Art Hotel Spaander

Our three-day stay at the hotel had its positives and negatives. On the positive side, the hotel was clean and perfectly located. The vintage style and decor added to its charm. When we encountered an issue with the hot water in our shower, the receptionist was very nice and promptly provided us with a new room.

However, there were several drawbacks. The heater was very old and not effective, making the room uncomfortably cold. The beds were small and not comfortable; my husband and I had two separate beds, and both mattresses were old and not conducive to a good night’s sleep. Additionally, we faced a significant issue with the payment. Despite having paid through Booking.com in early November, the hotel claimed they had not received the payment and insisted we pay again and seek reimbursement from Booking.com. This was very frustrating and created unnecessary stress. Booking.com customer service confirmed that the payment should have been received on time and that the issue was on the hotel’s end, yet the hotel staff remained insistent.

Another concern was the parking. Despite being hotel guests, we were charged 25 euros per day for parking, which seemed excessive and unreasonable.

So for the good, I don't need to tell you much because those things are in the listing. It's convenient to a ton of great dining and shopping, right on the water, very charming (and recently updated). Some things you won't read in the listing:|- Breakfast is overpriced for what you get (IMO) at 17 euros in advance or 19 day-of.|- But coffee from the fancy machine in the dining room is free! It has macchiatos, espressos, lattes, etc, and even to-go cups. |- The town goes to bed early and wakes up late (must be nice!). We tried to find a place with coffee (before we knew about the hotel freebie) at 8:30 a.m. and the lady at the one open store (a fish shop deeper into town, there to sell to restaurants mainly) looked at me funny, like it was WAY too early for any restaurant to be open or for people to be awake and drinking coffee. But the stores all closed by 6pm and all of the fast-casual or counter service places closed too. Only the pricier sit-down restaurants are open past 6pm. We ate at Thirty5 and it was great.|- Trying to get to and from the hotel using GPS was terrifying. I hope our experience was all just related to the heavy roadwork being done in the ONE road that leads to the waterfront. But the road suddenly stops when you get near the water, and there are a bunch of lanes with big metal cylinders sticking up to prevent you driving, and they have red lights on them. We tried everything to move them or to do something to make them go down. You have to drive right up to them and almost hit them, THEN they go down. Once you pass those, you realize you are on a one-lane road. And you're sure you are going the wrong way, but you're not. It fits just one car at a time, and when someone has to pass, the other person pulls off as best they can, though there is nowhere to go really. It's sooo tight between the fence and houses. Then you get past the houses and there are shops, and people are all over the plaza, which is paved in brick, and you panic that you are driving into a crowd of people and clearly cars do not belong here. But you can't turn around. Relax, cars DO come through here, just generally only to go to the one hotel (Spaander), the townspeople and staff bike there. Oh, and your room might look directly onto the street (see my photos). It's really cool and really disconcerting at the same time. Just embrace it, this is part of the small-town experience here!

The hotel’s location is great, right in the old, historic area. Part of the hotel is quite old. Our room was modern, and function, but small and reminiscent of a youth hostel, down to the sleeping bag like duvets on the beds, and prison cell looking bathroom. But it was very clean, met all of our needs, and had a good dutch breakfast included. Getting to the hotel is a nightmare, you either hike a good distance from public parking, or time driving to the hotel for the short time the road is accessible (about 15 minutes every hour) , drive through the gauntlet of tourists walking in the road, (I actually walked in front of the car telling people to move for the car- people ignored honks.) The parking lot faces the Isselmeer, the view from the hotel would have been better if the parking lot was not in the view. Would we return? Probably not, but it was an acceptable value and experience.

The location is great but the service is the worst I ever received during my trip in Europe. The reception guy was making fun of the name pretending he can’t pronounce it cause we are not white. This is not a nice gesture. Also while booking they said the room comes with a hairdryer but we later realized it comes with a deposit and you have to take it from the reception. And let me tell you the hairdryer was hard to use and felt like belongs to a museum. I wouldn’t recommend this place unless you are desperate.

🤮 Shameful ‼️|Last night was the worst night I’ve ever spent in a hotel!||First of all, we wanted to admire the view from our balcony, but we got locked out. The balcony door wouldn’t open from the outside, leaving us trapped outside—a truly traumatizing experience.||But that was just the beginning of what turned out to be one of the worst nights ever.|We called reception for assistance, and when they came to help, they immediately accused us of smoking in the room, which was completely untrue. They then asked us to leave the premises—absolutely disgraceful. They proceeded to search our room, violating our privacy in an attempt to find evidence.||They found a gram of cannabis from Amsterdam, and, outraged, they insisted on throwing us out, despite it being already 10 PM. After a lengthy discussion, the manager said they would inspect the room later and confiscated our cannabis as if we were mere teenagers. Who do you think you are?||The next morning, we had to endure their disdain and lack of understanding once again during a conversation with the manager and a receptionist. The staff is rude, unhelpful, and completely dishonest. Their bad faith and ill intentions were evident, even resorting to outright hostility.||I cannot recommend this hotel. The staff is terrible, the decor is outdated, and let’s not even talk about the drunk people singing until 2 AM. The worst hotel experience of my life.

Potentially a great hotel. There is some renovation noted. Waterfront view but overlooks the dumpster and the parking lot. Our hotel room was sparse with an odd combination of 1970’s college dorm-like furniture. Accent lighting included 3 matching black study lamps. The TV was mounted on a naked wall with visible wiring.
Sadly the beds did not have headboards but were basically mattresses against the wall and resting on bare metal frames. The mattresses were soft and your body sinks into the middle. Getting out of the bed could be a challenge for some. There were two non-matching chairs for sitting and a random orange stool. The room did not include a phone or hairdryer.
We tried to change hotels but allegedly they they could not do this on a Sunday. This hotel has seen better days maybe 50 years ago but with a total overhaul would be recommended-but definitely not now.

Hotel is really good, beautiful dining room, unfortunately, let down by the food.
Which was terrible
Service was very slow. Food was cold. Poor quality food and is very expensive

Beautiful hotel with a sea view and nice surrounding. Delicious breakfast.
Nice rooms just the beds not comfortable.