Stayokay Hostel Amsterdam Vondelpark

We stayed in a twin comfort room which had its own bathroom which was good. Before checking in, the hotel sent out an email asking if we wanted to include the breakfast buffet and the dinner deal to our stay. We opted for both. The breakfast buffet was acceptable and after a busy day of sightseeing, it was good to not have to worry about where to go for dinner. I loved the decor in the dining area and the staff behind the bar were friendly and social.

The staff are lovely and knowledgeable if you have questions about the area or how to get around. The communal spaces downstairs are great and we didn’t see them get overly crowded. The free suitcase lockers (10 hours) are excellent and fit pretty big suitcases. Just get there earlier than the 10:30am check-out time because the queue is vast and you may not get a locker. The hotels.com app mentions in multiple spots that towels and shampoo/ shower gel isn’t needed. This is very false! You can only rent towels. And only buy toiletries. So luckily we brought small towels & shamp/cond anyway. There’s a free shelf in the reception area that you can leave things you don’t need anymore, so anyone can take things they want. And we found a teeny shower gel there (and left it on our way out) which was v handy. We did have some issues with groups of teenagers being loud in the quiet hours (22-7) but it was sorted relatively easily with staff. The mattresses were fine but we both ended up having back issues after but def could be worse. Shower was good and powerful. Mildly annoying that there’s no curtain or floor mat to stop water getting everywhere if you’re not careful. Bring an eye mask because our curtains didn’t actually cover the bottom section of the window! Convenient location. Bus to the airport goes from the end of the road. Tram stops also not far. Can walk to centre of town easily too. Nice restaurants 10min walk away. Supermarket & museums 5 min. Park 2 min.

Got a private room for two, with a bunk bed. Clearly it's a no-frills option - no TV, towel or aircon, for example. But clean and smart. Nice that the room's shower was separate to the toilet was separate to the sink - flexibility. Surprisingly un-noisy despite the number of young people staying, and the public areas had a friendly buzzy atmosphere. On the doorstep of a beautiful park, but at night the access is down a narrow, dark, park-adjoining driveway, which felt a little scary.

I guess it was hinted in the name being a hostel but the noise from other guests was terrible. Groups of students being racist and shouting in the hallways. Even once the students stopped shouting the teachers carried on talking in the hallway and our kids couldn’t sleep. There should be some system in place where staff can rapidly shut down these groups instead of going round knocking on doors trying to find the teachers.

Basic and functional hostel in a fantastic location with bar and a cafe on site