This hotel was recommended to us by someone on the Amsterdam forum and suited our needs perfectly. The whole property was spotless, the staff friendly and helpful and the breakfast good. It's not located in the centre of town but was right on a tram line, two minutes to Vondelpark and a ten minute walk to the Museum precinct. A few minor things that aren't the fault of the hotel but might put certain groups of travellers off were the steep stairs (to avoid this in Amsterdam you would need to go for a big hotel with lifts) and there is nothing for kids to do. I travelled with a 9yo and we were out all day so it was fine but you would need to bring things for younger kids to play with. Overall though, I would recommend this to anyone and will definitely stay here on our next visit

I stayed at this hotel for 3 nights-Only returned home yesterday! We stayed in a nice double room overlooking the back of the hotel. Room and bed very comfortable and the bathroom looked pretty new-Very clean and tidy. Staff very friendly. Stairs are quite steep so probably not best if your mobility is not 100%. Would recommend this hotel (book a room at the back otherwise you'll be overlooking the busy road).

I recently stayed at the Hotel Zandbergen. Arriving at night there was no one but a young girl to assist us up two very steep flights of stairs with our luggage. The manager was not around on the two nights that we stayed but was certainly very courteous on the morning we departed. Our bedroom was very small and the fittings overall were quite basic and aged and even though we asked for the faulty phone to be checked, it was never fixed. The ensuite was clean but minimal. I believe that to write a good review on this hotel it would depend on the type and size of the room you stayed in. It was also a distance out of the central area even though it was a short tram ride in. For these reasons I do not understand how it could have been given such a high rating on the website.

Well reviewed hotel, worthy of praise. The rooms make remarkably efficient use of very small space. Hotel personnel are uniformly pleasant and helpful. Good breakfast. The Zandbergen sits outside the main tourist area, a short tram ride from Central Station (#2); you can easily walk to the main musea in under 10 minutes. The neighborhood has decent restaurants and the lovely Vondel Park. Downside: very steep stairs, no elevator, so not for those unable to climb. It's not some fabulous wonder in Amsterdam, but it is a fine hotel, reasonably priced, with exceptionally nice people.

I recently stayed at the Hotel Zandbergen with a colleague as part of a business trip. The two things that made me pick the hotel were the good reviews here (at the time it was #5 of 324 hotels in Amsterdam) and the price. Due to the current exchange rate, we're encouraged to save money on trips to Europe and the idea of paying less than 100 Euros for a highly rated hotel in Amsterdam was irresistable. While the Hotel was very nice and Henk was the best host I could imagine, the bottom line is that you get what you pay for and we didn't pay much. Decide what you really need from your hotel stay. First, the strengths: I think that the May 30 review by sirtravel is unduly harsh. The location is next to Vondelpark. It's a beautiful and quiet part of town with restaurants and shops. It is not on a canal or near one, but it's right next to the #2 Tram. The Leidseplein is 1/2 mile away, and it's either a 20 minute walk or a 5 minute Tram ride. I prefer this location to a more downtown one because it's cleaner and less chaotic, but this isn't the location for you if you want to be close to the Red Light district and the coffeeshops. The other strength of this hotel is the staff. I don't know why one of the local millionares (it's that kind of neighborhood) doesn't pay Henk 10,000 Euros per month to be his personal assistant. He's really that good. He takes care of everything and is never flustered. The rest of the staff is very helpful, but they're mostly a bunch of kids that you have to second guess. One of them sent me downtown to a music store that was closed, and then later tried to send a fax without success. The kid tried, but the star of the show is Henk. Finally, the place is very clean. They do a good job and the only things in the entire hotel that didn't shine were the brass handrails in the staircases and I don't know how they could be kept clean for more than a minute. As for weaknesses: The single rooms are painfully small, but they're what you'd expect for less than 100 Euros in a clean hotel in an expensive part of town. At less than 7 feet wide, the single rooms are more like a cabin on a cruise ship than a hotel room. And the single rooms all seem to be in the front of the building. Amsterdam was warm when we first arrived and the choice was to keep the window open and listen to the tram or shut the window and bear with the heat. On the second day I asked for a fan and within minutes the problem was solved. I only wish that there was already a fan in each room. There's also no elevator and the staircases are narrow and steep. If you've got heavy luggage and there's just a small girl checking you in, it's an effort. And if you've just flown over from the U.S., you've going to have to deal with it when you're tired. Finally, the phones aren't really reasonable for business travelers. If you use the hotel's long distance carrier, it's maybe 2 euros per minute to call home. I didn't try, this is just what I remember from the instructions in the room. If you've got an AT&T card, someone at the front desk has to dial the number for you, then forward it to your room, and then you have to say the number because pressing the buttons confuses the system. And there's no one at the front desk after 10PM (4PM east coast time, 1PM west coast time), so if you want to call home in the evening, it's not going to happen. And calls into the hotel seem to go through the switchboard aren't necessarily going to reach you once the front desk closes. Overall, this is a nice hotel in a location that I really like. The joy of letting Henk and his staff take care of me outweighed the inconveniences and I would certainly consider staying here again. Especially if I didn't have a lot of luggage, didn't have any need to call home late at night, and was on a vacation with my wife and staying in a larger room. One last comment is that the hotel is non-smoking. To me it's a strength but my colleague smokes and did not see this as a good thing.