WestCord City Centre Hotel Amsterdam

In 1997 the 3 stars hotel was named The Cok City.
It is surrounded by pubs, restaurants, museums, theatres, department stores, boutiques and the Kalverstraat shopping street, 8-10 minute walk from the famous Dam Square and just 4 - 5 minute from the Central Rail Station.
The street below is a bit noisy, the tram-stop is just in front of the hotel. The price of €129/night for a double room facing to the street , not cheap certainly, but many other decent hotels in Amsterdam with such a perfect location cost more.

Unique Quality: All public transportation is nearby, Schipol 15 min. by train. Your car can be parked in the streets; day and evening ticket is € 19,50 available at the parking meter, or in the public underground parking garage opposite of the hotel for € 27,00/day.
Our moderate size rooms were equipped with bath and toilet, cableTV, telephone, safe and facilities to make coffee or tea in the room.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor and serves breakfast only. Our buffet-breakfast was included in the price.

Notice: I have heard, in the meantime the hotel has been taken over by the Ramada chain.

Directions: .City Centre, At walking distance from Amsterdam Central Station, Dam Square, Royal Palace.

Unique Quality: GREAT VIEWS OUT OVER OOSTERPARK AND THE CITY
DOUBLE ROOM NLG.. 250-275
SINGLE ROOM NLG.. 220-245
80 ROOMS 3***

They advertised breakfast was included. The included breakfast was a danish and coffee. You could buy a real breakfast for 14 euro. I felt ripped off. Staff were not helpful. Everytime I walked to the desk they acted as if they were preparing their excuses in advance.

Unique Quality: Centrally located but there are "red light windows" in the same block. The location is in one of the smaller red light districts. Not unsafe, just letting you know.

Room was poorly set up. light switches in the headboard made it impossible to sleep without turning the lights on and off constantly.

Directions: Small redlight district

I booked this hotel in Amsterdam on the recommendation of a coworker who stayed here. The location is very good, just a few blocks from Centraal Station and Dam Square, with a tram stop right outside for several lines that are very useful for many of the main attractions. The staff at the hotel were very nice when we checked in, offering us maps and brochures and later on, called one of the tour boat companies to check on departure times for us. You are given a swipe card as a key and you also need it to call the elevator from the lobby and for the toilets in the lobby as well. You need it to power up the room also, via a slot on the wall when you enter but the lights can be turned off or dimmed via switches.

We booked through a travel agent and got the room for 109 euros on the Sunday night and 119 on the Monday and Tuesday so that was pretty reasonable for the center of Amsterdam. Breakfast was included and was a hot and cold buffet.

One caveat. We turned right out of the hotel one evening and then took the first left to walk to the canals to a restaurant and were surprised to see a few women in windows with red lights!!! We were not aware that we were *in* the Red Light District and actually, we weren't in the main one but there were some areas behind the hotel that did have some window "dressing" on display though not as concentrated as the main area which was in the older section on the other side of Damrak, a bit away from our hotel street.

Right across the street is a bicycle rental shop Yellow Bikes" if you want to have a go. There seemed to be a lot of restaurants in the area and walking back towards the canals, the restaurants were a bit nicer and more upscale. There were cafes where you could have breakfast if you wanted or if it wasn't included in the room rate.

Dam Square is a few blocks south or one tram stop. There's a large shopping mall just behind Dam on the street the hotel is on and it's a short walk from there a few more blocks to the Amsterdam Historic Musem (tram stop Spui).

Unique Quality: We were forewarned about the bathroom. It has glass walls though a frosted section around the middle on the wall that faces the room. The door swings both ways, btw, so don't let it hit you! The shower was roomy enough but the toilet is wedged into a corner and there isn't much hip room even for narrow bodies.

The room itself is very small, probably the smallest i've ever been in. The double bed foots right up against the back wall which is carpted and has a flat panel tv mounted on it. the wall of the bathroom is about a foot from one side and the outer wall with window is about a foot from the other side. Behind the bed is a desk with two chairs and there's a closet/wardrobe at the entrance of the room where you can stash your suitcase and hang a few things. There's a safe in the closet as well and they have a kettle or coffee maker in the room with supplies. We only had hand luggage so it wasn't too bad but it would be a bit cramped if you had full size cases. Having said that, the room was nicely decorated and the bed was comfortable and we weren't in the room much anyway. I wouldn't let it put you off too much but make sure you're very good friends with your roommate because of the glass walls to the loo!

Directions: Exit Centraal station. See the large bike parking garage? go to the bridge by that, cross over, up the road and keep to the left when it splits into two roads. Hotel is a block or so up on the right, red canopies are visible. Tram 3 or 5 from the station.