XO Hotels Couture Amsterdam

The main drawback is the location. There isn’t much to do nearby, and getting to the city center by tram takes about 20 minutes. If that’s fine with you, the stay is excellent. Our room was clean, spacious and very nice, and I liked being able to open the windows for fresh air. Staff were friendly; breakfast was okay, though nothing special.

We were happy with the clean, comfortable room and its lovely view, and the location made getting around easy: the tram stop right outside went straight to the city centre. The hotel mostly runs on self-service check-in and check-out, with vending and coffee machines. That suited us since we used it mainly as a base and didn’t need many facilities. The problem was the bath tub. There was no plug, so we called reception and were told plugs had been removed and couldn’t be given to guests. We had to shower instead, which was disappointing. About XO Hotel Comment: I did raise this during our stay directly with staff, who said it was a hotel rule that no rooms could have bath plugs. Either that’s the official policy and should be stated clearly, or staff were misinformed. It would be good to own that, rather than suggest it could have been handled differently.

We liked being a little outside the center, and the price was very good. Restaurants are nearby, as is a well-known park we didn’t get to visit. Tram line 2 stops right outside the hotel; it’s a scenic ride of about 15 or 20 minutes to Central Station, and the main attractions are within a 15-minute walk from there. Our room was modern and spacious, the shower was amazing, and the staff we met were very friendly. The man at reception spoke English and French. I’d definitely recommend it.

The room was clean and the bed comfortable. We could hear the highway from inside, at least from the fifth floor where we stayed. There’s a tram stop right in front of the building and the metro is a 10-minute walk away. Check-in is self-service, so we had very little contact with staff; I only spoke with the receptionist to ask for slippers. Overall, we had a very good experience.