Do you love aggravation and disrespectful customer service? If you said 'yes,' then I've got the place for you!
Prior to arrival, guests are required to download an app and follow some oddly specific instructions for keyless entry because there is no reception. Unsurprisingly, the app did not provide an entry code at check-in. We were stuck outside with another group of guests who had the same issue. Yet, despite another party having the exact same problem, the "customer service" we called tried to blame me for not communicating and not using the app correctly. They then tried to diagnose the issue as we stood on the sidewalk with all of our bags (as we had been for 30 minutes).
Once inside the building, we had to find the linen closet, move the large bag of laundry in front of it, get a flashlight, and unlock a coded lock box to get our key. We finally got into our room and put down our bags. Time to relax? Nope! Almost immediately, a staff member starts vacuuming the hall and stairway, making sure to bang each step and our door several times (why this wasn't done before the 3:00 pm check-in time, I can't imagine).
Next, we settle in and pull out our laptop to find a wonderful place for dinner in den Haag... only to find that the wifi doesn't work. When I called the "service" number again, they proceeded to say friendly and helpful things, such as, "Well, what did you do to the router?" (there was no router in our room) and "Well, we've been open for 2 months and we've never had this issue." They then had me go downstairs and walk around the hotel to check the wifi before agreeing to send someone within the hour (during which time we were just supposed to sit and wait). Approximately 30 minutes later, a perfectly nice man came and walked through our room with his shoes on. He couldn't figure out the issue, so he called in another nice man (the noisy vacuumer). They went in and out for over 30 minutes, but they did eventually fix the issue, and they were the only friendly staff that we spoke to from Ben's. One of them informed me that the "service" staff are a management company located in Amsterdam. This explains why they seemed completely disinterested in being the least bit helpful.
So after 2 hours, multiple rude phone calls with the "service" staff, and many headaches, we finally settled into our room. The small room was reasonably clean and had lots of great extras, like a non-working clock to decorate the night stand and a pair of reading lamps above the bed, only one of which worked. There were also fun design surprises, like the window shade that couldn't close completely due to the obstruction from the bathroom door, the tiny bathroom sink which had a shelf directly above it (trying to brush your teeth turned into a wacky game of try-not-to-spit-on-the-shelf!), and the bathroom towel rack that was convenient located six and a half feet high on the wall within reach of neither the sink or shower.
The main redeeming quality of Ben's is its proximity to the beach (10 minutes walking). Otherwise, there would be no reason on earth to pay over 100 euros for this experience.
Our departure from Ben's was very on-brand with the rest of the experience. We were instructed to place the key back in its lock box. So we found the linen closet, moved the large bag of laundry that was still sitting there, got out the flashlight and tried to open the coded lock box. However, the code we were given the day before would not work. I tried calling the "service" line twice, but they never answered; honestly this was about as helpful as the other calls. So we dropped the key in our room and left, now late for our next appointment due to the extra hassle.
After checkout, I contacted "customer service" to inquire about some sort of discount or compensation for all of these issues, because I wanted to give them an opportunity to take steps towards correcting all of this. I was told that they fixed the wifi, so they didn't need to do anything else. Apparently the hours of my time and the aggravation and disrespect that I received don't factor into this equation.
In all seriousness, please have a look at my profile. I've never given or received a bad review. Something needs to be seriously out-of-whack for me to post something negative. Please let this be a warning: STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOTEL!