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Discouraging too much traffic in the inner city, in order to avoid airpolution ,is ofcourse something to be supported. Who wouldn't want to live and work in a clean and safe environment. But sometimes the measures taken have the opposite effect.
In all their wisedom our local government have initiated and supported several measurements and laws, that will drive every hotelowner up the wall, because of its shortsighteness.
The ideal situation is that if a guest arrives by car, he drives to the hotel, parks the car for its duration using public transport, and leaves again.
That means 2 carmovements per stay.
To discourage cars to come into the city they raised the parkingfees up to Euro 40 per day (!). Now, thát is expensive and discourages tourist to come to Amsterdam at all, thus bringing zero income for the city at large.
So they came up with 2 alternatives:
P+R ( Park and ride).
You leave the car on a secured parkingplace outside the centre, at a reasonable price, and get free tickets for public transport to reach the city and back.
Sounds good to you? Then follow this.
The guest drives to the hotel, dropping of their lugage and grandma, then drive to the P+R.
Upon check out they fetch the car, drive to the hotel to pick up the lugage and grandma and leave town.
I counted 4 car movements.
Or they support idears like 'carhotel'.A valetservice parking your car in secured garages on the border of town.
Count with me.
The guest drives to the hotel.There we call carhotel. They come with 2 persons in a car, each driving seperately back to the garage. Upon check out 2 cars drive to the hotel, after which one car leaves town with the guest and the other back to the garage.
Now, according to my count, that is 6 car movements.
Can you follow this 'logic'thinkinf of our local government?
Unfortunately it is what Amsterdam politics is all about......
Monday, 29 March 2010
Friday, 12 March 2010
MORE REVIEWS.
Maybe I should write more updates about the reviews I read concerning our hotel.
Most are very positive and that is good. Especialy when ,almost always, people rave about the service of our staff. That means we enjoy our work and that comes across.
But sometimes I read reviews with raised eyebrows. Ofcourse it is the perspection of the guest, and the way he/she has experienced a hotel in a country abroad, with often a different lyfestyle.
Still, it is important to take notice of it, and improve matters if and when possible...but sometimes....
Here are just a few:
To the gentleman who complained about WIFI for Euro 4 per hour.
Please read your confirmation and the signs at the desk. There is a guest-computer available in the lobby for Euro 4 per hour. That includes printing.
Wifi only costs Euro 5 for your entire stay.
To the guy who thought we are located far out of the centre.
The museumdistrict we are in, surrounded by the shopping areas and squares, are considered the centre.The street in front of central station is a tourist trap, and no, we donnot consider the redlight district the citycentre.
To the girl who wrote misschieved ,"If you book a room with a shower, you get a room with a shower".....
No comment!
To the eldery couple who stated the bathroom was very clean, but the specimen between the tiles could use some work.
Thank you, that is constructive critsism. We started working on this rightaway.
To the other couple who complained not having a heater for their entire 3 day stay.
In Holland you turn a heater on, by turning the knob on the side of the heather.
If you are unaware of this, don't go sit moaning with your wintercoat on and complain afterwards. Come to the reception, we are most willing to assist you.
To the dutch woman who found it strange everything is written in English, french and german and not in dutch.
Ever been to France?
Everything translated in 3(!) languages is not so bad.Everybody speaks and understands at least one of them.In the reception we speak 5 languages. We only receive maybe 1 dutch reservation per month, so it is no use to translate everything in dutch. Then I prefer to translate everything in Japanese.
To a lot of people who found the room clean but rather small .
Yes, that is the way houses were build in the 1930's.
That is why we represent ourselves as a converted charactaristic typical Amsterdam house-hotel.
It is called charm.
To everybody who made notes about the steep stairs.
Every website we are mentioned on, states we have no elevator, this is also mentioned in every roomoffer and confirmation. It is also part of the charm.
To everybody who raved about our breakfast.
THANK YOU!!
More later, bye for now.
