Hotel The Bird

The view over the Amstel canal was the one good thing. Otherwise, this was a really disappointing stay, and I’ll never come back. I travel and stay in plenty of places as a level 3 genius customer, and I’d tell others to look elsewhere. Whatever the hotel says in reply won’t make up for the experience. The room was only 19m2 and felt tiny, as did the bathroom. The USB outlets didn’t work, the safe had a dead battery, and both the bar fridge and hair dryer were broken. Santos at reception initially said he’d report the problems to management and see if they could be fixed. I had to insist and tell him I wasn’t leaving until it was sorted before he decided to help. The manager, though, was nice and friendly.

We were given a lovely upgrade to a room overlooking the canal, which made the stay even nicer. The hotel is well placed too, just a brief walk from the tram and the main attractions.

The location was a real plus, especially for getting to the museums. The receptionists were kind and patient while my family and I waited in the lobby for our room, making lots of calls as we tried to recover a phone left in a taxi. We knew the room would be tight, but the hotel’s boutique image didn’t match what we found. There was no place for towels or toiletries in the bathroom, and if we took too long opening the door to leave, an alarm went off. The key slot controlled the lights, which would have been fine, except leaving also shut off the air conditioning and fridge. Even at its highest fan setting, the AC didn’t seem to blow air or cool the room, and the fridge didn’t work either. The hotel initially gave our family of three just one key.

My daughter and I had a nice stay. The view from the window was great, and the hotel was very clean. The staff were friendly and sweet, and the location puts you close to literally everything. About those bad reviews, in general, if you're booking a hotel anywhere, do it through the hotel itself, not a third-party booking site.