Category: Netherlands

Something to say about life in The Netherlands

Something to say about Living in The Netherlands

When traveling I am in favor of primary city hopping and I usually try to get information about 4 distinctive areas of interest:

  1. How to travel from A to B? Like: by plane, train, car or by boat? (I hate buses).
  2. How is B looking? Maps, pictures and descriptions (what you usually look for in a paper guide)
  3. How are the people of B?
  4. Things to do in B? Bars, restaurants, theaters, musea, scenic parts

With respect to all areas it is very easy to get tons of information via the Internet except for question 3: “How are the people of B?”. The more I surf around, the more I believe the expat Blogging community is the community to revert to: They give you a wonderful insight in the idiosyncrasies of the people you will meet in B.

One example of what I mean with idiosyncrasies can be found in this post : 51 Tips: An irreverent guide to international travel behavior from the Los Angeles Times (via The Worldhum Travel Zeitgeist): a simple list of do’s and don’ts in various countries.

One of my aims with this Blog is to make foreigners more aware of how the Dutch are. Therefore, I like to introduce you to an expat living in The Hague: Jenn in Holland, living in The Hague, who describes her adventures sometimes in a hilarious way in her Blog Something to say about Life in The Netherlands. Enjoy reading.

Qbic Amsterdam: First guest reviews are in!

Qbic Hotelroom
Photo (or artist impression?) thanks to the Trip
Advisor review mentioned below.

I announced the Qbic Hip Hotels concept in a post in November last year.

Since the news of their belated opening I have been looking for guest reviews for Qbic Amsterdam.

Now they are out:

  • One on Tripadvisor:

    Wow!

    I paid €59 per night (all taxes included), and got to stay in a cool design hotel and sleep in a Hästens bed. That’s what I call a good deal.

    The room was really cool. A unit with the bed, and bathroom connected put into the space. And even the wallpaper included information on a local bar and store in the city. Really handy and smart.

    Really for me Qbic offers amazing quality and the best price in the market.

    t is not in the city center but in the World Trade Center. But with public transport it was easy to get into town. Just about 15mins…

    I am hooked. From here on I am at QBic whenever I go to Amsterdam…

    A solo traveler from Barcelona, age 25-34

  • Six on the site of Booking.com. They publish them as soon as they have six reviews to prevent biased outcomes…therefor we had to wait. It also appears from the reviews that for guests they opened July 4.

    1 Guest score: 7 out of 10

    + Very clean and modern rooms, and extremely comfortable bed. Helpful staff aided check-in process and switching of rooms when problems discovered. Soothing and comfortable shower with huge overhead spigot in addition to hand held spigot.

    – Wireless Internet didn’t work in first room tried. No hooks for towels in bathroom. Some rooms have no windows. Televisions mounted on walls at such an angle as to make in-bed viewing impossible due to screen glare. Water from bathroom tap had slight rubbery taste. Travelling between hotel floors uses same elevators as the rest of WTC visitors. Room climate subject to settings of entire building; no per-room control.

    Anonymous (Solo traveler) from Netherlands – July 12, 2007
    2 Guest score: 9 out of 10

    + a very hip and trendy hotel, god value and the beds sleep excellent

    Enid (With friends) from terheijden, Netherlands – July 7, 2007

    3 Guest score: 9.5 out of 10

    + excellent value for the quality

    – since it was opened for only two days there were some unfinished details that need to be polished.

    Heath (Young couple) from Durango, USA – July 6, 2007

    4 Guest score: 8 out of 10
    + Dee Einrichtung und die tollen Lichter (interior and fancy lighting)

    – Es gab Dusche/WC im Zimmer aber ohne Vorhang/Türe oder irgendwas vor dem WC… (Nur kleines Wändchen wegen dem Wasser/Duschen) (No doors or curtains in front of the WC/shower stall only a tiny provision against shower splatter)

    Christine (With friends) from Liestal, Switzerland – July 19, 2007

    5 Guest score: 10 out of 10

    + Dat je midden in de nacht kan inchecken (possible to check in in the midst of the night)

    – Het ontbijt was goed alleen weinig keuze voor op brood (small choice of things for on your bread)

    Henny (With friends) from Heerenveen, Netherlands – July 10, 2007

    6 Guest score: 8 out of 10

    Wico (Young couple) from sambeek, Netherlands – July 9, 2007

This is not bad, not bad at all! I congratulate Qbic with this success, especially as it looks as if Qbic is sold out continuously.

