The Highlander Hotel Amsterdam

I enjoyed my stay in the highlander hotel. Really good value for what you get. Lovely location and fairly sized room for Europe. Yes it is a bit dark but I like the cozy vibe and modern switches. They seem to have installed new heather/aircon so I was comfortable temperature wise. Breakfast I think was OK. Staff was so friendly and accommodating.

The hotel's location is perfect for accessing the city. We arrived early & on arrival, we were greeted with a lovely, clean entrance, which led to a nicely decorated bar and seating area. Reception is over in the far corner, which upon walking up to, gives the vibe that you are intruding on people who are having a coffee. As we were early, our bags were kindly placed into storage to allow us to explore the city. We came back at 3.30pm to collect the keys & were escorted to our room. She was very friendly & explained the room, breakfast, room features, and the evening turndown service. The champagne on arrival...wasn't. Only when we asked about it was it brought up, which was done quickly. We went out for dinner at 6pm and placed the service light on for turndown. On arrival, back late at night, the room didn't receive a turndown. No matter. The room itself was decorated very well with an amazing, strong rain shower! Another highlight in the room was the Bluetooth speaker in the ceiling. The best feature in the room was the bed. Extremely comfortable! We slept amazingly well. On our first morning, we went down for breakfast. We went to the reception and again felt like we were intruding. I was told to inform their colleague of our room number...but there was only her in the room. A staff member appeared from the kitchen and told us to take a seat. Breakfast was presented very well. Decent continental and cooked options. It states it is a Scottish breakfast but I can tell you there is nothing Scottish about it. It is a decent European/American style breakfast: streaky bacon, pancakes, syrup, beans & chicken sausages. Various pastries, yoghurt, cereals etc. The hot items are served in small cooking pots, but they run out easily. Myself & another guest were told to wait 5 mins for bacon. We were presented with a new cooking pot, and when the other guest opened the lid, he looked at me. He took two pieces of bacon, leaving me two. So, no bacon for others. We left the hotel at around 1030am & went on a nice river cruise and shopped. We came back at 230pm, to drop gifts off, & the room wasn't serviced. On our way out, I went over to the corner table and interrupted the staff by highlighting that our room wasn't serviced last night and so far not today. I just wanted to prevent an issue later on. It was explained to me that housekeeping finish at 5pm and there is no evening turndown service. Housekeeping were still working and that I must have left the do not disturb light on. It wasn't. We returned later on to find Happy Hour taking place. We sat down and were greeted by a pleasant male staff member. He took our order and brought over some drinks, and tasty cheese, which he said were free. We wanted to pay for another drink, but we had to get up and go over to the corner desk to get attention. Why? We finished our drink and went out into the city. We never went to breakfast the next morning. On packing up, I noticed an in-room leaflet advertising an evening turn down service. I was made to feel like I misunderstood! We checked out and enjoyed Amsterdam before our flight. I've rated 3 as I can't do 3.5. Service was the main downfall. They need to move their reception. Their location hampers anyone sitting over in that area. There is a booth right next to the luggage room. They should use that area and not the corner. Also, they should be getting up from the table and assisting guests and colleagues when clearly the two breakfast staff were overwhelmed. Alternatively, they could create a rapport / chat. Small fundamental touches, in service, were missing at all touch points of the stay. It is most prevalent in the happy hour service. They served us so well to give us the free drink and cheese, but when we wanted to give money and re-order ... we had to do the work and look for staff. They should be doing a satisfaction check and wanting us to purchase another drink. That is why, people had one drink and left the bar. I can forgive the wallpaper peeling off the ceiling & parts of the wall but I can forgive service issues.