Clayton Hotel Amsterdam American

superb Everything was great

Great location, gorgeous building, friendliest staff Location was amazing, and the building is stunning. Just outside of the hustle and bustle, which was perfect for a work trip where I brought my child. Close enough to walk to everything, but not surrounded by, ehhh, weed clouds (a hazard of some of the busier areas and not my vibe). Everything was super comfy, and the gym was unusually good for a hotel (or for anywhere). But the best part was the staff. For a hotel of this size, I was surprised by how small and personal they made it feel. It felt like traveling used to be. On the day we checked out, my daughter fell and skinned her knee, and she was *very* upset. The concierge came and brought her a band-aid, and it just meant a lot. I had band-aids with me, but it was very sweet that she got a "special hotel band-aid" and it genuinely helped her dry her tears. The breakfast was good, and I was lucky to get a room with a sweet balcony, even though we didn't have time to sit on it! Would absolutely stay again. I would also love some info about the history of the building—I want to know all about the stained glass windows!

What could be improved: Everything was great *except* the communication leading up to our stay, which was pretty awful. I feel bad removing a rating for the actions of a marketing department because the hotel staff is fab. But they send these long marketing mails through the Booking app, which makes it difficult to find the important information about your stay—it's an abuse of a channel that's supposed to be for guests to be informed about what we need to know, not what your marketing team decides they want us to know. It's a tiny UI, too, so the amount of scrolling is hard to comprehend if you aren't aware of writing for small screens.

The other thing is that I got an SMS titled "time is running out" which referred to online check-in, and made it feel like I was dealing with an overbooked airline. It was extremely anxiety-inducing because I was slammed with work, and suddenly not sure if I was dealing with a deceptive marketing practice, or if I was about to arrive in Amsterdam with no place for me and my child to sleep. A phone call sorted it out, but I was so stressed by it that I couldn't really explain how bad a decision it was, communication-wise, and don't feel it was taken seriously. For the record, it was, indeed, a poorly worded deceptive SMS which I'm not sure is

Your communication channels for guests are not marketing channels, and someone needs to explain this to your marketing team. They're applying a very liberal (to them) interpretation of the EU DSA and GDPR, too. Because while these uses of channels and messaging strategies might be compliant in theory, they really aren't a nice experience. Your growth-brained marketing folks are going to continue ruining the experience for your guests, and undermining the professional, friendly, attentive people who work in the hotels themselves.

Exceptional Loved!

Still the finest old hotel in Amsterdam, hands down. This is, dollar for dollar, probably the best valued hotel in Amsterdam. With some 5-star hotels starting at almost a 1000 euros a night, this venerable hotel is not even 1/2 of that- maybe more like a third! Everything is first rate: the maintenance is excellent, the rooms are big (more on that later), the bathrooms are clean and the showers deliver tons of hoy water- what is there not to like? The Cafe downstairs is one of the hottest spots in town, and many people use it almost like a living room. You can sit at their reading table all day, just surfing the net or working. The food is uniformly good: although I personally wouldn’t pay 29 euros for the (extremely large) breakfast unless you are really hungry in the morning. The rooms with a balcony are on the small side, but the balcony is plenty big enough to sit in so that effectively extends the room’s size. The staff are wonderful- and here is a special thank you to Andrea and Luz from the Cafe. Highly recommended!

What could be improved: Our stay was too short!

We’ll be back! The Clayton was a wonderful discovery for this couple who usually stay much further within the canal rings. Super close to tram service, canal tours, shopping district, Rijksmuseum etc. Staff were very helpful. We upgraded to a fourth floor balcony room which was really worth the extra expense. The restaurant, which is in the style of a grand cafe, is a delightful place to dine or just have a drink and read a book. When a group of boisterous English people sat nearby, a staff member preemptively asked if she could help me move to another table. The separate bar is also a lovely place to sit and watch the world.