Dutch Prime Minister, Mayors of Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam: Attention please! (America’s Cup post # 15)

https://happyhotelier.com/wp-content/uploads/Americas-Cup.jpg
The 32nd America’s Cup match has ended in a most spectacular victory for Swiss Team Alinghi. This means that the 33rd America’s Cup Match will be held in a European city somewhere in 2009, 2010 or 2011. Valencia is a likely city of venue again, as it has been a 100% success for both parties.

Here I have some facts for you from the official America’s Cup site:

The 32nd America’s Cup in concept and figures:

Spectator attendance

  • Total visitors (including Marseille, Malmoe, Trapani and Valencia): 6.4 million
  • Port America’s Cup: 5.7 million
  • Season 2007 (Louis Vuitton Act 13, Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup Match): 2.8 million
  • One-day record of visitors to Port America’s Cup: 87.547 (Sunday 1 July 2007)

Internet www.americascup.com

  • Visits: 22 million (total since September 2004)
    2007 season: 16.6 million (since April 1st)
    America’s Cup Match: 3.4 million
  • Page views: 105 million (total since September 2004)
    2007 season: 70 million
    AC Match: 13.4 million
  • One-day records:
    Page views: 2 156 222 (26 June)
    Visits: 518 612 (3 July)
    Unique visitors: 337 894 (3 July)
  • Newsletter Subscribers: 40 000

TV (provisional data)

  • Viewers: over 4 000 million (total since 2004)
    2007 season: over 2 700 million
    Broadcast hours: over 4 500 hours (total since 2004)
    2007 season: over 2 500 hours
  • Networks: over 100
    Rights Holders: 36
  • Countries reached: over 150
  • Production: 400 hours and over 33 cameras

Media

  • Press articles: over 100 000
  • Accreditations: over 6 700 (total since 2004)
    2007 season: 3 200
    America’s Cup Match: 1 460
  • Written press: 371
  • Photographers: 183
  • Radio: 49
  • Internet: 30
  • Television: 227 journalists and producers + 600 technical personnel
  • Countries represented: 40
  • Publications: over 600
  • Press releases issued: 1 040 (in four languages)
  • Press conferences organised: 75

Port America’s Cup

  • 1 million square meter development including the Marinas with nearly 650 berths and 12 team bases
  • Spectator boat service: up to 12 boats every racing day with around 1 300 spectators on board
  • Spectator boats: 2 000 boats on the race course (final weekend 30 June-1 July 2007)
  • Marinas occupation: over 1 000 boats (2007 season)
  • One-day record: 450 boats
  • Total number of nights sold: 25.000

If you are not bidding already to become the city of venue, please prepare a bid to be one of the cities on the way to the match itself.

  • Amsterdam has a marina in IJmuiden with enough space in place.
  • The Hague is contemplating what to do with its abandoned harbor front. This could be an excellent boost for the area.
  • Rotterdam has a proven track record with the 2006 Rotterdam Stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race with an in shore race in the historically important waters of the Battle of Ter Heide.

So, please mr. Dutch Prime Minister and Mayors of Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam: I know none of you have much with sailing, let it be sailing races, but please let the world see the Dutch can rule the waves again! Please take this excellent opportunity to promote one of more of these cities (preferably The Hague of course!). But also please act together and not against each other as you did with the plans for the new Dutch National Historic Museum!

And of course I personally would love to have such a venue in my backyard in The Hague:-)

Added July 20, 2007:
I saw in an article in a local paper that at least one political party in the Board of the The Hague City Counsel has the same idea.

Last edited by Happy Hotelier on February 8, 2010 at 10:58 am [wile waiting for AC33 to start]

Zwolle: First Sandton Pillows 5* Hotel to open 1st August 2007

Pillows Front
Hotel Pillows Front (artist impression)
Pillows Suite
Hotel Pillows Suite

Thanks to Tourpress I know that small independent Dutch hotel group Sandton will open its first Pillows 5* Hotel with 44 rooms in Zwolle, The Netherlands, on August 1, 2007.

A first, because Sandton has announced a second Pillows hotel for 2008 in Amsterdam and considers more hotels with the Pillows concept.

I announced this hotel in June last year.

Rotterdam: A Small Hotel…in a big city

Today someone told me that yesterday, June 20, 2007, A Small Hotel, 6 rooms only, opened its doors.

More to follow.