Class: Budget
Style: Pod
Rooms: 230
Schiphol Airport
The M is for 'mobile', though it could just as easily be 'modern': everything about Citizen M, which opened at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport late last year, is futuristic. Factory-made modules were transported to the site by shipping container and stacked up like shoeboxes, so each room is identical and shipping-container-sized (14 square metres). Technophobes beware: there is no lobby, and guests check in via computer with a swipe card (just take one from the bowl). Hip architects Concrete have divided the ground floor with screens and shelving, creating a series of spaces in which to work, eat and lounge. If it resembles a Vitra furniture showroom, that's because it is. Citizen Ms collaboration with companies such as Vitra, Philips and Frette means everything is of the highest quality, while the price remains budget. The 230 bedrooms are small, with runway or flyover views, but they are strangely comforting: soundproof sleep-pods with big, inviting beds. Best of all are the Mood Pads with which you control your environment - temperature, lighting, music and movies. Swipe your card again, and it saves your settings. You can tailor your own, or choose from pre-programmed options such as 'Party' or 'Romantic' - though we challenge anyone to get romantic in a room with a loo at its centre (a frosted-glass door slides around to screen it from the bed, but still).
Winemaker
by Lidewij van Wilgen, on 2009-08-15 17:44:13
Stylometer
Instead of a sad chair & table in each room CitizenM restrained the rooms to a bear minimum to favour a very big and inviting public space on the ground floor. Good food 24/hours a day, big table with Apple computers & internet. However: at my visit it was so cold that people went out to warm up a bit. Room: Good materials and stylish, but maybe you should bring your teenage brother to really enjoy all the possibilities of the moodpad. Quite dominant, the system. Luckily you could get into the (comfortable) bed without pushing any buttons.