This can be a nice hotel to stay when visiting charming, Alkmaar but there are some things to consider.
I hope this post helps.
The pros:
This is my second stay at the Grand Alkmaar hotel, once for a week in April 2023 and then again for another week in Dec 2023. This is my first review of this hotel. The hotel is conveniently located in the city center next to shopping, restaurants, the local grocery store and the weekly market will literally be right at your doorstep on Saturday, (can you say freshly baked mini pancakes or warm pressed, fresh off the grill stroop waffles.) The daily breakfast is convenient and tasty, offering bacon, sausage, eggs, sliced deli meats, croissants, pastries, juices, coffee etc. The staff was very accommodating, providing everything that I needed from fresh towels, an ironing board, a taxi service, restaurant recommendations, you name it. They are the reason for the extra star in my review.
The cons:
The hotel could use some modern updates: The shower in my room was extraordinary high, making it a bit treacherous to navigate getting in and out, not to mention with the design of European showers that don't full block water from the shower from getting on the floor in the bathroom. This seems to be a common European thing from what I can tell. Additionally the carpet is brown, which just doesn't offer the cleanest feeling. I get it though, it's the Netherlands, it's always raining so any other carpet might stain really easily from rain , mud, dirt etc, but maybe it's time to replace that carpet with a more friendly looking option or betty yet, a carpet alternative.
The noise: While it can be quiet some nights, other nights you can definitely hear noise from the street, people talking, a party happening near by, the bells ringing (Oh don't get me on the bells.... bells bonus content later in posting) . For me, it's imperative to bring ear plugs when I stay here, otherwise the noise from the bells that ring every 15 mins......yes....every 15 mins :( will be disruptive to sleep. Of course this is no fault of the hotel, but the hotel could use more sound proofing as a result.
The bed/bedding: Others in my party complained about the comfort of the bed, but for me personally it was okay. The only problem was that they only give you these very heavy comforters, which is problematic because this hotel runs hot. Every day of my 14 night stay at this hotel between my two trips, I was burning up. It's important when you leave the room to leave the window cracked, so that it's cooler when you return and to adjust the heat so that it's off or on cool. Unfortunately, that was the one thing they couldn't help me with at the front desk. The room was as cool as it could get. I just had to open the window and you know what that means, You then hear those darn, torturous bells every 15 mins waking you, at just the moment you start to doze off and then you feel rushed to go to sleep within the next 15 mins and the cycle continues. You have to be mentally strong to resist the bells. If they offered a lighter blanket, or sheets, this could potentially solve this problem and I can close the window at night. Since I was in a room with two beds , I just took the cover/ duvet off the other bed to use as a light covering at night. Generally speaking though, although it was literally cold outside on both occasions when I visited, this hotel was really hot.
Moving on. This may not be an issue with people who don't stay as long as I did, but at some point, I kinda want something different for breakfast, so I wish there were a switch up on one day at least, but I might just be picky here as the breakfast that they had was good, I just wanted a bonus item/something different one day.
Pro/con items
The water will scald you. Not sure if this a European thing or not, but do not under any circumstances allow a small kid to turn the water on hot in the sink or in the shower. That is a dangerous proposition. Of course don't adjust it all the way to hot for yourself as well. You will get burned ( I might be exaggerating..........hmm .....maybe not.) Be careful with it. Good thing though was that the water was always hot enough for a nice shower, if I'm looking at it from a positive perspective.
The weekly market often has fish and on both saturdays that I stayed here, they were close enough to the hotel where I could smell the fish when I entered and exited. It's good that the weekly market is so close, I just wish the fish people were a bit farther away from the hotel, but I'm sure all of the businesses want this. Sorry fish people.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Bonus content: The bells:
Why on why do the bells ring every 15 mins? Yes, extremely charming in the daytime, but you gotta stop this at night. Why aren't the people rebelling? I know , they've gotten use to it. Are you trying to ensure that newcomers won't come and stay? Please oh please for the sake of visitors to the town, only ring the bells once an hour at night or not at all after 10 PM. Please pass this portion on to the mayor, city council , whoever can make this change for the sake of future visitors. I can't say strongly enough that I feel this bell situation is a problem.
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