Iberia Business Class Between Chicago and Munich
The Kimpton DeWitt, Amsterdam
AIM: Our Time in Amsterdam
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center
The Radisson Blu 1919, Reykjavik
The Center Hotel Plaza, Reykjavik
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part I
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part II
AIM: Our Time in Iceland, Part III
The aloft Munich
AIM: Our Time at Dachau
AIM: Our Time in Munich
The Hilton Munich Airport
Shortly before we started looking for a hotel in Amsterdam, IHG (the parent company of Holiday Inn and Intercontinental, among others) acquired Kimpton Hotels. That worked out very well for us as the Kimpton DeWitt is in a perfect location for touristy things. It's practically across the street, er, canal in this case, from Centraal Station and the meeting points for the hop-on/hop-off buses and various canal tours. Behind the hotel was a long pedestrian street with loads of restaurants and shops. Despite being so close to so many things, noise was never an issue either inside or outside the hotel.
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Ground Floor
The hotel itself is understated from the outside but is very vibrant and stylish inside. While the common areas on the ground floor were mostly uncarpeted, the guest room hallways all had plush carpets which helped to hold down noise though we had to tug our wheeled suitcases a little harder as they didn't roll as well.The lobby has several different seating areas and a small stand that sells a limited number of items for breakfast. If you're a "coffee and danish" kind of breakfast-eater that might suffice but neither C nor I drink coffee and we wanted something a little more substantial so each morning we found a nearby café for our morning nosh.
In the lobby each evening they offer a free glass of wine for guests though we were out-and-about until after dinner each night so we never found out if there were other items available or not. Also on the ground floor are a bar and a restaurant.
Guest Room
Our room was on the second floor overlooking the street behind the hotel. As the elevator was on one side of the building we had to wind our way down a long hall and around a corner before reaching it. The room had a standard hotel room layout of a short entrance hall with a bathroom on one side and then then actual bedroom beyond that.
We had twin beds, each with their own nightstands and, thankfully, each with electric outlets.
Across from the beds was the combo desk/chest with the TV mounted on the wall above it. There were also several easily-accessible outlets which was nice. Since the bathroom was not huge we could sit here to dry our hair rather than having to monopolize the bathroom for that.
In the corner were a couple of lonely-looking pieces of (what looked like) patio furniture. If there had been a second chair it might not have looked quite as odd but the chair doesn't really look like a place you'd want to sit and relax.
Next to the bed closest to the door was this piece of furniture which we used for hanging clothes and where C placed her suitcase. I guess being a "boutique" hotel means you get oddly shaped rooms and the décor has to adjust accordingly.
Back in the little entrance hall, across from the bathroom, was this floor-to-ceiling cabinet with the mini-fridge and safe down below and shelves up above. In the middle was the Nespresso machine and coffee/tea makings.
The bathroom had an odd shape to it and the 3D Cube tilework made us dizzy at first, though we eventually got used to it. On the left was the sink and we first thought there wasn't much storage space but that ledge above it actually worked quite well for us.
The toilet was on the far wall, though as you can see, the wall comes forward a bit instead of letting the room be a rectangle.
Across from the sink was the shower/tub with the ridiculous 1/3rd glass partition. Normally this makes for a very wet bathroom but in this case there was a rainfall showerhead so at least the water sprayed down instead of toward the back of the tub.
The towels were nice and fluffy and the toiletries were by Marie-Stella-Maris. The products worked fine so I didn't really mind having the pumps - at least there were separate products for shampooing, conditioning and bathing. But if I had really been enamored of these products I would have been disappointed there were no small bottles to carry with me. (Though I hear these pumps are the wave of the future as they're more "green" than the small bottles.)
Gym
The hotel did have a small gym, down on the lower level. No windows but it was brightly lit.
Business Center
Across the hall from the gym was the business center, consisting of two desks with computers and a printer.
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