Alex Rooms - Dennenlaan 80

After reading the positive reviews stating the location was near the airport and there was a free shuttle, we elected this "hotel" for our final night in Europe. We booked through Venere since Alex Rooms doesn't seem to have their own website (I try to book directly whenever possible). Venere did not have the direct phone number, email address, or fax number for the property (which I unfortunately did not notice until it was too late). Upon arrival at the airport, we went to the hotel shuttle pick-up section and looked at the boards to find Alex Rooms. They weren't listed on any of the boards so we talked to the information agent who said they have never heard of Alex Rooms and don't have them listed for shuttle service. We wound up having to spend 50 Euros to take a taxi!!! Upon arrival, we explained the situation to the owner who immediately became abusive and made rmarks such as calling the airport staff "idiots", calling me "stupid", saying "he doesn't hear me in his dreams". I was literally speechless while he just kept yelling and ranting. We were actually resigned to simply accepting a ride to the airport the following day but he just wouldn't stop yelling long enough for us to say so and I was getting genuinly frightened. Eventually, he said, "What do you want? You want another hotel? Fine! Get the F*** out! Get out of my house!" and then he quite literally chased us down the hall and pushed us out of the door. We were now stranded in a foreign country, in a strange city, nowhere near town!!! Luckily, we found a sandwich shop a few blocks away that allowed us to use their wifi to look up a new hotel (this time in town by Central Station at the Park Plaza which was a MUCH better choice) and they called a cab for us. While we were waiting, we learned that Alex rooms is actually believed by the locals to be more of an unregistered brothel than a legitimate hotel. I have no evidence of this myself though it would explain the now questionable to us positive reviews as well as the owner's immediate abusive attitude toward us.

They must pay for the few good reviews they have. Awful place. Smelly, dirty, disgusting. Rude front desk man, and owner. Stay away!!!! Oh and it's far from the airport and far from Amsterdam too.

Super hotel ! Nice rooms, spacious and pleasant balcony. But the only "problem" is that we heard some noise when there is someone in the corridor. I recommend it if you need a place for sleeping and relaxing one night. The staff is welcoming!

LOCATION: First off, this hotel is not in Amsterdam itself. It is in the town of Zwannenburg, roughly half way between Amsterdam and Haarlem. I don't think it's a really practical place to stay if you want to spend your time in Amsterdam itself, as it's a bit of a commute to get out here. You will need to get the train out from Central Station, as the GVB trams and buses don't travel out this far, so you will have to buy seperate tickets, as it's not covered with a GVB pass. It's about a 15-20 minute train ride to get to Zwannenburg, followed by a 15-20 minute walk to get to the hotel. The hotel itself is situated in a private residential street and is more like a house converted into a hotel. The area itself seems nice and safe but not a lot going on. ACOMMODATION: We opted for an economy room (I can't speak for the more expensive rooms). It smelled really bad and was quite small and cramped. It came with a private bathroom and the shower was really good. The double bed was terrible, had a big dip in the middle which was very uncomfortable. There was a small fridge with snacks and drinks with a pricelist, which we didn't use as the same items were cheaper in the supermarket, which was less than a 5 minute walk away. The room itself was at the front of the house, which opened out on to a balcony (more like a very unsolid roof with some rotten timbers). It felt very strange as it was overlooking a residential area and was very close to the neighbours as they were going in and out of their houses. We didn't really see much of the manager as we only stayed 2 nights and only really slept there. However, when we were ready to leave on the last morning (checkout time 11am) he knocked on the door at 1 minute past 11 and asked us did we know what time checkout was, even though he could hear us getting our stuff together before we left.

The hotel is very much as promised, but we could hear people going up and down the stairs. (Gladly, we were already up when people started moving around, or it would have easily woke us!) The back patio was public and right outside our sliding door too, so if we opened it, there was usually someone smoking out there. Still, for the price... I would probably stay again for a quick overnight.

I arrived at this hotel and they couldn’t find my booking. After an hour of sitting on the doorstep (reception was closed at 2pm) the cleaning staff put me in a room for the night but the next day the manager told me I had to leave (told through an intercom system as he refused to meet me and was very aggressive and blamed me). The booking agency spoke to them and they eventually found my booking. On returning from exploring the city, I found they had repacked my bags and taken my medicine from the fridge and moved me to a smaller room. I was extremely upset that they had not put my medicine back in the fridge and had gone through my belongings so I left the hotel early. When I made a formal complaint to Expedia, the booking agency they denied everything. I do not recommend staying at this out of the way, very basic hotel with appalling customer service.

Not the best... First of all, this hotel was recommended to us as it was presented to us as just a few minutes away from the airport and easy to get to Amsterdam city centre. The airport does not even shuttle to this hotel for starters, we ended up having to pay 50€ to get there and back! The hotel bed for just two twin beds joined together which wasn’t the most comfortable! The shower did not work very well and the key didn’t work half the time! They did respond quite fast though when we advised them of the problem. The balcony for the room was nice though, I did enjoy that, the hotel is also close to some shops if you fancied a takeaway or snacks etc. There were no bus or taxi services from here and we had to walk 2 hours to get to the city centre which helped ruin the experience for us! To top it all off, we asked the staff for help on getting us a taxi, the bloke literally just stared at me as if to say “not my problem” then took the quickest opportunity to leave ASAP! It’s not like I was asking him to make the call for me. Anyway he did give us a number to use. If you are visiting Amsterdam city do yourself a favour and avoid this place as it’s advertisement is clearly misleading.

Rooms are a little bit small, the balcony was probably larger than the room itself. The receptionist and every other employee were really helpful in indicating us what to do in the area and where to get the train to Amsterdam. Overall good experience.