May 20, 2009

The worst hotel in Amsterdam publishes book

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:25 am
brinker1

Hotels in Amsterdam literally come in all shapes and sizes, from villas to houseboats. More often than not, they are already booked, overpriced (just compared them to Brussels and even Paris) and I’m sorry to say, do not have the friendliest service in Europe.

Instead of trying to fool people with fancy words like many hotels do, the Hans Brinker Hotel in Amsterdam just tells it like it is: they are the worst. They have even turned this fact into an English book, which you can buy from Amazon.co.uk. Apparently, it’s only in English and aimed at the British market, surely a substantial amount of their business. At 25 euro (!) a night, I’m not surprised.

So basically, if you’ve checked into the worst hotel in town, you can’t complain afterwards. And according to the NRC newspaper, if you plan to get very drunk, you can ask to have your arm stamped with a map showing the location of the hotel and the words: “Please return me to the Hans Brinker.”

If that’s not service, I don’t know what is!

(Link: nrc.nl, images: Hans Brinker hotel )

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September 18, 2008

Urinal lift on a terrace kills business

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 8:55 am
Urilift

City hotel Queens in Amersfoort has a serious problem that is basically killing their business. The city council decided to place a urinal, albeit a nifty one that rises above ground at 10 pm, right on their terrace. Can you picture taking a leak while people are having a drink on a terrace watching you? Would you want to be watching while having your drink? Ickeepoo. Well, other people don’t want to either, and so the hotel owner is pissed (pun intended).

After having spent hundreds of thousands buying and renovating an old building on the popular Groenenmarkt, the city council chose her outdoor terrace as the place for the urinal. And according to the owner, Paula Brouwer, the day before she was to receive the terrace permit, there was talk of a urinal, and her permit has been tied up in red tape ever since.

The city council came up with a deal: we’ll give you the permit, but you have to close your terrace at 10 pm. All the other terraces are allowed to stay open until 1 am, so imagine how much business she’d be losing. She has refused and has lawyered up. Why does this have a maffia feel to it? It’s also proof positive the city screwed up.

(Link: ad.nl, photo: urilift)

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January 10, 2008

25 years of wine barrels as hotel rooms

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 9:30 am

The Vrouwe van Stavoren hotel in Stavoren, Friesland, has been offering Swiss wine barrels as hotel rooms for the past 25 years. The barrels with a volume of 14,500 litres are furnished with two single beds, a small living room with TV, and a bathroom with a shower and a toilet. They are located on the porch of the main hotel. Owner Bauke Kolk copied the idea from a foreign hotel. It has been so successful that there’s an actual waiting list for those who want to stay in one of the barrels.

Good news for the hobbit wannabees among us though: Kolk has bought 8 more barrels, French ones from the château Corcelles that were used to store Beaujolais. These will have room for a double bed; Kolk believes that these are more suited to young couples. The French barrels are currently located at a carpenter’s in Stavoren, where they are presumably being made rock-proof.

The hotel is named after a legend (Aarne-Thompson index 736A) that explains the decline of the once proud city of Stavoren into a mere village (though the real reason is really more prosaic).

Via Zibb (Dutch).

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January 1, 2008

Smoking ban kicks in on 1 January prematurely

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 8:30 am
smoking1.jpg

After all the whining and complaining about banning smoking in Dutch establishments in the media (you can still see people being interviewed smoke on TV), some 70% of hotels, restaurants and cafes plan to ban smoking in their establishments on 1 January 2008. This is surprising since the actual ban is set for 1 July 2008. According to a spokesperson of the Royal Dutch catering and hospitality organisation, implementing the ban on 1 January has psychological reasons. “Many people start their resolutions on New Year’s Day, which often includes giving up smoking.” In fact, about three quarters of Dutch hotels have had smoking bans since 2006.

And then there’s the discussion about an exception to the ban for ‘coffeeshops’, which in Dutch refers to cafes that sell weed and hasch, since the whole point is to go there and smoke.

