Hotel Sphinx

The worst hotel that I have visited in twelve years of travels! The people are unfriendly and the hotel is very dirty. In the breakfast room, there are birds and all kind of stuffs that you can imagine! The people who work there don't have any idea about what is hygiene and courtesy. There was blood in our beds -- it means that they don't use to change them! And, at the end, I had to pay for the mess that someone else had made there. Very expensive and awkward!

I stayed at this hotel for two nights and boy did it add to my very negative experience in Amsterdam. There is a deposite of five euros for the room key and the reception refuses to take your key when you leave for the day. A cheap way to make money if people lose the hotel key. Highly unprofessional. There's a five percent charge if you decide to pay for your stay by a credit card. There are extremely narrow, and I mean narrow staircases. Usually Dutch hotels have a pully for your luggage or staff to carry them. Sphinx does not. Be careful not to break your neck. Also, no elevator. We were never informed that not every room has a shower and a toilet. So if you don't want to pay extra, you have to share a shower and a toilet with other occupants. Rude staff. Very loud and obnoxoius. Talks in the backyard into the wee hours of the night. Usually hotels give you leway during what time you can check in, this one didn't. However, it did have clean rooms.

Unfortunately this category is far too high for this doss-house. Unkempt and downright rude staff — the vertiginous staircase down to basement rooms is exceptionally dangerous for retired people who carry 20-kg cases. Three rooms, 1, 2, and 3, scrawled in biro [ink] on a piece of paper on the door. Where was this hotel shown in the photographs on this Web page? It's certainly not the Sphinx in March 2005. The room we were allocated in the basement was next door to a room full of dirty linen pouring out of the door into the path of our room door. The room had three metal camp beds, no bed heads, and one folded camp bed against the wall, along with a small TV on a bracket high on the wall. Absolutely nothing else in the room whatsoever. The shower room was scruffy and not properly cleaned. There was a dining area upstairs, which also served as the food preparation area, reception, bar and a tatty sofa where staff lounged. This place should be closed down by the Dutch Environmental Department. Needless to say, we did not stay and the man on the reception, (hole in the wall) aggressively said he would still get our money!! I am sure Holland is not proud of this establishment.

As a student I am used to squalor, however I never expected the Hotel Sphinx to be in a state of such splendor. I was hit by Dutch culture almost as soon as my first step was taken into what turned out to be the best trip of my young life. Staff were friendly, other guests were a joy, and the rooms were not only spacious, but had clearly had a heavy bout of cleaning. If I ever go back to Amsterdam the only place I would consider staying is the Hotel Sphinx.