Loyalty Traveler

Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam City Hall opened in April 2018 in a location about 15 minutes walk east of Centraal Station. I wrote in January 2018 that I thought it unlikely the reward rate would remain priced at 20,000 points for very long. I booked the hotel in October 2018 at 20K per night for a January 2019 stay. The hotel is now priced at 35,000 points per night.

Seems like every year a different hotel becomes the best deal I find for Amsterdam. In 2016, Best Western Hotel Couture (rebranded) for $60 or 10,000 points was a real deal and Park Plaza Vondelpark offered rates under $75 per night in winter during promotion sales.

2017 and early 2018 our go to hotel was Ramada Apollo Amsterdam when it was 3,000 points + €62 for an Executive Panoramic View room. Since April 2018 Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam City Hall was the best deal in the city at 20,000 points. At its current 35,000 points price I would only stay here when prices are around €100, which knocks out most dates.

Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam City Hall

Lobby

Rooms

The hotel has 7 floors of guest rooms.

There are seven rooms on floors 2-6, nine rooms on the ground floor and 22 rooms on Floor 1. The hotel has an interesting layout with the main building at the entrance, a connecting hallway for building B at ground level and another canal side building C.

Room 50.01

We received an upgrade to one of the canal view rooms in the main building as seen in the first photo of this article. Most rooms in the main building face the street and do not offer a canal view Rooms 01 and 07 face the canal.

These beds and pillows were comfortable to us. Two USB ports and a plug outlet between beds.

The main complaint about the room is no refrigerator. Ice was available from the lobby bar to chill the room temperature beer we purchased at the supermarket.

In the photo above the Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam City Hall (light colored building) is seen from Peperbrug bridge. Our room 50.01 is the second window from the top in the building set back from the canal (open curtain in window on left).

Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam City Hall Breakfast

While breakfast included in the room rate is a welcome amenity for a stay at Holiday Inn Express, the breakfast buffet layout in a minimal space was a nightmare for guest congestion.

Just out of frame to the left is bar table seating meaning people have to line up to get coffee and get to the plates and utensils in a space only large enough for two people side-by-side.

Breakfast included cold cuts, cheese, breads, pastries, yogurt and some veggies. There was no hot food and no eggs, even though eggs were mentioned in the hotel breakfast description.

Fortunately there was a second coffee machine in the middle of the breakfast room to relieve some of the buffet area congestion.

There is also a lobby market for some items.

Albert Heijn Waterlooplein is a major supermarket less than 10 minutes walk from the hotel and a Spar market is even closer across the street from the hotel.

I love the location of Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam City Hall for its easy access to Waterlooplein, Rembrandt House, easy walk to Centraal Station and a great location for walks east into the historic Jewish quarter of Amsterdam with its museums and Artis, the city zoo.

At 35,000 points for a reward night I don’t know when I will return, but given a competitive room rate, I would definitely go back.