Just What We Need in Amsterdam--Free Wine

Where: Herengracht 519-525, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1017 BV

6/27/2006 at 9:30 AM
Tags: Hotels

Summer brings a major spike to European travel and picking one's destination is not an easy task. Considering our choices, we know we have always loved Amsterdam, but now we have a favorite hotel there as well. The Banks Mansion is as it sounds, a mansion, and in downtown Amsterdam at that.

The concept of the hotel is to make you feel as much at home as possible. Instead of a lobby feeling, the hotel is divided into more homelike spaces such as the "Living"--nope, not the Living Room, we'll chalk that up to translation issues. Either way the "Living" is incredibly cozy but that is not the reason we love this place. It's the free snacks and drinks available in the "Living" and the "Dining", ok this last one is a joke, they do manage to label it "kitchen".

The snacks and drinks are not your airline pack of pretzels either, they are full-fledged; take it from a past guest:

The hotel provides snacks, liquor, wine, beer, coffee and tea in the lobby 24 hrs a day, constantly stocked so that we can help ourselves like we were at home. The mini-bar in the room is also complimentary and I think we are still shell-shocked over that one. Gin, Vodka and Gran Marnier were also provided in cut glass ware in the room. Every morning we went downstairs to the Kitchen where a full breakfast is provided, again complimentary.

Aside from food and drinks, the rooms are elegant and have everything else we need: Wifi, LCD TV, and a DVD player.

The only problem is...we might never leave the hotel; we just might favor the "Living" over Amsterdam.

Related Stories:
· Banks Mansion Reviews [TripAdvisor]