Bilderberg Garden Hotel

Fabulous breakfast, within a short...

Liked: Staff were all really friendly and helpful, as well as very benevolent regarding my attempts to speak Dutch! We chose the hotel specifically for the location: it’s a solid 45 minute walk from centraal, minimum, but only 15 minutes walk from Museumplein, and about 10 minutes walk from the Vondelpark, which is an absolutely beautiful place for a walk (and not far off 120 acres to walk in, complete with fountains, ponds, and even a Picasso statue!). However, for us, the distance from centrum and centraal is readily off-set by the quieter neighbourhood and easy access to the capital’s reliable tram system. That’s in addition to a good selection of bistros and other similarly mid-to-high priced eateries all within a 10 minute walk of the hotel, as well as the hotel’s evening offering.Breakfast was epic and well worth paying for. The all you can eat buffet each day includes cooked items like bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and baked beans, a wide selection of breads (the rye seeded sourdough is incredible) daily, typical continental selections of cheeses, cold meats, and smoked salmon, along with various fruits, yogurts, cereals, pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat, and even very tasty, cheeky chocolate brownies! All topped off with bottomless juice, water, and hot drinks - we really looked forward to our breakfast every day, with sensible and lengthy timings e.g. 7am to 10:30am on weekdays, readily allowing for both days where we wanted to be up and out early and then odd days where we appreciated the ability to have a meaningful lie in and still get breakfast on site. We didn’t make use of it, but there is the option to have breakfast delivered to your room at a cost of 10 euros per person.
Disliked: Cleanliness at the hotel overall was really good, however, there was a questionable white stain on a bed pillow on our arrival as well as toothpaste solidified in the bottom of a supposedly clean bathroom glass. We also noted a couple of long, easy to spot cobwebs in hotel corridors and communal areas. Bits of the decor are also getting tired and noticeably quite worn and scuffed, with issues like new carpets not being run up the walls to cover the old carpet ‘skirting’, which just looks a bit odd in an establishment that charges £25+ per person per day for breakfast and up to 500 euros a night in peak season according to the reception staff we spoke to. We had some slight confusion on arrival regarding payment: having booked through here as a third party and paid in full before arrival, the hotel claimed otherwise initially. It was ultimately resolved quite quickly and without much fuss but it did make for an awkward first impression until they confirmed payment had been received.Decaf coffee is not easily available at breakfast or in reception, and a couple of the coffees we were served on request were full of grounds and not the most pleasant: in this day and age, getting a decaf coffee should really be as easy as getting a live one. Particularly when all other breakfast hot drinks were provided through a self-service, one touch machine. For all the breakfast food offering was fabulous, we felt the evening menu was unfortunately very limited and uninspired, which resulted in us not eating at the hotel at all other than breakfast. The one evening we were at the hotel and needed dinner we used Uber Eats to get something dropped off from a local restaurant instead, which is a shame as we would have happily tried the restaurant had there been more options.Perhaps most unfortunately, our bed had a couple of issues that did impact on quality of sleep and rest.

Exceptional

We like this hotel but...

Liked: Location
Disliked: Room keys always stop working . The breakfast isn’t great as they hardly put much bread out or other items….. parking … when we first visited ( many years ago) the concierge would be so helpful and would park our car under the outside shelter. Now you pay more (€42 per 24 hours) and you have to park it yourself. Outside space was extremely dirty each evening.

Passable

Liked: Staff and room
Disliked: Too far from downtown Armsterdam NOT as advertised

Excellent stay and staff could...

Liked: I loved the breakfast, wide range of foods and great service. I also thought all of the staff were excellent. In particular Kimi who checked us in after a nightmare journey to get there. What should have taken a hours travelling took 12 hours. He provided tea on arrival. He was truly professional and an asset to the Bilderberg Garden Hotel. Thank you.

Exceptional

Good

Exceptional

Exceptional