Hotel Not Hotel Rotterdam — Hotel in Rotterdam

We stayed here for 2 nights. The only pro quality about this hotel is that it is SO close, i.e. within 5 minutes walk, to the train station.

This review is more of a 1.5 star. I've never felt so unwelcomed by a hotel employee.

SERVICE: We arrived at the hotel around 720 pm. No one was at the reception and there was another lady waiting at reception to speak to someone as well. Perhaps after waiting for 10 minutes, this young lady finally came to the desk. Normally, the hotel check-in attendants are all smiley and welcoming, but not this lady. She had a poker face on and no smile nor greetings whatsoever. We asked her a couple of questions about the hotel and Rotterdam, and she looked visibly irritated.

She then "disappeared" quickly up 2 levels and we "found" her opening the door to our room. She did not guide us nor provided any hospitality. We came back from buying food and was unable to open the room door the usual way you'd open a door. I went down to find her. No one was at reception. I found her in the bar/restaurant chatting with other employees. When i asked if she can help us, she looked annoyed as if I was interrupting her chit chats. "You couldn't open the door?" she said and looked like it was the most unbelievable thing. It turned out that there was a certain way to open the door. How da heck would she expect us to know if she never even bothered showing us?

After showering, there was no hair dryer, so i went down the stairs again. At the bottom of the flight, there was a couch and I saw a couple hugging each other. It was dark so I didn't see who it was. I glanced over at reception, no one again. I was about to proceed to go to the bar again when the lady and her boyfriend(?) stood up. I asked her for hair dryer and again she looked annoyed like I had interrupted her. Seriously, why is she even working at a hotel when she can't provide any hospitality or do what she's supposed to do!?!? At least put on a fake smile!

At check-in, the lady gave us this marketing material handout that talked about what the hotel is and the "rules". One of the items was that the hotel staff are trained to provide "fashion advice, hugs or pat on the back" (I can't recall anymore)... This is basically false advertising considering the unfriendly experience we received from the hotel staff. She looked like she didn't want to be bothered and was annoyed when we did.

During breakfast the next morning, I heard the other employees complaining about her not doing anything. LOL. What's funny is, when we were walking out of the hotel at night, there was a gentleman (manager?) standing beside her while she was checking in new guests. And oh man, she plastered this big smile on her face and was eager to explain to the guests.

ROOM: Firstly, I don't get why there was the whole deal about choosing which "theme" you wanted your room to be when the interior of the room appeared to be just like an ordinary room?? We chose the secret bookshelf room and only the outside of the room appeared to have the shelves. Secondly, the interior was so small but that was ok because we're used to European hotel sizes. The toilet and shower room were stationed separately. 2 issues I had: 1) the shower was located right in front of the bed and the way they built the shower, the water will seep out from the shower and into this narrow walkway between the shower and the bed. So, we tried to position the shower head to the very corner hoping that it'll decrease the amount of water seeping out. Unfortunately, the walkway was extremely wet regardless. 2) the annoying light in the toilet room. It turned on/off automatically. So, you could be doing your private business sitting on the toilet and the light will go off. What was extremely annoying was that while we were lying on the bed, the light will turn on/off here and there. We had a hard time sleeping.

HOTEL: there is no elevator and you may need to haul your luggage up a few...

My partner and I went here for our anniversary. We booked one night, we wanted a fun hotel, just to sleep and breakfast. We didn’t intend on lounging around the hotel, we wanted to explore the city.||Check- in was quick, she brought us to the room and told us that the restaurant was permanently closed. This information was not on the website, they actually recommended the restaurant still. But okay, another restaurant can easily be found in a big city. Some things we knew beforehand: The room wasn’t big, the (two) windows were to the inside hallway, just a bed, desk, shower, toilet and sink. Something we knew, but others might miss: the room is plain, the hallways are artsy. Some things we didn’t know: the shower is within a meter of the side of the bed, the desk is also where your clothes hang (didn’t use this for our one night stay, but good to know for others), there is no nightstand for your phone to charge, the bed was in a nook so I kept kicking the wall in my sleep… and weirdest of all: the curtains let in light. I slept next to the window and the ceiling light in the hallway was bright. Felt like sleeping under a spotlight…||The hotel is also desperate for repairs and updates. There is a lot of fun art, yes, but there is also a lot of damage. The paint on the stairs, or lack thereof… It needs a refresher. In the red hallway with the little statues: multiple are missing. In the lobby: on one wall the painters tape is still on the ceiling. These were just a couple of things we noticed outside of the room. ||Within the room the paint isn’t always applied with care. The white walls have stains. There is no headboard, but above the bed are many handprints… I don’t even wanna know why. The mattres had many questionable stains and the shower wasn’t too clean. The grout cried out for some bleach. The little booklet with information about the hotel is also a little outdated, some of the information is no longer correct. ||Lastly: breakfast… Where do I start. They advertise it as big (imo) with fresly baked rolls and variety. We were severely dissappointed. If we knew in advance, we would’ve just gone to a cute place in the city to have breakfast. When we arrived, a lot of items were ‘sold out’ and were only replaced when we left. I think a third of items were gone, because employees were busy with their personal phones, rather than the experience of the guests… What was available for breakfast (in general): cornflakes, granola and some toppings, yoghurt (just plain, no plantbased or any other), cheese, ham, jam, nutella, butter, crispy bacon, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, croissants, pain au chocolat, one other type of baked bread and some fruit. There was a coffee machine, but guests weren’t allowed to use it. My partner wanted cappuccino, but he was told he needed to pay for that… What? We payed €15 pp, and you need to pay for warm milk? Other drinks were available for ‘free’: milk, orange juice (from a carton), water, tea and coffee from a insulated coffee pot. We were dissappointed. ||After breakfast we checked out with some mixed feelings. We’d love to return if we’d ever return to the city, but only when the hotel is properly taken care of. Because it felt kinda run...

Check-in Experience:

was surprised by the unexpected €50 deposit requirement, which was not mentioned during the booking process. This unexpected fee left me with a negative impression of the check-in experience.

The receptionist appeared very busy and customer service was not smooth, as she was handling multiple tasks at once.

Inconvenience :

There was no option to purchase water within the hotel, and I was told to go to Rotterdam Central station for it.(of course as a suggestion)This highlighted a lack of convenience facilities.

Breakfast Experience:

I paid an additional €15 for breakfast but felt that the variety of food offered was insufficient for the price, particularly in terms of bread and egg options.

I discovered only later that espresso could be requested separately, as other guests were doing so, and I wished this had been clearly notified on the tables or in the breakfast area. ( since I was keep having just filter coffee before…which was not good taste at all) This lack of information was little disappointing.

Design and Ambiance:

The hotel lobby and interior design were interesting and showcased Dutch aesthetics with colorful art pieces. These elements were visually appealing and made the stay more enjoyable.

Room Experience:

Although the room was quite small, it was clean and well-organized, with the bathroom and shower area being separate. Despite the hot weather, the room did not have air conditioning, but overall, my experience in the room was good.

Great Shower facility, warm water.

COMPLETELY quiet, not noisy at all for me(this is a good point)

Check-Out Experience:

During check-out, the staff appeared busy and there was minimal interaction, (she didn’t really take a look at the guests)which was understandable though.. given maybe the workload.

Overall Impression:

While I was satisfied with stay, issues such as the breakfast quality and unexpected deposit fee detracted from the experience. Based on these factors, I would rate the stay 3...