So, the hotel over the train station is very fun, but there was one significant downside. Not the train noise; Even with a window open it just wasn’t that loud.
No, the downside is that almost no department could do their job without fucking it up. The outlier was the bar/restaurant.
When I got back from the Keukenhof trip, my key card operated the lift, but wouldn’t open my room. That happens sometimes, they get demagnetised or something, so I headed down to reception, told them the problem, and told them my name & room number.
Typing happened. A lot of typing.
“that’s not the name on the reservation – could it be under a different name”
Well. No?
Another member of the afternoon reception crew gets involved; presumably a more senior member.
Even more typing.
“this says you checked out this morning at 9am”
No, I didn’t. At 9am I was having breakfast.
“are you sure you didn’t check out”
Why would I check out a day early and then be surprised that I couldn’t access the room that I had checked out of? Also, where is my stuff?
My stuff was put into storage because it was still in the room when they went to turn it over for the next guest. For some reason this did not trigger anybody to ask any questions as to why my stuff was all over the room.
It is eventually determined that someone on the morning crew checked me out in error; I’m told that when they figure out what happened they will totally send me an email explaining it. I do not expect that I will ever receive this email.
I was told that they had refunded the night that I was checked out for, though I could see no sign of it on any bank or credit card app. They put me in another room for the one remaining night and were genuinely apologetic; they also went and got my stuff from storage.
Took a while to find the new room because accessing it involved taking an elevator to the 5th floor, crossing to the other building which is above the train station platform, and then taking a second elevator to get to the 7th floor.
Most of my stuff is present, however they did manage to miss a lime green laundry bag the size of a football. Back down at reception they go and look in Lost and Found, and the bag is located; no sign of the shampoo/conditioner/soap which was in the shower cubicle.
It’s certainly the weirdest hotel f****** I’ve ever run into, and unfortunately it wasn’t over.
The next morning I go to check out; More typing. At this point I’m going to get paranoid and anxious every time somebody at a hotel desk starts typing a lot.
“this says you checked out yesterday”
I explain the whole story to the morning shift desk person and to their probable superior who turns up partway through.
More typing.
“can I just go check something in the office for a minute”
I wait far longer than a minute. Closer to ten. I’ll not be catching the train I’d planned to catch.
“we refunded you for the night you just stayed, so we want you to pay it again”
I see no refund on my bank or credit card.
“oh it sometimes takes a few days to come through”
I made it clear that I was not happy about this, that is wasn’t acceptable to me, and that they were asking me to pay them even more money because of their mistake and take them at their word that the refund would come through. I’m not sure what the tipping point was, but it was at about the point that I took the generic hotel business card I’d been handed so that I could contact them if there was a problem with the refund they claimed would happen & wrote the probable manager’s name on it that suddenly they didn’t need me to pay any more; He’d figure something out.
I’m pretty sure that afternoon shift decided to just comp the refunded night because of the fuck up, but morning, who’d made the mistake, had a go at clawing it back.
While I was waiting for probable manager to get back from the office, I saw multiple people check out. Only once did the desk person check that their room number matched the person, & that was because the person was very unsure about their room number; Every other time they just took their word for it.
So if you’re in Amsterdam, maybe avoid the Ibis by Amsterdam Centraal station?