I booked this hotel several months in advance for myself, husband, and son. When we arrived to check in, we were informed that they did not know that our son would be in the room with us, that the room we had reserved was only for 2, and we'd have to stay in a family suite, which costs more. We were exhausted after traveling, so we took the room, but did some research to find that we could have booked the family suite online for those 2 nights and would have paid the same as the king room we had originally booked.
We went downstairs to talk to the front desk about it. When discussing the charges, it turns out that they had double-charged us for some fee or another by 35 Euros. We were promised a refund (which we did receive). However, we still ended up paying more than the king room we had originally booked, and more than we would have paid if we had reserved the family suite online.
Anyway, we stayed. We were there for 2 nights and quite frankly, they were horrible. This is the 2nd worst hotel I've ever stayed in. The staff is quite rude. The hotel itself is cheaply built. There are cracks in walls everywhere, scuff marks, and general wear and tear that makes it look like a sad and sorry place. The lighting is terrible in the hallways and rooms. The beds are horribly uncomfortable. We had a lot of trouble sleeping here. The walls are thin. The showers don't drain very well. The room was not very clean. And, the wi-fi is extremely slow.
You'll likely pay less to stay here or elsewhere in Zaandam than you would in Amsterdam, but it's really not the nicest place. It's sort of a bland town that they've tried to perk up with a few quirky buildings and a shopping/dining area that didn't have much of interest.
After our extremely disappointing and frustrating stay, I completed a survey sent by Best Western and received a prompt response with an additional refund of 35 Euros. That is the only reason my rating is two stars instead of one.
And, you may have read all this and believe that the situation may have been my fault for booking the wrong room type, but it turns out that it's a failure in the hotel's web site.
You see, I went to the hotel's Netherlands-based web site to book the room, because when you search for the hotel, it states you get a 5% discount for booking directly through them. I entered my dates and the fact that we were 2 adults and 1 child, and guess what?! You are redirected to the Best Western site and every room type the hotel has shows up as a choice. Even though they claim that we made the mistake and booked the wrong room. I entered the correct number of adults and children, and was given the option of a king room, which was cheaper than the suite, and of course I took it because the 3 of us don't need a big suite. And, just to be sure, I had even noted on my reservation that we needed a sofa bed set up for our son. When we checked in, the front desk claimed they couldn't see our note, and said we were at fault for booking the wrong room and had to pay for a suite.
Anyway, the whole experience was a real headache for us. We wasted a good hour trying to sort this out with the front desk when we should have been at Zaanse Schans.
In conclusion, do yourself a favor and don't stay here. I wouldn't even bother staying in Zaandam, but at the very least, don't waste your hard-earned money on this lousy hotel. You can do better! less