Inntel Hotel Zaandam

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe." - Lewis Carroll

If Lewis Carroll was an architect he'd design something as whimsical as Inntel Hotel Zaandam. As a lover of architecture and Alice in Wonderland, I booked it for a few nights as soon as I knew I'd be in Holland. Long story short, it was a wonderful stay!

I lost a night at Inntel Hotel Zaandam due to flying out late in Copenhagen. This unexpected event did not prevent me from really enjoying my stay here!
I was greeted by the two lovely daytime ladies in the reception. Who greeted me in both Dutch & English!

After small chit chat in Dutch... okay and English lol I received my room key. The key allows you access to the elevator which was needed since I was on the 11th floor! Great view of Zaandam and the outskirts of Amsterdam. Managed to catch a sunrise too!

A higher end restaurant is located in the lobby and this is the option if you wanted room service (not needed in my case). A private sauna and swimming pool located on the 2nd floor. I heard massages can be had too. I didn't get the chance to explore these options as my time in Holland was limited.

I really enjoyed my room, the large modern bathtub, the Queen size bed (or if in Europe it's two twins commonly pushed together lol). The Telly was on the small size but who has time to catchup on Dutch soap operas, right? Okay, I admit I did watch a Dutch game show... in Dutch... funny AF lol! Don't ask lol! The lights work via keycard and the shower is European model so good luck with figuring it out lol!

In the end, I highly recommend a stay at the Inntel Hotel Zaandam just north of Central Amsterdam. I just loved it! The warm Dutch vibes I received by all the employees only complimented the whimsical architect on the outside. My only wish was to have stayed longer but wanderlust is part of me, so even though I'm already in Italy, there will be a next time!

Overpriced, marginal food, and very unfriendly staff. Also, the showers do not work properly, they are filthy and rusted and the beds are impossible to sleep on.

I would not recommend this hotel, as the cost is outrageous for what you get. You are paying for the architecture of the hotel and that is it!!

There are way better options in the area that are much better. This hotel says they are four star, but more like a 2.5-3 star. Don't waste your money.

March of 2019 myself and 3 friends from the US had a lovely stay at Inntel Zandaam. We were a bit concerned because the hotel was outside of Amsterdam but this ended up perfect for us!

This hotel is directly across the street from the train station that goes to the airport, Amsterdam central and Zaanse Scans where you can see the windmills. It's 4 euro to train to the city or you can buy a regional train pass for 1-3 days and it's perfect to use to get around. Trains stop running from Amsterdam central at 12 midnight but there is a bus that takes 30 minutes that included in your regional pass.

The hotel is large for European options. We had a sunken tub and private bathroom from the rest of the rooms. The town offers lots of places to grab food on the go. There is also an indoor pool and hot tub to relax in after lots of waking. Beds are twin sized but where comfy. Each room is themed with mural art.

Pricing was only 80-100 USD per night.

The Inntel hotel of Zaandam served as my primary place of stay during my trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. The way I came across this hotel specifically was a bargain I got through a travel website that allowed me to get a killer deal on both flight and hotel stay for my trip, it was a package deal. This hotel proved to be the cheapest and most economical solution for my trip.

The hotel itself is relatively new and modern compared to most hotels you'll find in the Amsterdam region. Both the grounds and rooms are very clean and up to date. It's also a very convenient hotel to stay at if you plan on visiting Amsterdam centurm as it's literally 5 minute walking distance to nearest train station from your hotel room. So the location is fantastic, you're super close to central without having to pay twice as much.

Rooms: My room was super nice even though it was the budget option here. It included king size bed (European size, NOT American, as my legs fell off), both bath and shower, climate control, tv, fridge, room service and free WiFi. The wifi speeds were decent enough, although lots of disconnects. Everything in the room worked perfect throughout my stay.

Hotel: Like previously said, the location is perfect for Amsterdam visiting. It's also really close to a nice mall that features several eateries, a grocery store and plenty of places for shopping. In the lobby they have a restaurant that's opened for breakfast through dinner. The breakfast is overpriced and I highly discourage anyone from doing it, it's a buffet for 17 Euros and the food really isn't that great compared to what you could get elsewhere. In fact, the whole restaurant is overpriced, although the room service food was fantastic and hit the spot for late night munchies.  The hotel also features an amazing fitness center and indoor pool on the second floor, a must if you want to burn off all those croissant calories.

