, the decor screams 1980's and the dark carpets and curtains can make it seem a bit dingy. My second gripe is that the rooms are very basic, without even tea/coffee making facilities, although I could be showing my inexperience with foreign travel here by expecting such. Either way, my mum would have had a seizure if she'd gone there and discovered she couldn't brew up!

Having not stayed elsewhere in the Netherlands I can't comment on how this compares to other 3 star hotels over there, but it falls below what I'd expect of a 3 star hotel in Britain. For this reason I consider it to be over-priced, though I'm lead to believe that it's reasonably priced for Amsterdam.

On the face of it then, it may seem odd that I'm recommending the place, but I'm only recommending it on the basis that it's about par for the course and it was apt to our needs. If you're only in Amsterdam for a short break, as we were, then the De Looier will probably suffice; providing comfortable beds, clean rooms, a decent breakfast and no frills. If you're staying longer though, you may be better off finding somewhere a little nicer, though of course you'd be paying more for it.

http://www.hoteldelooier.com/