Hotel The Exchange

The rooms are basic but clean, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. There’s a shared room on the ground floor where you can get free, very good coffee and tea, plus a place to leave your bags on your last day. Getting upstairs can be a squeeze: the entrance from the main road is very narrow, the lift fits two people at most, and the stairs from the lobby to the first floor are steep and narrow.

At least it was nice and quiet. But after booking based on the quirky photos and decent reviews, we were shocked to find a bare room that felt almost like a prison. There were two beds, a desk, a coat hanger, and a safe all crammed together, with none of the quirkiness we expected. The shower was a wet room and leaked a little into the room. Our room definitely wasn’t among the ones shown in the ads. Beware of room 425, lol.

The location is perfect, and the place was super clean and well maintained. There’s an elevator, luggage storage, and free coffee. The staff were absolutely fantastic. We could hear guests passing our door because the room isn’t soundproofed, but that was the only noise. The room was tiny and laid out a bit oddly. The toilet and sink were together in one closet, while the shower was in another cubicle. Its double doors made getting in and out kind of awkward.

The staff were wonderful, polite, and very helpful, and the location is fantastic, about five minutes between Dam Square and Central Station. The room was the letdown. We picked the hotel for its quirky, cool look, but got a tiny interior room with an interior “window” facing desks where people worked during the day. So we had to choose between natural light and privacy whenever we were in the room. It’s definitely not the worst hotel I’ve stayed in, but I’d probably try somewhere else next time I’m in Amsterdam.