Alp de Veenen Hotel

The room was clean and quaint, with two single beds pushed together, and we liked having a balcony. Unfortunately, it hadn't been swept in a long time, with garbage and debris left on it. There were also a couple of small holes in the wall, apparently from something hitting it, and two thin plastic rods with tape on them were discarded by the window. Maybe they were for the curtain. The towel warmer was nice, and breakfast was simple but pleasant. If the older woman was cooking the eggs, they were fabulous. Breakfast ran from 7-9am. After that, the small dining area was just somewhere to sit until staff left at 9pm. The bathroom in that area always smelled nice. The bathroom in our room was another story. Around 4am each morning it started to smell like raw sewage, and little black flies and bugs came up through the drain. The shower had a glass door with a hole where the knob should be, and it didn't seal. There was no fan, so the steam set off the fire alarm right outside the door. My husband had a very hot shower, and the desk woman had to come back to turn off the alarm. It was 11pm and everyone was upset. She told us to use colder water, take a shorter shower, or switch rooms. We opened the patio doors all the way instead, even though it was 0 temperatures, so the alarm wouldn't go off again. I've never been chided by hotel staff before, and it felt very off putting. The room was also very hot, with no thermostat and no clear way for me, as a foreigner, to adjust it. I didn't want to bother the front desk person. When we got back after a particularly long day, we couldn't find food nearby. The room phone didn't work, and the same woman later told me none of the phones could be used. I asked if she could call a pizza place for us, but she declined. Most other hotels I've stayed at would have helped. Instead, she used my phone to bring up the Netherlands' version of Skip the Dishes, which of course charges higher rates, and said I needed to order within 2 minutes because the hotel was closing for the night. Staff don't stay on site after 9pm. I ordered pizza and waited for it in the foyer. The first thing I noticed on arrival had been a heavy, stale cigarette smell, and the woman at reception was abrupt and unwelcoming. I saw the website was looking for a new receptionist, and wondered if she was the reason. I wouldn't recommend this boutique hotel to foreigners, especially Canadians like us. Maybe people from elsewhere in Europe are used to this kind of thing.