Service: The service and hospitality here was amazing. The staff here was super polite and friendly. They went out of their way to make my stay perfect and were always a very big help when asking questions. If you arrive too early for check in, they will hold your bags so you can explore without them. The cleaning service did a fantastic job at keeping the room clean and in good shape.

The Inntel Hotel of Zaandam proved to be a solid choice for my trip to the Netherlands, I could easily recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap way to visit Amsterdam while still staying in a nice hotel. The location is the killer feature here, once you see how easy it is to take the train, you'll wonder why anyone bothers paying 2x or 3x as much to stay in an old dump in central.

The Good:
:: it's a neat-looking, unique hotel!
:: service is super nice
:: restaurant downstairs is actually very good and fairly priced!
:: rooms are clean and spacious
:: checkin was very easy
:: it's next to a lot of stores and shops. you can walk to an Albert Heijn in minutes, or to a Zara
:: it's right next door to the station so you can hop on a train in minutes! very convenient, without a doubt.
:: has a nice water fountain next to it

The Bad:
:: soap and amenities are very basic. don't expect super luxurious soaps here
:: bed was comfortable enough but not the most comfortable. definitely on the more firm side, which i am okay with but some may not like that.
:: wifi was dropping me all the time. if you are surfing for fun, it's not a big deal. however, if you are there for work and need to get work done, it's not ideal. i couldn't stay longer than i wanted to because of the spotty wifi. when i called them to let them know, all they could do was reboot the router, which didn't help much.

The Ugly:
:: none

Would I go back? Possibly, but only if my primary options aren't available.

This place is IN (but not completely enthusiastically).

For me this must be quirkiest hotel I stayed in.

It has 11 floors and is located on the Zaandam canal near the town centre. The Zaandam train station is literally 5 minutes walk.

Checking in was a breeze, the room wasn't ready but I could use all of the facilities. As it was a good day I sat on the terrace where I met up with a friend of mine.

Couple of beers later my room was ready. I got a room Key Card that also activated the lift. (great for security!)

I arrived on the fourth floor and opened room 410. This was overlooking the street to the station and a quirky bike shed :o)

The room is air-conditioned, it has blackout curtains. It is virtually sound proof and they have a rain shower and a full bath.
The king-size bed has a full duvet and the matrass was a little too soft to my liking.

The whole hotel has free Wi-Fi!

On the second floor they have a wellness Area. This contains a swimming pool, Finnish dry sauna, a Turkish steam room and a cooling off area to relax in.

The restaurant of the hotel doubles as a bar/breakfast/lunch/dining area.

The breakfast is served in a buffet style and both hot and cold items are available (or British and continental if you will..)

I did have dinner as well and I was very impressed with most of the dishes (especially the steak!) - the dessert let me down a bit.

Checking out was just as swift and efficient as checking in.

Highly recommended!

Nice hotel...not quite the place I would suggest for tourist who's main goal isto go to Amsterdam! You might as well just stay in the center.

However, if you like to be away from the city life, then this hotel may be good for you. The hotel is only 2 stops away (via train) from the Amsterdam Center...train ride was around 5,500 EUR round trip so it wasn't too bad. And the main stop is litterally across the street from the hotel. So very convenient.

I took a cab ride to the center and would not recommend you do so, unleass you're willing to spend roughly 50 - 60 EUR for it!

The area is mostly surrounded by reatil shops, that have wierd hours! They close around 6-7 except for Thursdays, which is what they call their "shopping day"...the shops then close around 9-10pm. WIERD, but an intresting experience.

A couple more suggestions:
- bring your own converter (for plugs) this hotel does not store any for their out of the country customers

- they ran out of irons (to iron your clothes) while I was there, so me and my co-worker had to share...so pack your clothese wisely, unless you like to walk around wrinkled! LOL

- they do exchange money there, but they charge a 6-7% fee!! So it's not worth it! If anything, try to do it at the airport or just go to an ATM and withdraw money from their ATM machines, you get more for your dollar. I used my ATM there and it's pretty safe, just make sure you go to a well known bank ATM and not the random one inside the stores. There's an ATM machine at the train..i believe it was an ING Direct ATM.

