Sheraton Hotel Pulitzer Amsterdam

If I'd been an American on a business trip it would have been great.

The whole place was very efficient and officious, but the smiles felt false. There were some good things, like the huge breakfasts, big bed and view over a canal, but it didn't feel very friendly, the room was rather plain and everything was ludicrously expensive. Not at all romantic, more suited to a conference delegate!

I got food poisoning while in Amsterdam and The hotel made me special foods and treated me like they were my mother. I had a wonderful view of a canal, I can only say it helped to make the food posioning feel better. (PS I got it at a takeout Indonesian restaurant)

First impressions are suppose to really make you go UUUhhhmmm....but i ended up up going yuk! Is this really what the Luxury collection is suppose to be all about ? It took me over 17 minutes to get checked in after seeing around 4 staff with TRAINEE name tags - lovely!Despite the fact I told the girl my partner will be in later on, she kept calling me by his name. Room was fine but going up and down those stairs in not pretty. Room was great indeed...decided to try out the eur$17 burger in the restaurant on the terrace... 12 minutes to be ackowledged and then 10 minutes to take my order and after an additional 24 minutes to get a club sandwich, I left ! Checking out, I called for the bell hop to assist with my bags - had a taxi outside waiting and when I went downstairs, he was there doing nothing , i asked if he was getting my bags or not. Took him forever while the cab waited and I had to run to catch a train to Paris - Great.. there goes his TIP! Overall, nice location & room - but aweful service for a so called Luxury Collection.

Maybe I was being too harsh as this is the case with Amsterdam all over - service does not exisit and as the dutch will tell you when you ask any questions or request - IT IS NO POSSIBLE!!

Luxury standard hotels, in my view, should be measured by the standard of their service - and not simply by the appointment of their rooms.As rooms go, the Hotel Pulitzer Amsterdam has generally small, but well appointed rooms. However, as my partner and I were planning a short (3 day) romantic trip in the middle of a hectic and stressful working schedule, we decided to treat ourselves to an above-average Pulizter room. This turned out to be one of only two split-level rooms, with a living area downstairs and a well-appointed bedroom area up two steep flights of stairs. It also had a canal view - if you pulled the heavy curtains (drapes) back and stared out carefully (no balcony). The room was perfectly acceptable - but at 330 Euro per night, plus city tax, we expected it to be. What was not so acceptable was the consistently shoddy service that we experienced throughout the short three day stay.On the first evening, we decided to have drink and a light meal in the Pulizer bar after a tiring journey to the hotel from Ireland. As I have an allergy to cigar smoke, I had (at my own cost) telephoned the hotel to check that the bar had an area separate from the vaunted 'cigar lounge' (as mentioned in the brochure.) I was assured by a member of the reception staff that there was, in fact, a separate area away from the cigar lounge. Having found a quiet seat in the bar, we ordered drinks and food. It was then a great disappointment, to have a man sit at the table next to us and buy a large cigar - which he proceeded to blow all over out drinks, our clothes and our food. I asked the barman to point us in the direction of the no-smoking area (as mentioned by reception) but he simply laughed and told us that there was, in fact, no such place and that reception had 'got it wrong'.In the morning, we arrived for breakfast, and having signed for our food - we were told to 'go and sit in there', by the waiter (with a very vauge point of his finger in the general direction of some tables). All of the table were fiter, who took us to another table full of dirty dishes, told us to sit there, and removed some dishes but didn't return to clean the table - which was full of spilled drinks, crumbs and other after-breakfast mess!At this point, I decided to accost Edwin, the hotel manager who had come in for his own breakfast - and told him about our problems in the bar and what was happening right there and then. He was very considerate and ebsured that the waiter cleared our table and brought coffee for us.Later, when we came back to our room in the afternoon, we were delighted to find that Edwin had arranged for some food and drink to be delivered to our room - with a very polite, handwritten card apologising for the problems.Had that been the end of the problems, then the Pulizter hotel would be at the top of my list of hotels to recommend, in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, due to the very poor response to further problems by a reception supervisor, it is currently at the very bottom of that list.The same evening, we decided to stay in the room and order room service. The food (it came about 35 mintues after ordering was only luke-warm, and some items were cold. The dishes, (including the ones from the lunch 'free gift' were not cleared until the middle of the following day - despite the fact that I made mention of them to room service on three separate occasions.That evening, I made a special point of going to reception to ask if the room stay could be extended for 2 hours after check out time (12 noon) the next day. There were 2 good reasons for this: 1, we were leaving for the airport at 2.30pm and my partner had broken her back a few eeks earlier and wanted to lie down beofre we needed to leave. A male member of reception assured us that 2 hours extra stay was free of charge and that he would update our information to show that we were checking out 2 hours late. He also re-programmed both of our room cards to ensure that they would not expire at 12 noon. We were very disappointed then, to get a phone call at 1pm the next day uilty' about this that we decided to leave early, even though my partner was partcularly ill on that morning - and she worsened during the taxi ride to the airport, where we had to stay over one and a half hours longer than we should have done!Before we left, I complained to the reception supervisor that, given that I had been careful to arrange the late departure, and my partner's illness, we should not have been put in the position of feeling 'thrown out of the hotel'. I also asked to speak to Edwin, but he declined to come to the phone. Later at reception, I mentioned this, and the supervisor said that she had spoken to him, but he had made no comment on the matter! Earlier, again at breakfast, we were charged the rate for three breakfast, even though only two of us were in the room, and only two of us had turned up for breakfast!I didn't even bother raising this problem as, in my view, the hotel staff were no longer interested in us or our complaints. But, they were quick to take our money - it had cost us a total of 1178 Euro for three nights full of disappoints and poor service.Luxury hotels should be measured by the standard of their care and service of their guests. In this regard, the Pulizter failed us and ruined what should have been a happy, romantic first stay in Amsterdam. Will they care? I doubt it!Stephen Power

