Hotel Not Hotel

Two days ago I reserved a room for one night at this cool looking hotel. I only had one night in Amsterdam so was very careful to book a hotel close enough to the center that as soon as we got in we could drop off our bags and do a long, 4 hour bike ride.
Instead this is what happened, we came in to drop our bags off later in the morning, we were told the hotel accidentally over booked our room but they would let us have a room to put our items and at 3 a cab would take us to a nearby hotel. So instead of going out for bike ride, we just dropped our stuff and walked around the nice area. Delaying our bike ride until after we got to new hotel. I asked and was assured it would be within a 5 minute distance from the area we were in.
Instead, we were taken to a run down area by a cab driver she hired, 33 minutes by walking 10 – 15 minutes by driving in the opposite direction from the city to a HOSTEL not hotel, that was run down, with bad internet. It was even a further bike ride through not as safe streets as the nice bike path areas where this hotel is located. We could rent bikes, but for more money and it would take twice as long to get anywhere. Our plan of riding into the countryside was ruined. The internet is horrible so we can’t get any work done, but we are only here for one night so we are exhausted. When I called, the manager argued with me about the place we picked, saying it is only a few minutes from the center by tram. It is actually 33 minutes from the center by tram. At this point, it’s 4:00PM, and we are exhausted. As I’m on the phone with her a random man came into my hostel room and just started vacuuming without knocking. I can’t do any work because the wifi is crap. She offers to find us another place, but at this point we’ve been waiting all day for some place, we are just tired, cranky, hungry and not wanting to go on another journey. A great way to celebrate my 40^th Birthday. So we are just going to stay here where we are stuck, since we can’t bear moving again. She did not offer to refund any portion, or any other compensation for this huge inconsideration. The youth hostel is Wow Hostel by the way.
Normally, in circumstances where the hotel has put you out after you prepaid, they would put you in someplace just as nice or nicer in light of the inconvenience of having to move hotels, instead of a youth hostel. I am coming again, since I didn’t get to do my bike ride, but in the future I will not stay at Hotel not Hotel, no matter how cool looking the rooms are and I will recommend to my friends that visit the area also not to go. Sure, a hip looking hotel is nice but who cares when the service is horrible.

One of the most asinine designs for a hotel one could possibly imagine.
The picture below shows what you might think is an entrance but when you arrive, the door is locked and you slowly find out that you must walk around a whole block to get to the ‘real ‘entrance. The public space is large and «cozy» but that is because the rooms are so small and lousy. We had to open a large bookshelf to find a room the size of a closet, with no shelves or dressers and no a/​c. Leave the window open its cooler but you hear all the noise from the bar below. One small chair shared the room with the bed.
The wasted space here is extraordinary – it is made to look like it’s a big home/​mall and rooms are tucked away. The only possible group I could see staying here is a frat house with 20 people that sit up and drink and talk and then «crash“nearby and have a few laughs trying to find the rooms. If you want an uncomfortable night at a rate that rivals 3&4 star places, then
this is the place for you.
It seems that more was spent on the design of the establishments PR cards than on, say, a light bulb in a lamp outside your «hidden“room. This plays tries to be so «cool“and is so hostel like, it really should be a 40 a night crash place.

I stayed at this hotel/​hostel for 4 nights in May 2015. I stayed in the Free Crisis Zone room with a friend. The room was incredibly cramped. I was unable to leave my carry-​on size luggage out, it had to be stored under the bed. There is daily housekeeping where they make the bed, but on my 2^nd night, I returned after the day out to my room unlocked and the door wasn’t fully closed. I told the front desk person and he did not apologize or anything. He said he would speak to housekeeping. Thankfully, nothing was stolen from my room, but the fact that the room was left unlocked for the entire day left me livid.

Découvert cet hôtel via
, réservé 3 nuits pour 210 € la chambre ‘Secret Book Case room’. Arrivant de l’aéroport Amsterdam Schiphol, vous devez prendre le train ‘Sprinter’ descendre à la Station Lelylaan et ensuite prendre le tram #17 jusqu’à l’arrêt Witte de Withstraat et ensuite marcher vers l’hôtel. Celui-​ci est bien aménagé, original, design et tendance. Maintenant, la chambre bibliothèque que j’avais réservé était vachement petite, pas beaucoup d’espace pour bouger entre la porte et le lit, vaut mieux né pas avoir beaucoup de bagages et en plus j’étais seul, à 2 personnes ça doit être difficile… Voilà pourquoi, je né peux donner 5 étoiles à ce lieu car ils auraient dû faire les chambres un peu plus grandes. Par contre, mon lit était confortable. De plus, on doit descendre pour partager les toilettes/​douches. Le bar et le lounge avaient l’air sympa. Le personnel était gentil, prix raisonnable, hôtel propre et wifi gratuit. L’hôtel est situé quand même à 30 minutes de marche de Dam Square, la place centrale d’Amsterdam, vous devez vous déplacer en tram sinon. Bien sûr, ils louent des vélos (1 jour = 12,50 € /​/​/​2 jours = 22,50 € /​/​/​3 jours = 30 €) ça s’avéra la meilleure idée dans mon cas. Mon vélo était classe et venait avec 2 cadenas. De l’hôtel au centre-​ville en vélo, environ 10 minutes, de plus c’est bien sympa d’explorer Amsterdam comme les gens locaux en vélo. Il y a quelques restaurants/​cafés/​bars/​buandrie dans le coin. Bön séjour !

Wenn es etwas gibt, dass man dem Hotel Not Hotel zugute halten kann, dann dass sie den Namen wirklich voll durchziehen, denn alles, was man von einem normalen Hotel erwartet gibt es hier nicht.
Der Reihe nach: beim Betreten denkt man sich nur noch wow ist das stylisch und toll eingerichtet und designed. Das Personal ist freundlich und hip und führt einen direkt in sein Zimmer — und dann kommt der Riesenschock: was hier als Hotelzimmer verkauft wird ist eher eine Abstellkammer. All die Liebe zum Detail, die überbordende Einrichtung hört an der Schwelle zum Zimmer auf: weiße, kahle Wände, einziges Möbelstück ein Bett, ein winziges Waschbecken im Klo und eine Dusche, bei der ich beim ersten Mal fünf Minuten auf warmes Wasser warten musste. Frischluftfans haben einen Problem: es gibt kein Fenster — das ist mir nicht mal in den schäbigsten Absteigen in Thailand passiert. Mein Zimmer lag außerdem zwei Meter neben der Bar, Privatsphäregefühl kommt da keines auf.
Dafür hat mich das Personal am ersten Tag um 0:45 angerufen um zu fragen, ob ich schon eingecheckt habe — das darf einfach nicht vorkommen.
Vom Zimmer her eine klare Einsternbewertung, aber für Fans richtig hipper Hotels vielleicht eine Überlegung wert — ich bin nicht cool genug.

Great concept for the up-​and-​coming neighbourhood ‘Baarsjes’, but also for Amsterdam.
Cool design, with many cultural influences, perfectly reflecting the melting pot Amsterdam is. As the name suggests Hotel Not Hotel can please the hotel and hostel lovers alike.
The bar offers you the possibility to mingle and chat with not only the guests of the hotel, but also the locals. They offer lunch and ‘hapjes’.
Have yourself some Hendrick’s Gin and Tonic to relax after a long day, or get more adventurous with some Ron Abuelo imported from Panama!
I have only been to the Hotel Not Hotel a couple of times so far, but I see myself becoming a regular. I cannot wait to see how it develops further.
Last thing I have to say for now: Chapeau!