CitizenM Amsterdam City Hotel: Quirky, Trendy, One Of A Kind

I’ve been meaning to write about this place for so long, it’s a wonder the pics haven’t gone stale in my harddrive from the loooong wait since our trip to Amsterdam last May. So here we go…

CitizenM Amsterdam City Hotel is not your average hotel. The hotel’s name itself plus the photo on its facade of a bunch of people pulling their luggage give just the slightest hint that the hotel is extraordinary somehow…

Step inside and you won’t see the usual imposing lobby or ho-hum check-in counter. No sirree, their check-in counter is not ho-hum at all — it’s revolutionary. All you’ll see is this long counter with computer terminals. Yes, you’re expected to check-in and check-out all by yourself. Of course, some of their staff are waiting politely at the sidelines to give assistance to the technologically-challenged or just plain awe-struck travellers.

Just type your surname into the terminal, confirm your identity, review the reservation details, pick which floor you’d like to stay in (a no-brainer — 1st or 2nd?), insert your credit card into the appropriate slot, touch the card to the thingamajig that programs it, and voila! You’ve just checked yourself in.

In lieu of a lobby, you get this cozy lounge:-

And instead of a swanky restaurant, they have this canteen that doubles as a bar and mini souvenir shop:-

Sorry if the pic is a bit blurry. I shot this while walking. As in, I was shooting while holding the camera at waist level. I was trying to be inconspicuous, you know what I’m saying?

As you walk towards the lift, you can’t possibly miss this most awesome little nook filled with huge Macs (yeah, baby!), where you can surf the internet for free:-

(If you prefer to surf the net in the privacy of your room with your laptop, WiFi is free!)

Getting a bit giddy now? I don’t blame you.

The hallway itself is quite bare, furnished with just one eclectic couch, and you start to wonder what kind of hotel you’ve just gotten yourself into.

Note: There’s a huge photo of an artist’s impression of the hotel hanging right in front of the lift that’s bound to raise eyebrows. However, given that this blog is family- and child-friendly, I won’t be posting that photo in here. I guess you just have to see that photo for yourself when you go to that hotel one day. ^-^

So you go into the lift, exhausted from your trip. The lift doors open and you get even more confused. The hallway is white… too white (although the carpet is a glaring red).

The doors are all plain. And what’s even more disconcerting is how close each door is to the other.

Intrigued, you look for your room, then wave your card key in front of the lock. You open the door slowly…and let out a gasp.

The room is so…so…so tiny. And…and..different! The width of the large king-sized bed is the width of the entire room. The length of the room is about three times the length of the bed.

The huge king-sized bed dominates the room.  And mind you, this bed comes standard with all rooms.

Oohhh… I’m telling you — the bed is Goldilocks-perfect. It’s not too soft and not too hard. It’s juuuussst right!

The bed also hides a drawer underneath where you can keep your clothes and other knick-knacks.

I hope you noticed the Philips flat screen TV mounted on the wall. (Philips is a Dutch brand, in case you didn’t know.) It features the usual range of international channels — news, movies, cartoons — plus on-demand movies. The best part about the movies? They’re free, gratis, on the house!

Quick note on the movies: this being Amsterdam, they offer adult movies, as well. But there’s an option to block them the moment you open the movies menu.

The shower is just a few steps from the bed, covered with circular sliding doors. The shower only turns on when the doors are shut. Very clever and totally necessary.

And erm…yeah. It’s transparent glass all around the shower. Good thing there was that sheer curtain that can be pulled to give some semblance of privacy between the bed and the shower.

See those two large black bottles with pumps? They contain shower creams that double as the shampoo. They come in two fabulous scents — a fresh one for the ‘Day’ person and heady one for the ‘Night’ person. I liked the ‘Night’ version and was tempted to buy a bottle of it (about €15) but I didn’t relish the thought of the possibility of the stuff spilling all over my clothes in my bag. So I just had to forget about it.

The best part about the shower is the rain shower option. Turn the control knob to the water temperature of your choice and let the ‘rain’ fall down on your tired, hot and sticky head and torso…

Ahhh….Rain shower feels sooooo good! But if rain shower’s not your thing, don’t worry — you can always use the hand-held shower.

The toilet is also in a circular enclosure of its own and is, mercifully, done in frosted glass.

Yes, that’s the front door you see just behind it. That’s how small the room is. And how unnerving the design can be — imagine seeing the toilet the moment you first open the door!

Speaking of the front door, the safety deposit box is right beside it, under the clothes rail.

The TV, the air conditioning, the blinds and the mood lighting are all controlled by a tiny, nifty device called a mood pad.

You can pick the colour scheme of the room based on your intended activity…

…or theme.

It’s wireless and touchscreen controlled. It tends to get crazy though when the battery runs low, so place the mood pad back into the cradle to charge it whenever you’re not using it. And as with most electronic gadgets, when it starts to act up, it helps to turn it off and then restart. If that doesn’t work, feel free to call the front desk for assistance.

And for techies and gadget geeks like me, here’s something really cool — there’s something that looks like the surface of a CD with all the colours of the rainbow on the mood pad. Touch any portion of that colour wheel and you’ll find the colour of the lights on top of the shower and the toilet change accordingly. Just watch me drag my finger over the colour wheel and change the light’s colour in this mini-movie down here (click on the photo to see the YouTube clip):-

Awesome, right?? :D

The room is a veritable showcase of exciting, avantgarde Dutch design that demonstrate clever ways of maximizing every bit of space. For instance, check out the amenities shelf: it’s complete with theatrical lighting, international electrical outlets (so you won’t have to look for a plug adaptor) and hair dryer…

…and flips to reveal a full-length mirror behind it.

The sink, which is right beside the mirror, hides the mini garbage bin as well as some facial tissue and spare rolls of toilet paper.

Everything was a bit unnerving at first, but the design grew on me the longer I stayed in the room. (European hotels are usually small anyway.)

The hotel is very close to the RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre — a pleasant 10-minute walk through a park, to be more specific. I’ve also noticed a tram stop very near the hotel hence transport to other parts of the city shouldn’t be a problem.

There is also a CitizenM hotel at Schiphol Airport but I haven’t had the chance to check it out.

Click here to see CitizenM Amsterdam City’s official website and to check out the rates and/or make reservations.

And CitizenM people, if you are reading this, perhaps you can consider giving me a discount for my next stay in lieu of my free promotion of your hotel in my site? Hello? Hello?? Helloooooo……???

Tags: Amsterdam