A bit late in posting review, but it was such a great experience I had to share. Traveled to Amsterdam with my two girls (7 & 10) for a long weekend and found this hotel was absolutely perfect. Called the hotel to book directly and the reservationist was excellent. We wanted a top notch room and she suggested a suite with a king bed and rollaway to accomdate us. Our room was right on the canal with a huge window that gave us views of all the boats. We had two floors with a bedroom on top and living space below. The kids loved the cool staircase. We actually entered on the street so it was almost like living in an apartment in the city which was very cool too. Two of us shared the bed and the rollaway was in the living room below with room to spare for seating and tv.
Travelling with kids can be hairy sometimes and the hotel was very relaxed and accomodating to my kids. Since my husband didn't join us on this trip, my kids sent daily emails from the small but efficient business center and no one raised an eyebrow about kids on the computers. The front desk was also helpful in securing tickets to some of the big ticket attractions. The kids forgot to mail thier postcards on our last day and the front desk even offered to send them out for us.
The hotel's location was ideal . There were plenty of restaurants surrounding the hotel so no matter which way we went exploring, we were never at a loss of where to eat. Right around the corner was a busy square with tons of cafes with outdoor tables. The location was ideal for sightseeing too. A very short walk away were a host of must see sights. In fact, everything was so central to the hotel we rarely had to rely on taxis or public transportation. In fact, the public transportion was so clean and easy to navigate that it became our main mode of travel. A main tram hub was right around the corner so that was super convenient and there were plenty of shops right there to buy the tickets. Several tram lines also made frequent stops on the streets surrounding the hotel so we were always able to hop on and off within a few minutes walk of the hotel.
Some of the attractions my kids loved, and all within walking distance, were the Ann Frank museum, the Houseboat Museum, drinking hot chocolate at the myriad of canal side cafes and buying our daily snack of french fries in the square by the Ann Frank museum. By tram, we visited the zoo, had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and rented bikes to ride at Vongel park. We rented bikes on our last day and regretted not renting for the entire time we were there. Lots of bikes, and very few cars make for a great and safe way to explore the city.
Each night my kids ordered bedtime hot chocolate from room service and we found the service to be prompt and very cordial. We ate breakfast in the hotel once but it was too quiet and stuffy for my kids so we decided to grab breakfast around the hotel. There was also a supermarket near the houseboat museum so we stocked up on snacks and made use of the fridge in our suite.
Amsterdam was the perfect trip for my kids who found lots of fun and fascinating things to discover and the Ambassde was the ideal place to stay. It offered us the comfort and level of service we expect from hotels but was unique enough to escape the generic hotel room syndrome. It really did offer us a taste of Amsterdam and we loved it!
