Thursday, December 13, 2012

My favorite hotels in Holland

 054My favorite sanctuary hotel in Holland is the Sheraton Amsterdam. It’s at the top of my list because it is a well managed business hotel with great suites and a really nice club lounge. It has direct access to Schiphol Airport  and has been a place that I have enjoyed feeling comfortable at for many years. Unfortunately, they removed the swimming pool about 8 years ago. I heard that it was because hotels pay an extra tax for a pool; ~ that is believable because the only NL hotels that I know of, in a major metropolis, with a pool, is the Amstel and the Des Indes. There aren’t any really Luxurious hotels in The Netherlands. I think that the Sheraton, Amstel, Des Indes and the Sheraton are the best choice for tasteful comfort. A benefit of being a Starwood Platinum member is that I get to use the club  lounge for evening hors d'oeuvres and they usually do upgrade me 053to a suite. So it’s a quick hop and a skip from the plane and once I have checked in I am usually very comfortable and have a peaceful night’s sleep because the windows are soundproof. Their Voyager Restaurant has exquisite cuisine! A place I like to dine at with clients.

 

The Radisson Blu Hotel Amsterdam Airport, is not as convenient to get to the airport as the Sheraton, but they do have a complementary bus just outside Schiphol airport to the contemporary hotel. The lobby is very nice but the furnishings in the rooms are not so well-appointed

The InterContinental Amstel is a grand, palatial hotel built in 1867 on the river bank.If you want to stay in a grand suite with a four poster bed, I recommend that you stay here or at the Des Indes for a royal experience.

051 Park Hotel’s Tower Suite has a nice view of the VondelPark in Amsterdam. I have stayed at both the Marriott and the Renaissance in Amsterdam, many times over the years. I also like the Sofitel Hotel where you can step straight into Amsterdam’s history, with lodgings in canal houses dating back to the 17th century as is the Hotel Pulitzer. This is an ode to traditional Dutch canal architecture, a cluster of canal houses, situated in the heart of Amsterdam. They have a heated Espresso coffee garden at the Pulitzer, and a bar with a life-sized modified copy of Rembrandts painting, that would not please the Dutch Master, but ads joviality to the cozy room. The adjustments can be seen in this photo with our group. I prefer to stay at the Hotel Hotel Des Indes when I want to immerse myself in history. It is a haven of luxury in the heart of The Hague.

There are a few Hilton hotels in Holland, all in need of refurbishing. Room 702 is the most requested room at the Hilton in Amsterdam by Beatle fans because it was the room that John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in for a week in 1880.

Many hotels in Holland have the bath in the same room as the bed. I don’t like this custom that I suspect the Van der Valk hotel Vianen started. They have a Jacuzzi in the bedroom of their “Jungle Suite”It comes with ghastly jungle noise and a green light from under the 4 poster bed!

I prefer a calmer traditional business style Hotel like the Airport Sheraton or the calming tasteful furnishings of the Amstel Hotel. I did enjoy staying at the Westin Hotel in Rotterdam, although the purple corridors were a bit seedy, anyway that hotel is no longer a Westin Hotel. Starwood only have 3 hotels in Holland now.

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Amstel InterContinental Hotel on the river