Joops City Centre Hotel — Hotel in Haarlem

My husband and I are 27 and 30 years of age and are from Australia, and were visiting Haarlem for 5 nights. The room itself was good for the price, but there is no fridge or kitchen which makes it a little challenging to save money for longer stays, and the shower area could use some bleaching as there were yellow mould stains around the tiles. Our biggest grievance was the heater did not work the entire time of our stay. When we arrived, we had noticed it was not turned on so we turned it on. A few hours later it was still cold and was leaking water. We called to report this to reception via the room phone, but could not get through. My husband called off his mobile and got through. An elderly male answered and we advised him of the room heater not working to which he responded "that is impossible". He did not take us seriously about the heater until we mentioned it was leaking, he then said he would get the maintenance person to check it the next day, and we were satisfied with the solution. We also mentioned we could not call through to reception from the room phone, the man replied "well that's because I'm busy". Side note here, the welcome booklet instructs visitors to call reception for any medical assistance required, so the response we received from the elderly male staff member is not good enough for this reason alone. The following afternoon, our heater was still not working, nor had we seen the maintenance person. We went to reception to advise of this and the lady was very kind and helpful and advised the maintenance person had attended already and advised there was no problem with the heater as it was working fine. We advised it was still not working and requested maintenance to re-attend, to which the woman advised would be the following day. The next day came and we left the room, but had put a book behind the door to test if someone came to fix the heating. We arrived back at the hotel in the evening and the book had not moved. We went back down to reception to advise no one had attended. The lady apologised and advised someone would attend the following day. No one attended again. The day prior to us departing, we spoke with the reception ladies again who advised they were very sorry and offered us a breakfast coupon. Although this was good on their part, it was extremely frustrating to be told that someone was going to fix the heating and for 5 nights no one had. This was during a cold period where room heating would have been wonderful. We paid for this amenity and were not supplied with it. Extremely disappointing experience and when we come back to Haarlem we absolutely would not stay here. We also would not recommend this to anyone else. There are many other places to stay in Haarlem and would recommend people to research further to find better...

We had stayed at the Ambassador Hotel their other property previously and this hotel came recommended. I made reservations for two couples and paid in advance for Superior or Better Rooms for each couple. Upon arrival they only had one reservation - they had changed over computer systems (they said). It took us 45 minutes to check in and we were they only ones there. The gave us "an upgrade" a family room. This was our first night after traveling all day from the US and we went with it. 5 twin beds in the room; one kitchen chair and a wardrobe closet that was broken. I called twice to the front desk and asked for a chair to sit on something other than a bed. 40 minutes later after my thirds call telling them that I would address this with the manager in the morning, a front desk person who didn't speak very good English came to the door and asked how they could help us. I sent them away to address everything in the morning. The worst part was at 9:30 pm turning out the lights. There was a street lamp right in the widows and the curtains were so thin I could read a book without any lights. We left early then next morning before the manager arrived for work and upon our return at 4;00 pm for the manager at the other Front Dek (no reception area at Joops). It took us another 30 minutes to get a second room and the manager was only very appologetic not offering anything to compensate us for this fiasco. The two hotels are centrally located in the heart of Haarlem, too bad they are under construction and don't have their...

Spectacularly DISAPPOINTED. That would sum up our visit to Joops. We visited there with my elderly parents and our toddler. Despite stating on their facilities that Joops has elevators and accessibility to disabled, they fail to state that this is only true of some rooms. Which meant that my elderly parents had to climb up 2 flights of narrow circular stairs. We also had to carry our luggage and baby stroller up those stairs. The rooms only have the bare essentials, one bed lamp for 4 people. The kitchenette is basically a bare room with a sink and running water. NO cups, no mini refrigerator (which we specifically made sure about when booking, because my mother is a diabetic and her insulin needs to be kept cold.) When we reported this, the hotel staff just said sorry they were fully booked and that we couldn't get any other room. (we booked months in advance, so it isn't as though we just rocked up and started demanding things.) This hotel is NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY, (or at least our room was not) it does not have accessibility for disabled visitors, it does not have anyone on site to assist, it does not provide more than one key card, it has no air-conditioning. So if you want lots of stairs, a bed, one bed lamp and running water for a few hundred euros, then this is the place for you. But I would give this hotel a skip if you have a family or any...