Tell us what you think. And Happy New Year!

(Link: fok.nl)

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November 23, 2007

International award for Dutch hotel concept

Filed under: Architecture,Gadgets by Orangemaster @ 4:45 pm

[Top-to-bottom visualisation of a hotel room]

CitizenM, the hotel room chain with everything in it, has already won an international prize in Paris for Most Innovative Concept. Just one week after the introduction of the new hotel concept and way before any Dutch branch was opened, the Dutch hotel chain beat 21 competitors for this prize.

A second branch of the hotel will be opened next summer on Amsterdam’s Beethovenstraat, South of town. London, Berlin and Milan wil also get their hotels.

(Link: bizz.nl)

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October 31, 2007

Tiny portably, modular, “luxury” hotel room

Filed under: Architecture,Gadgets by Branko Collin @ 10:00 am

[Top-to-bottom visualisation of a hotel room]

This hotel room may look small, but it has everything the weary conference goer may need to relax. According to its maker, Philips: flat screen TV, free movies, free wifi and coloured mood lighting. CitizenM, started by Mexx founder Ratten Chadha’s son Robin, will exploit a hotel based on a number of these plug-n-play rooms near Schiphol airport. Plug-n-play refers to the room itself; each room is a module that can be plugged in and out of the hotel in presumably a matter of seconds, as only four cables need to be connected—or jacked in, as they will say in the future.

Say, here’s a revolutionary idea! Why not jack in the person, instead of the room?

(Via Geen Commentaar (Dutch) and Engadget.)

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September 6, 2007

Five-star dog hotel to open

Filed under: Animals,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 10:03 am
rich1.jpg

Gilze-Rijen, Noord-Brabant has a Dutch first in their midst: the first dog resort of Europe. Owners can leave they holiday guilt at the door instead of their family pet, according to Dutch paper De Telegraaf. The dogs get their own room and much space, and can use the pool and the doggy park.

Hotel owner Ad van der Valk (our Dutch Hilton man) took this initiative together with a group of entrepreneurs who experience this guilt with their furry friends. The luxury dog resort represents an investment of about EUR 3,5 million.

(Link: zibb)

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June 8, 2007

World premiere: book a night in an Airstream

Filed under: Automobiles,Design,Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 4:51 pm
Airstream

Camp Silver is a new campsite right in the middle of the Dutch island of Texel. It combines the outdoors with the service of a luxury hotel. Picture eight silver Airstream caravans, brought over from the United States and specially designed for Camp Silver by Christopher Deam of San Francisco together with Airstream. The inside features designs and materials by designers such as Charles & Ray Eames and Frette. The big dome tent in the middle of the campsite acts as a lounge and breakfast place. Speaking of breakfast, they strive to make it with local and island biological products. Retro futuristic cool!

(Link: persberichten.nl)

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March 27, 2007

Four star hotel for alcoholics

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 7:13 pm

The town of Oirschot in the province of Noord Brabant will open the very first four star resort for alcoholics. The hotel, which will be called RoderSana, is scheduled to open in May. According to interim director Van der Meer, regular care facilities are full of drug addicts and there is no room for alcoholics. Moreover, he says that treating alcoholics is totally different than treating drug addicts. This will be the first facility in The Netherlands dedicated to kicking the drinking habit, as alcholics usually have to be treated outside the country.

(Link: fok.nl)

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March 10, 2007

Spend the night in a rescue pod

Filed under: Design,Dutch first by Branko Collin @ 4:49 am

[photo of two rescue pods]Denis Oudendijk, who makes art out of garbage, will let you stay at his Capsulehotel which consists of a number of discarded 1972 rescue pods. You will be a live work of art! A night in the luxury capsule, dubbed Bond Meets Barbarella, will set you back 150 euro, and contains amongst others two sheep skins, a martini bar and a DVD player with all Bond movies. Students get a hefty discount.

Oudendijk sees this project as a way to let people get to know his world.

(Via: :)= Esc.)

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