Numa Amsterdam Helmers

We chose an aparthotel for the extra room while traveling with our toddler, but the whole stay felt inhospitable. The final straw was getting to our unit through narrow stairs tangled with wires and ethernet cords, plus a ladder. The cords were a tripping hazard, and carrying a child up there was difficult and dangerous. The apartment was on the fifth floor, up stairs that felt incredibly unsafe. The linens were another problem. Both our towels and our child’s sheets were dirty, and when we separately asked for a towel, that one was dirty too. The window at child height was open and unlatched. We also had no internet all day on March 25 and 26. We’d been told there might be a disruption from March 18-22, so after arriving on the 22nd we assumed it wouldn’t affect us. A crib confirmed for check-in wasn’t available at first. It was sorted out a few hours later, but that didn’t help when we needed to put our daughter down safely for a nap. We also got a message about new “lockers” that turned out to concern door locks. It didn’t seem like the staff were actually working on the door locks, and it was just a delay from the internet installation with no further explanation. There were too many inconveniences stacked together.

I spent three weeks in basement room 1, and it was tiny. The cleaning wasn’t thorough either, with hair in the bathroom and a really dirty fridge. The worst incidents were about safety and getting inside. One night, at midnight, water started dripping through the ceiling light and literally rained onto my bed while I was asleep. That was dangerous. Customer care said they couldn’t do anything and I’d have to wait until the next day. Since there’s no reception, you use an online key for the building and apartment doors. When mine stopped working one day, I spent from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. outside the building, on the phone with them. They fixed it the following day. I had two major problems during my stay and didn’t feel they really helped with either. The worst experience I’ve ever had.

The location is right in central Amsterdam, which was wonderful. I was in room 001 on the ground floor. The living room was superbly spacious, though the bedroom was fairly small since the bed takes up most of it. Still, it felt pretty good for a 10-day stay.

People hung around making noise until the early hours, and my ground-floor apartment was right beside the main entrance. The room was smaller than it looked in the photos, and there wasn’t a dishwasher. It was easily the worst place I’ve stayed in Amsterdam, and this was my fourth visit.