Grand Hotel Amrath Amsterdam

This is the first time ever that I feel that I had to write a bad review. Starting with checkin, they gave us an attic type room. I fell two steps after I just walked into the room, not knowing there were two steps right at the room door after you entered. Then my husband tried to walk towards the bed, he bumped his head on the ceiling. That evening, I immediately requested a room change, but the night manager said that I needed to talk to the front desk in the morning. There was nothing he could do. I got up in the morning and talked to the front desk, the lady said the night manager had the authority to change our room. This front desk lady was nice and gave us a good room. The next day my husband bought a very expensive marijuana flower package. We smoked outside the hotel that night. Again the same night manager came out and yelled and screamed at us saying that the smell went into the lobby and told us to get away. He was screaming in Dutch, and I said you could scream as loud as you wanted but I only understood English. Then he was screaming, “you don’t speak Dutch? Go away, your smoking smell got into the lobby.” I told him, you didn’t have to be so nasty and you could just tell us like a normal human being. For some reason, the room was next to some machine or something, it was very hot, plus I’m getting to the age that I always feel hot. So I turned off the heat, opened the window and door. After about 15 minutes, the same night manager, came to our room, accusing my husband smoking in the room. I told him, “no, you just yelled at us smoking outside the hotel. The smell was just very strong from the expensive marijuana my husband bought. My husband was very offended that he accused him smoking in the room for no reason, just because I felt hot and opened the door. The night manager kept accusing that because of him smoking in the room, that was why we had to open the window and door. My husband was very upset about the accusation and tried to walked away, the night manager stalked him and continued yelling at him. I tried to interfere and stop him chasing my husband, then the night manager grabbed me and threw me against the wall. My husband saw it and yelled that “you are assaulting my wife and someone needs to call the police.” The night manager started to yell, “I will call the police on you too.” We went back to the room. We were discussing how to contact the police, because our phones are from U.S. and this is the first time we are in Netherlands. I said maybe try to talk to someone else in the hotel office for help. We came out and tried to find help from someone else. There were three policemen there. We saw the night manager were pointing at us and saying things. We went towards the three police, and my husband tried to talked to one of them and explain. One of the police was very nasty and yelled that we heard that you smoked in your room. My husband said, “no, never, I swear to God, it wasn’t true. The smell was just from this small bag of Majriuana.” He showed the cops the stuff. After about 20 minutes interrogation, the police said this was the last warning, if you would smoke again, we would arrest you. My husband said, “What do you mean again, we never did before.” They went back and forth for a while, then, I was accused of being drunk. I was shocked, because I’m allergic to alcohol which means I never can drink alcohol. This was Christmas Eve going into Christmas. I have video taped the whole experience. I was so upset and could not sleep all night. The next morning, I got up early and tried to find a manager. I went there, I haven’t even start to speak, the lady said, “I know what you are trying to say, let me tell you, you can not smoke in the room.” My draw dropped, OMG, we never smoked in the room ever, this was totally being made up. We were being harassed and I was assaulted by the staff. No one took any responsibility. This is a nightmare. Also one day, we had “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. A maid knocked on the door, we didn’t answer. She used her key and just let herself in. She suddenly saw us, and startled and said, “oh, do you need anything?” We said, “no, why are you here?” She said that she was checking on us. I didn’t think much at the time. Now I think this maid must be a thief, she had nothing in her hand, no cleaning stuff, nothing and just came into our room unannounced. Good thing we were in the room, or she would steal from us. Please don’t stay at this hotel. The managment is untruthful, vindictive and vicious. You will be traumatized!!!

Despite reading very mixed reviews on the hotel we had such a pleasant stay. Yes the hotel is slightly dated, but it has so much history and the decor reflects that. Staff were extremely polite and helpful, no queues to check in or out. Friendly and helpful concierge. Spa facilities were clean and adequate for a quick swim and relax in the sauna or steam room. Our room was upgraded due to us celebrating and we were given a suite on the 3rd floor. A very large spacious room with views over the canal and city. Although the room was cold, with the help of 2 electric heaters provided inside the wardrobe it soon warmed up. The location is perfect for exploring and lots of cafes and restaurants on the doorstep. Shoutout to Thiago in the bar for serving up some great drinks too. All in all a great stay. Thank you!

It is a huge building which needs a refresh. The location is perfect. The personnel is polite. Bed is comfortable. All in all it is fine but it is not a 5 star hotel in my opinion. I haven’t seen the SPA. perhaps this is the game changer. The reception has only 2 desks so I had to wait 10 min for check in and out. No big deal of course but I would expect better from a 5 star