General Positioning:

The Radisson Blu in Amsterdam is an unrated hotel aligning with our assessment of a 4-star business hotel and aligns to the Radisson Blu brand which provides a multi-purpose venue for both leisure and meetings, and the décor and character support the meeting offer delivering a business hotel with nice touches and a genuinely personal, almost boutique feel.

Location:

The Radisson Blu is located in the very heart of the city, in a quiet street, adjacent to some of the small winding streets full of restaurants and boutiques that make the city famous. The city’s international airport is 30 minutes away by cab, or a 10-minute walk finds you to the central station with direct services, every 15-minutes, virtually into the check-in area of the Airport. 

Design:

In the historic centre, the Radisson Blu is located on a quiet side street next to one of the city’s famous canals. Part of the hotel including the restaurant, and bar, and the majority of bedrooms are on one side of the street and the conference center is housed in a former Paper Mill including further bedrooms located opposite. Both buildings are connected by an underground tunnel.

in the shell of a former Church. Internally, this architectural history is less obvious as the interior has been restyled to reflect a contemporary hotel. There are touches of this history still remaining with the 3 story townhouse style of the minister integrated into the atrium reception and providing a tangible yet still subtle hint as to the history of the space.

Restaurant

The De Palmboom restaurant is located at the front of the hotel with an open plan format for 130 persons with views of the lobby area. Originally a grocer’s shop this space can be described as stylish in design and provides a buffet breakfast, a la carte lunch, and dinner menus with buffet options for groups, the lower level of the restaurant can be used in a semi-private format for 62 persons.

Bedrooms:

The 252 rooms of the Radisson Blu are located in the two buildings of the hotel, with the Paper Mill, (the location of the meeting space) housing 67 rooms made up of business rooms (38) and standard deluxe (7), superior rooms (16), (3) suites and (3) junior suites.

The main building houses the remaining 185 rooms and include a stocked minibar, safe, tea and coffee-making facilities, a range of free-to-air TV channels, but no Pay TV, and access to the hotel’s free Wi-Fi. Décor follows a contemporary theme with a Dutch theme carefully interwoven but not dominating the overall design. A number of rooms are labelled as part of the Golden Age period, this delivers the core theme in all rooms, added to by individual pieces of furniture such as chairs unmistakably Dutch in design. Standard rooms are 20m2, superior 25m2 and business rooms 30m2. All rooms except the standard deluxe rooms (92) include a Nespresso machine, bathrobes, slippers, and walk-in showers. Views are generally of the streets surrounding the hotel, some rooms on the top floors have an attractive rooftop view. 

Meetings:

There are 6 meeting rooms, 9 when separated, and are located in the dedicated Paper Mill building with a tunnel between the two buildings. Styling is modern, and comfortable with a hint of a theme through the wallpaper depicting, (though not at first glance), the role the Netherlands has played in international trade, with star charts and references to those areas of the world with Dutch heritage. This is soft in style and mostly the meeting space continues the contemporary format of the main hotel.

The largest room the Wapen can accommodate 160 theatre style, and has a modest lobby for registration and tabletop displays, and provides access to all other floors.  The Batavia room labelled as the brain box room is positioned for strategic and out-of-box thinking.

Experience:

Due to its location and dedicated meeting building, the hotel regularly hosts meetings from the healthcare sector including advisory boards and investigator meetings.

Leisure:

There is a modestly sized fitness room in the Paper Mill building with a sauna. There are no pool or spa facilities.

The hotel is located close to but a walk from the bars, boutiques, and red light district of the city, these do not overpower the location.