Question:
Just submitting my opinion on Hotel De Korenaer situated at

50 Damrak Square in Amsterdam!!

I had the misfortune to stay in this place last month. I had made thearrangementsover the net through the Amsterdam tourist site.

(1) After making the reservations over the net from USA and submitting my credit card #, the staff of Hotel De Korenaer refused to acknowledge. True

they lack email facilities, but they refused to fax me the confirmationthough they had fax facilitues. I had to call long distance about 5-6 times andthey were extremely rude and did not fax me our reservation confirmation.

(2) Now this part is seeing their rude/filthy service when we arrived at their place; There was an elderly dutch woman at the counter who looked at me in a very cold manner and behavior was colder than the snow capped plains of the Arctic. Her only words were "I want full payment now or noroom"!! I gave that rude woman [Supposedly the owner] my credit card and paid infull for 5 days at the rate of US $90/day.

(3) Regarding the room which was rated " 2 star" by the Netherlands tourismboard they were lying through their teeth! The room was extremely small, noac/fan or heater. They had a TV but no remote and wanted a deposit of US $25 fortheir TV remote control unit, US $25 for a so called Safety deposit box in theroom made of light wood which was rotting and would not even withstand a pushfrom a small kid. The bedsheets were unclean and when i called the front deskasking tjem to change ir, their attitude was "Take it or Leave it"!!!

The bathroom was even more pathetic. The shower unit's metal wasripped off and the metallic edges were coming out in sharp spikes and iscratchedmy hand. If this were the kind of services offered in USA for the moneyexpended,we would have sued them.

(4) Finally the Netherland tourism board does'nt care to check these hotelsproperly before putting them on the Web as they need innocent tourists to paythrough their noses for this filthy service and rude behavior formHOTEL DE KORENAER. WHen i sent emails to the Netherland tourism board at

Answer: Hello. As I am planning a trip to Amsterdam in a few months, I find thistype of information very enlightening. I will certainly keep your opinionin mind as I search for accommodations...thanks.

Of related note, I stayed in a place called Hotel Groenhof during my stay inAmsterdam one year ago. It's a 2 star establishment located near Vondelparkand the tram line. While I will not say the staff at this establishmentwere friendly, they were not what I would call rude either, but othersmight. The place was clean, not spotless, but clean enough for me to feelcomfortable. I did not have a reservation when I arrived in Amsterdam CS atabout 1500 on a Friday. Since I had done my homework before arriving, Iknew the about the VVV. If you are reading this and don't know about theVVV then you need to do YOUR homework! ;-)

Anyway...for a small fee (5 fl ?) the employees of the VVV will attempt tolocate a room meeting your requirements. I wanted a private room for myselfonly and didn't want to pay more than 100 nlg per night. After the dudechecked his computer and found nothing, he began calling hotels on thetelephone and making inquiries on my behalf. He called at least 10different places, which took several minutes, before locating the room atthe Groenhof for 85 nlg per night, including breakfast. It was extremelysmall, with a bed, a wooden wall unit for clothes, and a sink and mirror.It was up a couple of steep flights of stairs and I shared a shower andtoilet which were up another flight of stairs. It wasn't that bad thoughand I stayed 5 days. My room was located in a back corner far away from thestreet so the noise level was not a problem. However, I talked to somepeople that were staying at this hotel and they said their room was near thestreet and they had a hard time sleeping because of the noise generated bycars and trams passing near their room. I do not plan on staying at thishotel on my return visit though.

So...does anyone out here in cyberland have an opinion on a decent Amsterdamhotel with a double/twin room for no more than 200 nlg per night, includingbreakfast and private shower and toilet? Do you think I should make myreservation in advance or just wait until I arrive and deal with the VVV? Iwill be arriving mid-week in non-tourist season so I thought it might not aproblem to just wait until I arrive. Do anyone have any advice?

Thanks and good luck to you all!