Amsterdam is one of my favourite locations, so I have stayed in a number of hotels. The Pulitzer has got to be the best hotel I have stayed in so far. It has the lowest-key room service I have ever experienced and extremely attentive and courteous reception staff. On checkin I asked for a tour of the available rooms - all were nicely appointed and very characterful with marble bathrooms and baths. I settled for room 317 (upgrade) which has a great view of the river. Please note that there is some noise to contend with, but the bed is so comfortable that I was never disturbed! Tip: ditch the car, hire a bicycle and get down to the flower market and buy a massive bunch of white tulips for 10 euros - it'll transform your room and look great. The Pulitzer may not be the cheapest hotel, but in this case I knew exactly what I was paying for.

We were upgraded and had a lovely suite with a bedroom in the back that was quiet and a separate living room with a large window that looked out on the street and a canal. We picked up a bottle of wine and settled in for the evening pretending we were in our own canal house. The location is great too: very near Anne Frank's house and other attractions. Buffet breakfast was pretty good. We loved the whole idea of several canal houses hooked together to make a hotel. Lots of passageways to keep the journey to your room interesting.

What a marvelous hotel!!!. Ask for a room with a view of the river. My room was on the first floor and had a great view. It was rather spacious, wonderfully furnished and had high ceilings. The staff was very helpful and the location was perfect.

We just came back from Amsterdam. The Pulitzer is a beautiful hotel in a wonderful area close to everything and transportation. We were there on one of their "special deals" - four nights for the price of three. I didn't expect a canal view but the room they assigned us was small & dreary. I marched right back to reception & told them I wanted another room. Then we got a nice room with a garden view. The rest of the stay was excellent - the breakfast buffet more than adequate, everything & everyone just perfect. We wouldn't hesitate to stay there again. We also had dinner in the restaurant and it was very good but pricey.

I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful this hotel really was. I stayed there for three months, changing room each week, and was never disappointed. You have a lovely view overlooking the canal, and all rooms have old oak beams. The food is great and the staff are friendly. I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone on business or pleasure. The only thing lacking is a gymnasium.

The Pulitzer has very small rooms by any standards, incredibly small for an expensive Five Star. My room was so small it only had a shower, not a bath. The decor was 'chintzy' and would not appeal to anyone under 50. The location is great and the courtyard gardens and restaurant are pleasant, but of course you do not need to stay here to use them. There are no fitness facilities and no shop. The key issue, however, is room size. Before booking ask yourself - can I really have a romantic trip living in a shoebox?