The Social Hub Amsterdam West 4

Great location right next to a metro stop and a tram stop. This is by far the best thing about this place, other than most of the lobby staff being so nice. *Most* - one particular desk clerk at night is terrible. More on that later. They do let you register with the city here, so if you need a temporary place to stay and register in Amsterdam / Netherlands as a resident, this is helpful. You can receive mail and packages here. There is a decent gym, laundry room, library, work area, large lounge, pool table and more. Many conveniences which are good for tourists, temporary residents or people transitioning here. Breakfast buffet is “ok”. The cafe is also “ok” with very limited options, mostly sandwiches and baked goods. Too much bread. There are basically zero non-bread options. Please offer something besides a huge plate of bread. The whole world doesn’t eat sandwiches all the time… The hallways are a bit stinky and so are the rooms. Maybe it’s the old carpet. It’s impossible to get the musty smells out of the rooms. This is not my first time staying here; same smelly issue each time. The long stay rooms look and smell like they haven’t been updated in 30 years. Maybe longer? The mattresses also feel like they haven’t been changed in decades. Cheap, sunken and mushed down. The multicolored “blanket” on the bed looks like it’s been there since 1992. At least. And it’s not even a real blanket, just a thin cover thing in the ugliest colors/pattern ever. They definitely need to get rid of the musty old carpet, old mushed sunken mattresses, and ratty old ugly outdated bed covers. Housekeeping for long stay: 1 week they didn’t provide hand towels. The next week they didn’t leave any toilet paper so I bought my own. (At over €3k per month, I do expect at least the basics like TP!) The third week they left TP and towels but no trash bag. So far, each week they have forgotten to provide something basic for the room. For the prices they charge, this is just not good enough. The dishes provided in the long stay rooms - super minimal and basic. The weird combi oven thing is WAY TOO HIGH, and completely unintuitive to operate. The button symbols on it are utterly useless, and it has no words at all. Moreover, the thing is placed high in the upper cabinet area, which is fine if you’re 7 feet tall. Not so much if you’re of normal human height and trying to get hot food out of it. If you’re under 6 feet tall, you will have to reach food literally over your head to get it in and out of the micro-combi-oven. NOT practical AT ALL. I’m sure more than a few people have spilled hot food on their heads when trying to take their dinner out of this stupidly-placed appliance. This might be the worst kitchen design idea ever. If anyone in management reads this, PLEASE PUT THE COMBI OVEN THING LOWER. The overall design of the long stay rooms is also not nice and looks super outdated. The dark green paint color on the main wall in the room is hideous. HIDEOUS. Please get rid of this ugly wall paint! Staff: Most of the lobby and cafe staff are super nice and helpful. However, one male desk clerk who works the night shift has a terrible attitude and likes to accuse paying residents of stealing, for simply asking to pickup their own packages at the front. He sits at the desk staring at his phone, paying zero attention to people walking in, then if you walk over to the cabinet where the packages are stored and ask for your packages, he takes an attitude and accuses you of stealing WHEN YOU ARE NOT TOUCHING ANYTHING. He has done this three times with me. Clearly he has some weird issue. Maybe that’s why he’s only working nights. The staff who work here in the morning and afternoon are great. Only this one male night worker (who was working the desk on the night of Dec 18, 2023) has such a negative attitude. He brings the whole vibe down. Maybe he needs more training on how to not treat customers like criminals. Or maybe he just needs another job, if he is so bent on treating people like criminals. Not a good look for a not-cheap hotel.

Very disappointing - I'd advise booking a room in the Clink Noord Amsterdam instead, it's much better from my experience. I don't like leaving bad reviews but this place deserves it sadly... - Cost: massively overpriced for what you get... you get a small, shabby room in some old skyscraper and it felt more like staying in a cheap motel/ semi-prison cell here than in a hotel. I felt trapped in here as I had this place booked for a week... The only reason this place still exists and gets away with this daylight robbery is because Amsterdam has a housing crisis and tourists are desperate to find an affordable room. - Location: don't believe the 'good location' tag on review pages like Booking.com. You're literally outside the Amsterdam ring road motorway in a place that feels like a ghetto - you don't get the Amsterdam experience here at all as the city centre is not conveniently walkable. The tram/train access is an option but walking takes ages. -Customer service: really, really bad - you get the feeling that all they care about here is taking your money and they couldn't care less about their customers after stating there. I emailed this hotel 4 times about my bad experience and to get some partial refund as the photos/description online was misleading. I never got a response from them until my last email, where a room upgrade was offered next time I stay. This seemed tone-deaf to me as I never want to return to this place again. I also flagged the issues at reception in person when I checked out and got a lollipop..it felt almost humiliating! Don't believe any responses they write on here btw.. they just try to polish their image and sound kind - if they cared they wouldn't ignore 4 of my emails..