Advantages: Friendly staff and a great restaurant Disadvantages: Rooms are generally basic and the beds are too soft for me
...time I stayed.
The Lapershoek is a rather grand looking place, from the front at least, and is built in the style of the many grand villas of the town. It has some charming striped awnings on the front façade which give it a spot of colour. Towards the back of the hotel the more modern accommodation blocks are less characterful but the main public areas are in the old part. There's a small bar where the barman is always happy to chat and a large ... ...toiletries. Looking recently at the Lapershoek website it looks as if the rooms have had a bit of a refurb with some slightly more stylish furniture but it's still a rather basic layout. The rooms were certainly in need of some attention when I used to stay there. You'll get a phone, a TV (probably with some truly shocking porn channels so be careful when you are channel flicking). Room sizes can vary quite a lot and it's also worth asking for a ...
Advantages: Nice pool, lovely location Disadvantages: Not cheap, have to walk up a hill :-)
...may be of use. Thermae 2000 is a spa complex and hotel. I've not been to a lot of spas, so it's hard for me to compare, but let me tell you a bit about it. Where is it? The complex is situated in Valkenburg in the Limburg area of south-eastern Holland. Unlike most of The Netherlands the area has a few hills, that's a good thing if you've been in The Netherlands for a while and got bored of everything being flat. Valkenburg is easily accessed ... ...When you arrive at Thermae 2000 there are two entrances. One is for the spa and fitness complex, the other for the hotel. We found check in to be fast and easy, a couple of people on the small reception and nobody else around. The rooms are built into a hill, so when you leave reception you head down a little staircase (there is also a lift) and the rooms are tiered down the hill. Every room has a view of the trees, there isn't much of a view of ...
Advantages: cheap price Disadvantages: very basic, and unsatisfy hotel service
I stayed for few days in this hotel. It was a very terrible experience that I had so far. There were so many mosquitoes in the room, got bitten by them as well in the night. The breakfast price was a bit expensive, but when we went there for breakfast in the first day, there was not bread yet at 08.00 in the morning. They said that the baker did not arrive yet, so there was no fresh bread yet that day. But the second day we had breakfast, we found ...
Advantages: At least I wasn't spending my own money Disadvantages: Plenty - just book a proper hotel somewhere more sensible
...a hotel - and the Golden Tulip in Zaandam really did live down to all my expectations.
Why was I there?
Oh I keep asking myself that. What fate sent me to such a god-forsaken down-market crappy Dutch hotel? On the plus side, it's only for one night but on the down side, surely somebody could have found something better than this. I work for a company that's in the midst of divorcing its separate parts in a messy but fairly civilised way. ... ...and certainly not at the Golden Tulip. Unless of course you enjoy staying in the middle of a building site.
A Totally Irrelevant Aside
My intention was to sit down and write about the Golden Temple in Amritsar but instead I tackled the Golden Tulip Hotel in Zaandam, Holland instead. Could the two be confused? Not in any way whatsoever - it's just a case of coincidence.
The Golden Temple is the holiest building of the Sikh religion and one ...
Advantages: Very well located in the centre of town Disadvantages: No gym facilities
...the basis of location and generally reasonable customer service. But remember to stick up for yourself if you're not happy with anything.
CONTACT DETAILS
Golden Tulip Keyser Breda
Keizerstraat 5
4811 HL Breda Tel: +31 (0)76 520 51 73
E-mail : info@hotel-keyser.nl
Website: http://www.hotel-keyser.nl/index.php?pageid=1&setlanguage=EN ...
Enormous drum (*)
