Stayed at the Singel in November '05 and overall it was a pleasant stay. The location can't be faulted - It was a 15 minute train ride from the airport and a 5 minute walk to the hotel from Central Station. All the city has to offer is within easy walking distance or a quick tram ride.
The rooms are clean but small and basic with a good shower. They sorely lacked tea/ coffee making facilities though. The very friendly and helpful staff are always smiling. Overall, if you are wanting and pleasant budget hotel in a great location you could do a lot worse than the Singel.

I stayed at the Singel Hotel for 7 nights beginning November 2 and found it to be a perfect location, near the tourist center but on a far quieter street on the edge of a vibrant residential area with plenty of restaurants and shopping (the Joordan). The hotel staff was quite friendly, which is not always the case in small European hotels, and I enjoyed several conversations with Christian, one of the owners. The hotel is exceoptionally clean. In order to have a canal view, I agreed to stay in a "smoking" room, which had virtually no detectable smoke smell, a pleasant surprise, as well as a beautiful canal view. As noted in several other reviews, the beds are excellent - better in fact than in more "deluxe" accomodations. Yes, as in most European "boutique" hotels, the rooms are small and you may hear some noise from other guests' comings and goings, but this is minor. A very nice breakfast spread (try the raisin bread) that Christian indicated he intended to improve even further. As for the pay in advance policy, the owner indicated that they had had a few non-paying guest problems, so it is understandable. Definitely a winner overall.

We were given Rm 7, which we found very, very small and difficult to move around. The bathroom, although kept well, was very small as well. The double bed however, was wonderful and so very comfortable - top points for that! As a young couple staying the weekend though, we were woken up each morning by (1) the people coming & going in the lift next door to us; (2) the hotel residents having breakfast & the kitchen cleaning up afterwards, as it's all on the same floor, and (3) the children running and shouting in the foyer, as it's also on the same floor as Rm 7. If you're a young couple staying there, who enjoy a sleep-in the morning after going out the previous night, ask for another room! On a very good note however, the hotel was ideally place - so close to the station, shopping streets, coffee shops, dam square, cafe's and of course, about 10 minutes' walk from the red light district! The staff at the hotel were also really kind and accommodating. If you can get over the noise and the tiny room, then it's the place for you!

Ali McClure & Gareth Lotter

We were asked to pay in advance (for 3 days) which we were told was normal for Amsterdam (not so). We asked to see the room which had a solid brick wall 300 mm. outside the back window (full height) which we refused. As they wre unable to offer another room we had to find another hotel elsewhere. We had requested a room with a canal view.
Left a very bad taste on our first trip to Amsterdam.