Hello I'm Local - Boutique Hostel

We stayed in the Frans Hals room on May 13-14. For some reason, an alarm would sometimes sound when opening the door. The room was hot. There was no fan, but there was a door that opened to the outside. Pros - big shower Cons - door alarm, hot, no fan, bed too close to wall, no shelf in shower

Great place to stay for Amsterdam/ Haarlem adventures. Clean, good beds, helpful staff. Loved staying Haarlem over Amsterdam- much cuter and manageable feeling. Only draw back is the parking in a neighborhood a bit away- but we scored a free spot and had no issue with the car.

We had a very pleasant stay at the hostel. We stayed in the private room „Klederdracht“. It was enough space for two people incl. luggage. The Hostel is really nice and lovely designed. It´s just a 5 minutes walk to the groote markt in the city center. We enjoyed it very much and definitly will come back!

Comfortable Funky spot in a great location in Haarlem. We booked one of the few rooms with a full bath for just 2 people, and it was great. Warm, friendly welcome, nice breakfast. Good suggestions for dinner.

Positives: The staff were really friendly and helpful, and besides walking 15 minutes from the train station to get to the hostel, I really liked the location (near the canals and bridges), it was really beautiful. The restaurant/lounge looks hip and cozy, and the place clearly makes an effort to make you feel as if you're welcome and part of a "family," but as you walk to the dorm room/kitchen it’s a different story. The floors were unfinished and the hallways looked like they were under construction. The kitchen was always cluttered, and the appliances needed a deep clean, so I barely used it, although there was a small fridge, free coffee/tea and a kettle you could use. The ladders to the upper bunk are intimidating, you need to wear shoes on them because they hurt your feet (another guest commented on this too) so I had to keep my shoes at the end of my bed the entire stay (gross) There was no shelf in the upper bunk either so you always had to go up and down to grab your things - which again, required you to go up and down the intimidating ladder. Because of this I don't recommend the dorm room for older people or people who are afraid of heights, as the upper bunk is pretty high up there. They give you a chalkboard to write your name on, but there's no place to put it so it falls on the floor. The wifi barely worked in the rooms so you had to sit in the restaurant area which I didn't mind so much, except the one small area with the fireplace was in the middle of a few rooms that were always occupied by big groups/families, so it didn’t feel like “your” area. 2/3 nights that I stayed there the hot water in the shower ran out, and the wifi stopped working in the restaurant at one point. (Mind you it was on a Saturday night during Easter weekend). The shower/toilet room were quite small to change in, and needed a deep clean. The shower was plugged often and there’s no door so water gets everywhere, you have to use this broom to sweep the water back in the shower. These all might seem like small things but combined it made for one very uncomfortable experience which I don’t think the price or the business "ethos" itself reflects. Furthermore these kinds of issues were typical in hostels maybe 10-15 years ago, but nowadays hostels in Europe have really raised the bar high to make sure A. the wifi doesn't cut out, B. You always have hot water and C. the kitchen is cleaned regularly instead of once a day. I expected better given the photos and positive reviews that I read beforehand...

Can thoroughly recommend this boutique hostel. I travelled solo and was definitely one of their older clients but it felt very easy and safe. I was later joined by family and grandchildren and it worked well for them too. It's an easy 10 minutes walk from the railway/bus station and close to the old town with its historic churches, town square, museums, bars and restaurants. The staff were very helpful and knowledgeable about the local area.The room was lovely, clean and comfortable, and there's also a cafe/bar on the premises.