I recently found myself on an extra night layover in the Netherlands, and while I usually stay put at the Manhattan Hotel, Rotterdam, in this case, I decided to head to a hotel closer to the airport, since I had a very early morning flight to catch and I wasn’t sure if the railway service would be up and running at that hour. The choice boiled down to Hyatt Place since the Sheraton across the airport was quoting at 269 Euros that night, and that is expensive just to sleep a few hours.
To get to Schipol Airport from Rotterdam Central, I used the train since the distances are large enough for a Euro 100 cab ride at least, and that is a lot of money for commute. My thought process was that I could take the hotel shuttle from the airport to the Hyatt Place Hotel, which is 5 kilometres away from the airport. The shuttle picks up passengers from the end of the Schipol Plaza, near the Starbucks, and frequents every 30 minutes or so.
On the day I was checking in, there seemed to be a KLM flight cancellation, and all the passengers on that flight were accommodated at this hotel. Hence, the driver of the shuttle bus seemed pissed, and he did indeed have to act firm (and rude!) to get a few people off the bus when he was going to take them to the hotel.
The hotel is in the middle of a town, however, there is nothing next door. To get a meal outside the hotel, you would have to walk to a McDonalds few blocks down. It is a red brick building, and very fresh and new since the hotel only came up about six months ago at best. I could not click any pictures on the outside. When I arrived at the hotel, it seemed the cancelled flight folks had already made it before me, and there was a crowd at check-in. I waited a while for it to clear, before I was attended to, and the host, as they are called at Hyatt Places, quickly informed me about breakfast and had me on my way.
I was assigned a high-floor room, and no upgrades were given as a Hyatt Gold Member. I was on my way in no time. One refreshing thing I noticed about the hotel, apart from the brand new paint smell, was how it was colourful and roomy in the public areas as well.
The lobby has lots of seating space, in various permutations and combinations, and two computers with printers, and a print from your room service at the lobby. Also, there is no dearth of power plugs around in this lobby.
The public areas on various floors also are done up pretty well.
My room was the Hyatt Place King room, the one I booked, and did not look like the pictures they put up on the website. But it was spacious, and good enough for one person to sleep comfortably during the night. There was a big couch along with the bed, and a big 42” TV, which I did not see the purpose of being there, because airport hotels are not usually vacation spots for most people who stay there.
The best part about the hotel, was the ample number of plug points, not just in the lobby area, but in the room as well. They were all over the place, including the bed posts, the work desk and so on.
The worst part of the hotel was the internet connection. They use Swissport for their internet service provision, and these ones don’t work on an iPhone for whatever reason.
The view from the hotel was nothing to write home about for me. I thought this being an Airport hotel I could see some take-offs and landings, however that was not to be.
The bath had the standard amenities, and a shower with just one shower head. Pretty large for an airport hotel, but that is about it.
For eating inside the hotel, there is a large gallery restaurant, which I did not try that night because I was going to be meeting Tim from Points to be Made at the airport (another shuttle ride with the grumpy man!). The same restaurant serves breakfast in the morning, which is always included in the price of the room. I was gone at about 530 AM, however, this FlyerTalk thread shares that the breakfast is a good spread around there. You could also purchase food from the deli/pantry located in the lobby itself.
I thought they could do much better with the shuttle frequency and organisation, because on the way back to the hotel from the airport the second time over after dinner with Tim, I had to let go one shuttle and the next one only came quite a while later. Also, while other hotels use the shuttle bus stop right outside Schipol Plaza, these folks use a separate area which is confusing for everyone who did not bother to read their website.
My sleep was comfortable for a one night stay, and the next morning, I was on my way from the hotel early in the morning. One thing I did not realise was that their shuttle service only starts at 0600 hours, so my options at 530 AM were either to take public conveyance, which I wasn’t sure of, or cabbing it to the airport. Guess what I did? Anyhow, shuttle service timed to match the first departures of the day would be great from my perspective.
Overall, a decent location and place, but discomfort for those with an early morning flight. I’d come back here if the price was right. I paid Euro 124 plus taxes for this stay.
Related Post:
Join over 3600 people who check-in daily to find out about the best in travel.
Free emails (once-a-day) | RSS Feeds | Facebook Updates | Twitter | Instagram
Hi Ajay, I had issue with connecting iphone in Radisson Blu Scandinavia Copenhagen. When I called they connected me to swissport customer care. They first ask the hotel name (it was shared service yet it was funny to be asked:). They asked for the IP address and did something instantly to make it work. Seeing you experience, looks like a global issue!