If you want a cheep but cheerful hotel for a great weekend in a fabulous place then Tulip Inn Amsterdam West is for you.

I stayed at the Tulip Inn Amsterdam West in December 2005 with 3 friends and we booked 2 twin rooms. The trip was extremely good value and was booked through Expedia at a price of £116 each including flights and 2 nights (3 days) stay at the hotel.

The hotel is on Reimerswaalstraat 5, which is western Amsterdam, and it is approximately 4.3 miles (7km) from Schipol Airport and the same again to Dam Square. When you land at Schipol, you need to go to Platform 1 and head towards Central Station. You leave this train at Lelyllaan, which is one stop before Central Station, and from here, you have to get on tram 17 in the direction of Osdorp. You leave the tram at Hoekenes and have to cross over the road towards a canal. You then have a 15 minute walk down a dark unlit canal pathway (not suitable for the elderly or families with young children) and at the end of this path, you cross over another road, turn right and the hotel is a couple of minutes walk from here. The journey into Dam Square is much easier as you simply get a tram at the same stop but heading towards Central Station and get off wherever you want. The Hotel states that the tram stop is a 5-minute walk from the hotel but I can assure you it is not!

The reception area of the hotel is pleasantly decorated with plenty of seating and a PC for internet use at an extra cost of a couple of Euros for an hour or so. There are also cards on a small carousel at Reception which show places of interest and some have discounts on them. These are an excellent idea and are small enough to fit into your purse/wallet until you are able to use them. The Reception leads into the Breakfast area, which is also, used as the Bar/Lounge area and Restaurant during the evening.

Breakfast is from 07.30am until 09.30am and was a let down. We decided to have the hotel breakfast on the last day of our trip and paid 14 Euros (cash) for this the evening before. The following morning I made my way down to the breakfast room (which doubles up as the restaurant/bar/lounge area when breakfast is not being served). As I walked around the room, I began to look for the usual breakfast items only to find some stale bread, cold croissants, beans that looked like they had been there for years, some cheese, and some ham. There were a couple of cereal options also but you did not know what they were as there were no labels on them. Then you had the usual tea and coffee etc.

I stayed in a non-smoking room and I have to say there were no smells of smoke either in the room or on the whole floor level. The room itself was quite large with twin beds, adequate wardrobe space although I feel you may struggle if you are staying for longer than a weekend. The room had a TV with working remote and varied channels such as Dutch TV, BBC1, and MTV. It also had the option of a wake up alarm and pay-per-view movies at extra cost if wished. The curtains are blackout lined which means you do not get any flecks of light or sunshine (if you are lucky enough to spend summer here) peeping through to wake you each morning. The beds had sufficient bedding on them and the pillows were flat but it was not a problem to be given 2 more when I asked at Reception. Reception also loaned me a travel plug (with a refundable deposit) as I had forgotten to bring one and gave me a map with directions of how and where to catch the night bus and tram into the city centre.

Each room has a telephone with a booklet telling you the cost and codes to all countries. The booklet was full of information about the hotel, listed all TV channels and almost everything else you might need to know about your stay in this hotel.

Coming and going from the hotel is easy as there are staff on reception 24 hours a day. If it is late, you have to ring a night bell but the response is immediate. There are 2 lifts to all floors and an electronic paper stand nearby at an extra cost.