Travel Between The Pages

A dirty, cold, tiny hotel room can put a damper on your trip. But for the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel in Amsterdam, those attributes are essential to the promotional pitch. That’s because the Hans Brinker is proud to be dubbed the “worst hotel in the world.”

The budget establishment has ironically enjoyed 16 years of success due to its bizarrely negative advertising. The strange approach has consistently attracted guests who want to see for themselves if the place is as terrible as it claims to be.

A legal notice posted on the hotel’s website states that guests book there “at their own risk and will not hold the hotel liable for food poisoning, mental breakdowns, terminal illness, lost limbs, radiation poisoning, certain diseases associated with the 18th century, plague, etcetera.”

The website describes the Hans Brinker as a “cheap, dirty, cold, poorly lit youth hostel” that offers a “rusty bed” in an “awkwardly shaped dormitory” and “spectacularly un-spacious suites, each of which does not feature a flat-screen TV, a double bed or free access to our non-existent swimming pool and spa area.” Is this truth in advertising or a just clever marketing? No one has lost a limb at the Brinker yet, but it certainly is an old-school shabby hostel. Still, the tourists keep coming

At less than 30.00 a night, the Hans Brinker offers one of the cheapest beds in Amsterdam. And every room has a shower and toilet. Just don’t expect all the modcons. In fact, most travel review sites are packed with biting comments about dirty linens, poorly functioning plumbing, inconsistent heating, snarky staff and bad food.

But hotel guests should not complain—they were fairly warned.