Netherlands NH Barbizon Palace City Center

[gjjohnson]

The NH Barbizon Palace is located directly across the street from Amsterdam Centraal Station and about two blocks from Dam Square.

The hotel itself is pretty underwhelming for a 5* property. It's in a great location and is in a re-purposed old church, but the rooms were noisy, the bed linens looked like they were from a 2* hotel.

The room looked like it was last redecorated in the 1970s. It was clean, but a little worn around the edges.

We were unable to turn on the air conditioner in the room, so it was stuffy the entire stay.

The bathroom looked like it was straight out of a 1970's Holiday Inn -- with one exception. The bathtub was raised about 4" off the floor, so the rim of the tub was more than 24" high. This combined with a slippery rubber tub mat and no handrails looked like it was designed to promote a fall in the bathroom. Instead of a shower curtain, there was a half door on the tub. it blocked water spray close to the showerhead, but it did not stop water from spraying out in the other half of the tub. The water on the marble floor and an extra high tub rim would be lawsuit in the making in the states.

We paid $105 per night -- less than the rack rate and below the rates of other hotels in the area. It was a fair price for the hotel room, but this just isn't a 5* property.