Introduction
The Andaz Amsterdam is one of my most favorite hotels in the Hyatt portfolio and is my go to hotel whenever I travel to Amsterdam. Housed in a former library, the hotel does a wonderful job decorating the rooms with book shelves with interesting modern art. The location is perfect as it is within walking distance to many tourist destinations while still being is located in a lovely quiet area where you can watch the boats go by on the canal.
Andaz Suite Dining Room
Booking
The Andaz Amsterdam is a Hyatt Category 5 Hotel, so a free night costs 25,000 points and the points plus cash rate is 12,500 + $150USD. Average rates for standard room are $420USD. During my stay I applied a Suite Upgrade award to the points plus cash rate. Unfortunately, as of this writing, it appears there in no points plus cash bookings available the entire year for this hotel. Seems like more of Hyatt devaluing their loyalty program. Thanks Hyatt. Hopefully, this is only temporary.
Bottle of wine provided with apology letter for the check-in issues
Check-In (3/5)
Check-in is normally great at this hotel as your up and in your room in no time. However, during my last visit, I was not able to get into my room until 5pm due to a globalist in the occupying the room until 4pm. That normally wouldn’t bother me, I understand the hotel is small and only has a couple of suites. The problem was when I showed up at 12pm they said the room would be ready in an hour. So, I can back in an hour and they said it would be ready in another hour. I showed up again another hour later, they said one more hour it will be ready. I called several times and then around 4:30pm they explained the situation and told be it would be ready at 5pm. If they initially said it would be ready in five hours I could have planned to do something the whole day and showed up at 5pm.
Observatory Above Check-In Desk
Location (5/5)
Location is on quiet area of Amsterdam right on the canal and is perfect retreat away from the more noisy tourist filled parts of Amsterdam. However, the hotel is still within walking distance of everything Amsterdam has to offer. Also, there is a parking garage a few blocks away offering a reasonable rate.
Canal in Front of Andaz Amsterdam
Amsterdam Canal
Room (5/5)
I love the decor of the rooms along with the canal views. The dark wood furniture, beautiful blue carpets, book shelves, and the weird fish on the wall are all awesome. The decorator of this hotel should get an award or at least, update the ugly Andaz 5th Avenue.
Included in the room rate are non-alcoholic drinks and snacks from the minibar.
Room Key
Andaz Suite Living Room
Andaz Suite Book Shelf. You are free to take books home and the hotel will charge you at checkout.
Desk Area
Bluetooth enabled speaker system
Great view behind the bed that looked like a picture frame.
Bedroom with padded wall and cool yellow chair designed to resemble a tulip
Interesting artwork
Bathroom has beautiful wall paper with reading material on it to help pass time
Bathroom TV
Average soap products, nothing fancy
Property (5/5)
The check-in area and property throughout the hotel is one of the most beautifully designed hotels I’ve been to. Kind of like a Dutch Alice in Wonderland theme. Even though the hotel has 122 rooms, it never felt like an overly crowded busy hotel.
Downstairs lounge area near check-in
King of elevators
Food (5/5)
The breakfast in the hotel is one of the best I’ve had which includes a buffet and items available for order. The chefs seems to take his job seriously by actively screaming like Gordon Ramsey.
Best Eggs Benedict Ever
Blue Spoon Restaurant
Cool coffee glasses. I need to get some of these for home.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Andaz Amsterdam is a beautiful hotel in a great location with delicious food. However, the points redemptions and cost my be a bit high compared to other options in the area. Regardless, I plan on staying at the Andaz Amsterdam the next time I visit Amsterdam.
