Pulitzer Amsterdam

Disappointing. Hotel staff was excellent (desk, concierge, bell station) but food and drink staff was lethargic. Painfully slow service, even though both times we experienced this, the venues were not busy. Good location, charming hotel and garden, but didn’t measure up to the reputation or the cost

We stayed at the Pulitzer as part of our year long celebrations for a major birthday for my wife, and the hotel is very central to everything and in a very scenic part of Amsterdam. We arrived way before check in, but we were told our room was ready, which was great as we weren’t expecting this at all. The lobby was very busy, and felt a bit chaotic. We had a bit of a wait being checked in but the staff were all super friendly and helpful. We were shown to our room, which was a bit of a trek, up in the lift, up some steps, across a walkway and down some more steps!! The room was clean, but quite small, nowhere really to put our cases, it was quite dark and extremely dated. We only opted for a standard room as we knew we’d be out and about most of the time, but still, I’d say the room was a bit sub standard to what we were expecting. We did think about seeing if we could pay to upgrade but decided against it. Breakfast was really good, again, extremely helpful and friendly staff, but on the second day, it again felt very chaotic and disorganised. There was around a 15 minute wait to be seated. A lot of the buffet bits were running out, and not being replenished but to be fair to the staff they were being run ragged trying to keep up, it was that busy. We visited the main bar one evening and that was really good with a buzzy atmosphere. Checkout, again, felt a bit chaotic with lots of people milling around but overall it was a decent stay. The hotel is generally very nice in a good location but just felt a bit lacking in certain areas, especially the room which desperately needs modernising.

We were very excited to stay at the Pulitzer after some glowing recommendations. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can recommend it to others. The first issue was being addressed by Mr. & Mrs. in an email answering a question I had before I arrived. We are two men and it was indicated in my reservation by the use of Mister. Perhaps I should have known that attention to detail wasn’t going to be the Pulitzer’s strong point. Arriving was easy and the woman checking us in was very friendly and helpful. The porters deserve a raise for how many stairs and tight corners they had to navigate! They were great too. The room was a generous king room on the 5th floor. Design-wise it looked great- then you started to see things that were not 5 star quality. First were the stains on the carpet. There were a lot of them and they were large. I don’t know if the hotel should have used this room with stains this bad. Then the bath mat was completely dirty. It was folded like it was new, but it was disgusting. Final initial issue was the shower was stuck on hot. You could not move it colder. This was very unpleasant and slightly dangerous. At this point, my husband said, “I don’t think they have used this room in a while.” Our first night, we had dinner at Jansz, the house restaurant. The food was very boring and lacked flavor. The service was just ok. The best part was the cocktail. Breakfast was better, but the cleaning of the restaurant left me worried. We didn’t sleep well at the Pulitzer. The bed was comfortable enough, but we were there during the heat wave and the air conditioner couldn’t keep up. While I understand European air con is lacking, I would not expect a 5 star hotel to have this issue. Also, the blackout curtains worked great on the one wall, but we had an additional window directly across from the bed. It had a blackout shade, but not a curtain, so the light came through the sides starting at 5 am. We had to sleep with our eye masks on. Housekeeping didn’t come at all our first day even though we had our “please service our room” sign out starting at 10 am. We had to talk to the front desk. The shower gel and shampoo got knocked off the ledge and cracked open. We told the front desk and they said it would be replaced. Housekeeping gave us two conditioners and a shampoo, no shower gel. So we had to ask for that to be changed too. These are small, but annoying issues that show the lack of care for their customers. Finally, we asked the concierge about the boat ride. He said they were sold out. He said we could check back. He didn’t take our name or room number. We checked back and they added another boat, but at that point we had dinner reservations and couldn’t do it. If they reached out to us, we could have rearranged our schedule, but they didn’t seem to care. They obviously cared enough to add another boat trip for someone else, just not us. At check out, the person asked in the obligatory, “how was your stay?” When I said not that great and quickly gave a recap, he said he would pass long the feedback and that was it. We waited in the lobby for our car for the next 30 minutes, so he could have directed a manager over to talk to us, but it seemed like no one cared. I’m sure I’ll receive the standard response that the hotel gives to negative feedback to show they care…and that will be all. I’m glad I didn’t pre-book the Pulitzer for our return to Amsterdam next week. We will try the Mandarin Oriental instead.

If you are planning a trip to Amsterdam to celebrate something special, or just really enjoy a luxury hotel, Pulitzer Amsterdam is THE place to stay! We booked a Canal Suite to start off our 25th Anniversary trip, for 2 nights in Amsterdam before our Rhine River Cruise and it was simply magical. Pulitzer combines luxury, history, location and service, all 5 stars! Jansz, Pulitzer Bar and Garden restaurant were all amazing. It's quite simply the perfect package. We also enjoyed a private canal tour thanks to the wonderful Concierge who assisted us with that. We were absolutely blown away by all the Pulitzer offered and will highly recommend it to others.

An unusual old style hotel with the best service by all. So welcoming and helpful.