"A quirky and artistic design hotel in the Eastern Docklands, with a patchwork of rooms all individually designed and priced."
The Lloyd Hotel was built in 1921 as a hostel for Eastern European immigrants en route to a new life in South America, but has been transformed into one of the most quirky and culturally rich of Amsterdam's boutique hotels by four of the city’s foremost creative minds.
Located in the up-and-coming Eastern Docklands, three stops from Central Station on tram number 26, the Lloyd Hotel is a cutting-edge alternative to the Golden Age grandeur usually associated with Amsterdam.
The facilities
Architects MVRDV carved huge sections from the roof of the main hall (which now houses restaurant Snel), flooding the interiors of the boutique hotel with light and adding mezzanines and spaces for exhibitions, meetings, concerts and creative brainstorming.
In fact, the whole focus of the Lloyd Hotel is creativity. Furniture by Holland’s top designers including Ineke Hans, Hella Jongerius and Richard Hutten grace the rooms and line the corridors where they are left for guests to borrow. The boutique hotel’s library was donated by world-famous art school the Rietveld Academie, and the in-house Cultural Embassy can procure tickets to concerts, plays and performances in town.
The rooms
Driven by a desire to offer guests accommodation to suit all budgets, the Lloyd’s creative committee came up with a novel idea that totally contravenes the conventions of a normal boutique hotel or luxury hotel. The 117 rooms range from one to five stars with room rates to match. At the bottom end of the scale there are shared bathrooms and simple rooms. Fold-away, modular, fibreglass bathrooms in primary colours are the hallmarks of those designated 2 and 3 stars. And the top two categories have cavernous spaces with extravagant features including grand pianos, museum-standard furniture and four-metre beds that sleep eight.
Star rating:
Address: Oostelijke Handelskade 34, 1019 BN Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rooms | suites: 116
View rooms
Address: Oostelijke Handelskade 34, 1019 BN Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rooms | suites: 116
Booking info
Arrival:
Thu 21 Aug 2008
Departure: Fri 22 Aug 2008
No. adults: 2
Departure: Fri 22 Aug 2008
No. adults: 2
Check Availability
Who stays here
The Lloyd is usually full to bursting with musicians, actors, performers and literary types who to perform in festivals and concerts, use the hotel's Cultural Embassy and revel in creative cameraderie.
Come for
- Dutch design, whacky rooms and a cultured crowd
- Room service is very reasonable and available 24 hours (but beware the EUR 7.50 service charge)
Not suitable for
- Visitors expecting snappy service, five-star amenities and a central location
Awards
"Hot List," Conde Nast 05
Children
Baby-sitting services can be provided on request.
Eating in
Snel has a wide range of dishes to suit every taste and pocket (rather like the hotel rooms). The fried vegetables and offally meat dishes are strictly for the adventurous but the oysters, French fries and simple sandwiches are divine and can be enjoyed from 7 a.m. till 1 a.m.
