While planning a two week trip to Spain, I kept coming across the best airfare deals connecting through Amsterdam. Having never been to Ams. before, we thought we might take advantage of the cheap airfare and add a few extra days to our trip and visit there. After completing our airfare purchase, we went on Hotwire to find a hotel. As we all know, Hotwire doesn't display the Hotel name until after you complete your purchase, so there's always that element of a crapshoot as you push the go button. Went ahead with the purchase, which was in the $150/night range. Sure enough, up came the confirmation that we were booked in the Bilderberg Garden. I immediately came to Trip Advisor to see what I had gotten myself into. After reading a few negative reviews regarding the location, I thought the hotel was located in Timbuktu and that I had made a big mistake. Let me set you straight. Unless you are a college student or twenty-something looking for endless partying, why would you want to stay in the middle of a busy street with thousands of tourists streaming by night and day. The Bilderberg Garden is located in one of the most posh neighborhoods on Earth. The homes along the 2 block stretch (all 8 of them) to the tram station are some of the most amazing homes I've ever seen. Talk about elegant. There are two tram stations, each about 5 minutes walk away and it's two stops to the museum district, another two or three to leidseplein, a few more to Dam Square and a few more to Centraal Station. All told you can get wherever you want to go in 20 minutes or less, with plenty of interesting things to view along the way. The Hilton hotel is across the street and there is the Best Western Delphi down the block and at least one other small boutique hotel on the same block. I honestly feel the location is one of the major plusses of this hotel. It's safe and quiet at night, easy to get to and from and quite elegant in a understated, European way. Every inch of the hotel is absolutely spotless. The rooms are beautiful and the bathrooms are all marble with high-tech European fixtures. The staff was extremely helpful and took as much time as needed to help us with directions, recommendations and answers to our many questions. We were made to feel welcomed and everyone went out of their way to make sure all of our needs were met. Many of the positive attributes stated here are consistent with Amsterdam in general, such as safety and cleanliness, however, we could not find a single thing wrong with this hotel. It's sad how a few bad reviews can really cause a person to look elsewhere, but we feel lucky that we had an opportunity to stay in such a well-run establishment and would most definitely do so again.

Booked over Expedia and expected the executive room as per the picture, but got a deluxe style room on the executive floor, so felt this was misleading. However, for the price per night, the accomodation was great and the hotel is near a tramline so no problem getting around, despite being out of the city centre. We were supposed to have a non-smoking room, and when we got there it stank of smoke, despite the receptionist assuring us it was a non-smoking room. Also had extra stuff added to the bill, but it was removed without question when I queried it. Staff all very polite and helpful and the rooms were clean, with a turndown service and apples placed in the room each evening - but the quality of the toiletries was a very big disappointment, would expect better from a 5 star hotel. Overall, happy because of the low price.

A nice hotel, but a bit far from the city centre (but not a big problem because of the easy tram connection). The room we got was right next to the lobby entrance and there was some noise because of this. Good beds and nice room. All in all a nice hotel, but overrated (5 stars?).

Stayed 3 nights - originally booked here as the hotel had A/C, althought with the chilly weather we never needed it. The hotel is a bit further out (about a 15 minute tram ride into main part of town) but in a very nice area. There are some restaurants nearby (except Sunday morning almost everything was closed)
The room was very nice and spacious, the linens very nice quality, and I thought the bathroom spacious and new.

The people at front desk were efficient and pleasant -- however when we asked at front desk to purchase a pass for the trams (something their room manual says they can do) we were told they were out of them with no other explanation or offer - i.e. we can get some by the next day,etc). After three nights here we wanted to get a little bit closer to town, and would have stayed at the bilderberg vondel but by then it was all booked up, so we moved to another hotel (hotel vondel) .

I did book our Bilderberg room via the hotel's website - after a couple of weeks I went back on the site, and noticed the rates had gone down -- I contacted the hotel and they honored the lower rate, so it is a good idea to keep checking the site especially if you are staying there over a weekend, as I think the bulk of their business is business travelers and it is more crowded during the week.

A good place to stay if you don't mind hopping on the tram and riding into town to get most places (or you could also rent a bike downtown for the week and just lock it up at the hotel - it would probably only be a 20 minute bike ride to center of Amsterdam)
You definitely get more room for your money being away from town. If you are a tourist you probably wouldn't want to stay here in the winter, as I think waiting for trams in the cold wouldn't be very pleasant, however in the spring/summer it is a nice alternative.