This was our 4th time staying at 717. Each previous time the rooms were superb, the service gracious, the location great, and we left wondering what more could you want from a small hotel/B&B?

We wonder no more.

We booked the room at the Top, which has a window facing the canal. It's a steep climb up the stairs, but the room was large and pleasantly decorated. I must, however, agree with the previous comment about the plastic flowers. At these prices, a few real flowers would have been nice. The bed is towards the front of the room, just underneath the window.

Our first night was fine; we were tired from the flight over. We slept well. Breakfast was pleasant, but the service quirky as others have noted in their reviews.

Little did we know, it appears since we last stayed there several years ago, that a rock and roll club had opened just across the canal. Bedlam was about to begin around 11pm, or was it midnight? It's tough to tell when you're woken from your sleep.

Friday night was bad. It was loud, but we thought that it was part of staying in an active urban area. We voiced no complaint.

Saturday night was awful. Dreadful. We had friends, from Germany, stay in one of the suites overlooking the canal. They were finally able to go to sleep sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning. We fared no better.

It sounded as if the rock and roll club had thrown open its doors and the party was on the street, right outside the hotel. Firecrackers, drunken revelry, cars honking, bands playing, fights, screaming, etc.

At this price, or at any price really, part of the implicit compact between a guest and the proprieter is that they'll do everything possible to provide a satisfactory and restful stay. Unfortuneately, this wasn't the case. We complained bitterly.

No matter how charming the rooms, that's it's constantly held up as a shining example of how to run a small establishment, that it's a legendary hip hotel...none of that is worth the price we paid for not being able to sleep through the evening.

The problem isn't going away till the rock and roll club closes. Do yourself a favor, ask about the club when making your reservation. If it's still open and you want to stay up till 2 or 3, grab a dozen beers, or roll a joint if that's more your style and join the party at the club or on the dancing in the streets.

Otherwise, if you want a restful stay while in Amsterdam, other establishments may be able to provide the setting for a good nights sleep.

We just returned from a 3 night stay at Hotel Seven One Seven. We arrived early (8:30 am) from a 7 hour overnight flight from the U.S. We did not expect our room to be ready, so we asked to leave our bags and said we would go out for breakfast. They said we could have breakfast there. We went down into their lovely dining room and had a basket of bread, a plate of 3 pieces of ham and 3 pieces of cheese, coffee and orange juice. When we checked out we found that we had been charged 75 euros for this breakfast--over $110 dollars!!!! Although they advertise free afternoon tea or wine, we were offered it on only one of the 3 nights. We stayed in the Tolkien junior suite, which although beautifully decorated, had a scratchy wool blanket and a bathroom that was not large. One of the windows opened up onto a light shaft, and on 2 mornings at 7 am a crew of painters began erecting a scaffolding outside of the window which was a foot from the bed. It was extremely noisy. I agree with the previous guest that the noise level from other doors opening was quite loud as well. For what this small hotel charges, I would have expected a little more gracious service. The employees seemed a bit snobby and disinterested.

My boyfriend suprised with a trip to Amsterdam and he did his research well and chose this lovely cosy hotel for 2 nights. We stayed in Shakespeare on the 1st floor and it is an enormous and gorgeous room with sumptuous fabrics and and a really a comfy sofa. Also a rather fancy B&O TV which impressed him very much!! We only saw one other couple in the hotel and had the elegant and snug lounge to ourselves late one evening with a lovely bottle of complementary wine and very nice snacks (without having to request them which is always nice) The hotel organised a restaurant for us and taxi's etc and we were impressed with the professionalism.

The downsides to this room were minimal but considering the cost perhaps worth mentioning:

Being so near the ground floor meant that we did hear the hotel phone ringing but it wasn't much of an issue.

There was no air con and it was a bit too hot and stuffy which I imagine in Summer could be more of a problem.

The bathroom was tired and certainly not luxurious but adequate.
If this had been updated the room would have been fantastic.

The staff were friendly and polite and breakfast in bed arrived on the dot and in a huge basket which was a lovely touch and also had delicious freshly squeezed orange juice. Something was always missing though, ie. no milk, no butter and on the last day 2 boiled eggs with no egg cups!! We did not eat downstairs as we just wanted to be pampered and lazy which was such a treat!

These really are minor faults though and the overall experience is to be recommended. I would have loved a room with a view though - I think that a canal view would have made this stay even more special. There's no pleasing some people is there?! If you are looking for a romantic retreat with absolutely no hint of pretentiousness then this hotel is for you and it would take very little to make this place perfect!

We recently went to 717 and were wowed by the charm and design of it. The restoration of this old building/house was fantastic and the decorating. Like another person said, a welcome change from the sleek minimalist look of so many hotels trying to be so cool.

We stayed in the Tolkein room which was as pretty as it seemed in the on-line photos however--- it was UNBEARABLY noisy. It was like being in someone else's house. Forget about relaxation. For some insane reason, in this humongous room, they decided to put the bed smack-dab next to the door that opens onto the main stairwell leading to all the rooms (no elevator). So you really felt like you were well aware of all your neighbors comings and goings including their conversations. You could even hear conversations that were taking place two flights down at the front desk at the bottom of the stairs.

Worse than the stairs, was the fact that the staff/cleaning supply room/lounge was just a few steps down from our door. Starting at 7am, that door was literally opened and closed twice or more every five minutes on the average. You could not only hear the creaking of the hinges but also when it shut-- OVER and OVER and OVER... we would sleep during the five min intervals and had a horrible sleep each night. we were NOT there for business. We told the staff each night to please make sure that the morning person was informed to please be considerate and enter this room quietly. During a four day stay, we only got one hour's worth of their compliance to that request. We got the feeling that they thought we were inflexible which ticked us off all the more.

Also, we found that the hotel staff was friendly but in many ways inept regarding their concierge services. For example, we called down one afternoon to ask them to call the restaurant they had booked for us for that evening and see if they could be called and the reservation pushed back a little later. The person at the desk (at all times there was only one person available or in sight) told us that he did not know which restaurant we had been booked at and he'd have to call his colleague at home to find out. Why was there not a general log of this stuff like a normal luxury hotel??

The breakfast was really nice and the atmosphere of the dining space super nice. All in all, it has a lot of charm, but I would never stay there again if I were going there to have a relaxing weekend. You'll be up at 7! A couple we met staying in a nearby room from New Orleans, had the exact same sentiments as we did- especially regarding the staff room door issue--and their bed was way away from their door!!

All our friends told us to go to Blake's which is now called something else... will try that next time!

S Spencer