- the floors are not carpeted...so you may want to bring some slippers to use when walking around the room

- the workers at the front desk are great and friendly! minus when the one guest denied smoking in their room when they had pictures of cigarette buts and ashes all over the room. IT IS A NON-SMOKING HOTEL in ALL ROOMS.

- there's really no person to speak to about their recommendations of tourist spots! So definetly do your research of places to go before you even try to ask the front desk. If anything you should go to the tourist office in Amsterdam, you'll see it right when you come out of the train station, you'll find lots of informaiton there including purchasing tickets for tours.

That's all I have for now! Enjoy your stay here!!!

Have to admit, the exterior was a serious draw. It's a barmy shape! Plus, with insane prices within Amsterdam itself, and room availability scare due to the upcoming Queen's Day celebrations, we decided to plump for a room here, 15mins from Amsterdam Centraal (trains every 10 mins).

The staff were lovely behind the front desk. The rooms were fantastic, but walls were thin. The neighbours were extremely noisy, with music pumping til 2am on the Friday night. However, the staff did seem to take our complaints seriously, if the neighbours didn't. I guess my wishful thinking would be that the walls were thicker, especially in such a modern building, so that we were not so much at the mercy of others.

I had a nice stay at this hotel; nothing too fancy but served its purpose. The people who worked there were very nice and helpful, and the location was very convenient. It was extremely close to the train station, and it's attached to shops and restaurants. The only snag was the AC. It was broken when we arrived and it took 3 days to fix. Overall I would recommend, but don't expect too many extra bells and whistles.

We were initially drawn to staying here based on the hotel's unique design. Pictures do not do this property justice, you have to see it in person to believe it, and appreciate it.

We spent one night here before moving on to another hotel in Amsterdam, and I wish we had stayed longer. The staff, the room, and the location were all wonderful. The Inntel is steps away from the Zaandam train station, at one end of the quaint town's shopping and restaurant mall. A canal divides both sides of the mall containing various retail shops, banks, and restaurants. It's a quiet, and quaint hamlet, a short train ride from the historic hustle and bustle of Amsterdam.

We were warmly greeted and quickly checked in to our room. A $50 deposit was placed on the credit card, for incidentals and meals. We were refunded a portion of the deposit, since we chose to eat at their buffet breakfast on the morning of our departure.

The rooms are themed to products unique to Dutch culture. Our fifth floor room was dedicated to "Moestard Poeder", or Mustard Powder. A large, old fashioned Moestard Poeder advertisement hung on the wall at the head of the bed. A smaller advertisement was affixed to the room door and just inside the room.

The room was on the small side, compared to other hotel rooms I've stayed in. Two single beds were pushed together to serve as a double bed. The mattresses, pillows, and bed linens were clean and comfortable. Our room did not have the best of views. I opened the vertical shades to a view of the hotel's clay tile pitched roof, and the clock on the tower of the Zaandam train station. A small, flat screen TV provided the entertainment consisting mainly of Dutch language TV channels, though CNN International was also available. The bathroom was clean and modern. The shower was a bit of a challenge to operate, but once you got the hang of it, there was adequate water pressure and excellent temperature control. There was a half "door" on the shower side of the tub/shower unit, and if the shower wasn't aimed just so, you'd end up with a lot of water on the floor. Be sure to aim the shower downward! This environmentally conscious hotel utilizes a system where you insert your room card in a slot just inside the doorway to turn on the lights and power outlets. I thought I was charging my cell phone while we were away from the room and when I returned, I realized my phone hadn't charged, because I took the room key with me and the room's power was turned off.

There is a nice buffet breakfast in bar/restaurant area on the ground floor. I thought the buffet was a bit expensive for the food item offerings, but the quality of the food was good, and so was the coffee! The dining room is comfortable, and there is a nice patio to dine outside. It was a bit too cold for al fresco during our stay, but in the warmer months, I am sure it would be a nice place to dine or have cocktails. The patio overlooks the canal and is alongside the sidewalk leading from the train station to the town. If you choose not to have breakfast in the hotel, there are two cafes located on the other side of the canal from the hotel.

In summation, if you are looking for modern, comfortable accommodations away from the hustle and bustle of busy Amsterdam, but very convenient to transit, shopping, and restaurants, then Inntel Zaandam is THE place to stay. Zaandam is a quaint, clean, quiet town. The Inntel, with it's unique exterior design and close proximity to many shops and restaurants, should be at, or near, the top of your list of places to stay.