Van der Valk Hotel Almere

In this hotel it seems to be normal that the shower drain doesn't work. We made it clear the evening of our stay and they didn't fix it. They offered a room with less facilities for the same price. Now, afterwards, they claim that they have offered an upgrade. All we were offered is 2 soda's. After a full complaint they offered a €25,- coupon, less than 10% of our booking price!

The booked room was supposed to be available in the early afternoon, but unfortunately this was not the case, as they had not yet made up the beds. We had to wait a total of one and a half hours in the reception hall until we could go to the room. The time we had to spend waiting for the room to be made available was sweetened with complimentary cappuccinos. The accommodations were very spacious and had a large bathroom with a double rain shower, a bathtub, and double sink vanities, though one had a clogged drain. The toilet was in a separate small room. It was nice to have two separate bedrooms, as this was a family accommodation. In one place the wallpaper had visibly come off the wall and in another place the cladding on the headboard of the bed was slightly damaged. Furthermore, the remote control of the TV was so dirty that we did not use it. All these problems could have been fixed by the room service before handing over the room to the guests. It was not easy to find a free parking space in the parking lot in front of the hotel, as this hotel is a popular conference hotel. There were several events held there, so the parking spaces were quite filled by the company employees who attended. The evening meal in the hotel restaurant was excellent, as you can read in my separate review. The breakfast buffet was also very good. The selection of cold and hot dishes was impressive and one wished that there was such a good choice elsewhere. It was very positive that after mentioning the above shortcomings, an apology was made for the inconveniences and a price reduction of about 13% was subsequently refunded. It can be assumed that in the current situation, this hotel also has staffing problems, like everywhere else in Europe, and that in normal times no problems would have occurred.