Most are very positive and that is good. Especialy when ,almost always, people rave about the service of our staff. That means we enjoy our work and that comes across.
But sometimes I read reviews with raised eyebrows. Ofcourse it is the perspection of the guest, and the way he/she has experienced a hotel in a country abroad, with often a different lyfestyle.
Still, it is important to take notice of it, and improve matters if and when possible...but sometimes....
Here are just a few:
To the gentleman who complained about WIFI for Euro 4 per hour.
Please read your confirmation and the signs at the desk. There is a guest-computer available in the lobby for Euro 4 per hour. That includes printing.
Wifi only costs Euro 5 for your entire stay.
To the guy who thought we are located far out of the centre.
The museumdistrict we are in, surrounded by the shopping areas and squares, are considered the centre.The street in front of central station is a tourist trap, and no, we donnot consider the redlight district the citycentre.
To the girl who wrote misschieved ,"If you book a room with a shower, you get a room with a shower".....
No comment!
To the eldery couple who stated the bathroom was very clean, but the specimen between the tiles could use some work.
Thank you, that is constructive critsism. We started working on this rightaway.
To the other couple who complained not having a heater for their entire 3 day stay.
In Holland you turn a heater on, by turning the knob on the side of the heather.
If you are unaware of this, don't go sit moaning with your wintercoat on and complain afterwards. Come to the reception, we are most willing to assist you.
To the dutch woman who found it strange everything is written in English, french and german and not in dutch.
Ever been to France?
Everything translated in 3(!) languages is not so bad.Everybody speaks and understands at least one of them.In the reception we speak 5 languages. We only receive maybe 1 dutch reservation per month, so it is no use to translate everything in dutch. Then I prefer to translate everything in Japanese.
To a lot of people who found the room clean but rather small .
Yes, that is the way houses were build in the 1930's.
That is why we represent ourselves as a converted charactaristic typical Amsterdam house-hotel.
It is called charm.
To everybody who made notes about the steep stairs.
Every website we are mentioned on, states we have no elevator, this is also mentioned in every roomoffer and confirmation. It is also part of the charm.
To everybody who raved about our breakfast.
THANK YOU!!
More later, bye for now.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Where to get the best deals.
So how do you know you get the best deal on a hotelroom?
Easy,while shopping around on the web, you will find various providers for hotelrooms.Or maybe you browse through the brochures of a travelagent.
Once you found a hotel of your liking, it is easy to book online or let the travelagent handle it.
Now here is the trick, donnot book there!
Travelagents charge the hotel up to 25% of the sales, internet providers usually up to 15%.
For a hotel, that is a lot of money, so they are forced to raise the price of the rooms they offer through the provider/agent.
In the meantime, because there is no commissionfee involved, they keep the prices on their own website low, hoping to atract more guests there, avoiding having to pay the commissions.
So if you know the name of the hotel, search on the internet for their own website and compare, then book there.
If they do not have their own website, call them yourself, you get guaranteed the lowest price.
Part of the pleasure of organising a vacation is getting to know where you stay and on a hotels website you usually find more information and pictures, and in the meantime you save a lot of money too!
Harry
Easy,while shopping around on the web, you will find various providers for hotelrooms.Or maybe you browse through the brochures of a travelagent.
Once you found a hotel of your liking, it is easy to book online or let the travelagent handle it.
Now here is the trick, donnot book there!
Travelagents charge the hotel up to 25% of the sales, internet providers usually up to 15%.
For a hotel, that is a lot of money, so they are forced to raise the price of the rooms they offer through the provider/agent.
In the meantime, because there is no commissionfee involved, they keep the prices on their own website low, hoping to atract more guests there, avoiding having to pay the commissions.
So if you know the name of the hotel, search on the internet for their own website and compare, then book there.
If they do not have their own website, call them yourself, you get guaranteed the lowest price.
Part of the pleasure of organising a vacation is getting to know where you stay and on a hotels website you usually find more information and pictures, and in the meantime you save a lot of money too!
Harry
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