Catalonia Vondel Amsterdam

"If I had paid €3-400 euros, maybe €500, I’d have been perfectly happy. But I didn’t. I paid over €900. For a small room with no opening windows and a view of a building site. At that price point I feel empowered to complain. The room was spotless, the bed comfortable, the WiFi and tv worked, and there was coffee making equipment. But no milk or whitener, no English breakfast tea (either in the room or restaurant), I had to sort out the scaled up shower head, the laminate flooring had nails holding it down, but they stuck up just enough to catch my socks every time. The air con worked but was very noisy (but essential because of the non-opening windows). What I’m describing, though, is a perfectly normal hotel room, one that many people would happily stay in. But not at €900+ for 3 nights. That is quite simply a rip- off"

"Overall the experience was positive, the location is ideal because the neighborhood is safe, residential with magnificent typical houses, quiet but close to Leidseplein square as well as Vondelpark and the lively Van Baerlestraat street. Amsterdam is an expensive city anyway and especially in this neighborhood, the prices of this Catalonia are a bit higher than other hotels in the same chain where we have stayed and the restaurants in this neighborhood are not cheap either...not to mention the price of the tourist tax but they can't do anything about that. The hotel is located in an old and typical house so it has a lot of charm, our room was comfortable but attic-style so it was very hot (fortunately there was air conditioning), the bathroom was a bit small though. The staff is nice and welcoming but there are still some small communication and organization issues. As members, we were entitled to a welcome gift upon arrival and a free bottle of water every day, which we had to ask for several times; the blackout curtain was already a bit detached when we arrived, and it took a few days before it was put back in place; for the first few days, the housekeeper would turn off our AC despite the heat and remove the room card from the main reader, so we had to ask for another one; sometimes there wasn't enough staff at breakfast, and compared to other Catalonia hotels, the buffet was less varied... let's just say that for having spent an average of around 300 Euros per night (excluding tourist tax), we expected a bit better. But anyway, that didn't stop us from enjoying our stay."

"We have been very comfortable here, the rooms are great, location is so handy to everything and the staff here are just stand out wonderful people. They have been so kind to us, it feels like home - and that is a rare and very special gift"