Lloyd Hotel

Hotel description

There’s more to Amsterdam than hostels and canal houses, to be sure. And with Dutch design all the rage, it’s odd that something like the Lloyd Hotel hasn’t been attempted before. From the outside it’s anything but a design statement, a century-old former prison, a listed historic monument that looks all the more out of place surrounded by the brand-new bold and colorful buildings of the Eastern Docklands.

As with any hotel, though, it’s what’s inside that counts, and the Lloyd’s interiors are a tour de force of modern Dutch design. Rooms vary widely according to designer and according to type, from the modest and budget-minded to the whimsically over-the-top. The majority tend toward the modest end: “one-star” rooms are small, stylish, almost cell-like, with harbor views, shared baths and, in true modern Amsterdam style, every inch of space used ingeniously. Two- and three-star rooms are slightly larger and more traditional, with private bathrooms, and four-stars are spacious and airy, some with more impressive views. Expect furnishings designed by top Dutch artists like Hella Jongerius, and touches of mad genius, like a shower in the center of the bedroom or behind a closet door. And the five-star rooms are so excessive as to be almost absurd — one with a bed that sleeps, in theory, eight (ostensibly for traveling rock bands with entourage), another with a concert piano, and still another with a bathroom made of polystyrene.

There’s a concept to the madness as well; that of Cultural Embassy. The idea is that starving artists and aspiring creatives can afford the more modest rooms, while mixing in the public spaces with the big movers and arts patrons who travel five-star. There are two restaurants for meeting minds, the sprawling and airy canteen, Snel (fast), and the more formal fine-dining Sloom (slow). Modular meeting and exhibition spaces abound, and there’s a decided lack of middlebrow hotel art on the walls—you’re supposed to hang your own paintings.

The Eastern Docklands may not be the typical Amsterdam tourist’s first stop, but the Lloyd is just ten minutes from the city center, and architecture freaks will appreciate the neighborhood. Traditionalists may not go in for the social experiment, but this hotel can’t help but impress. Just be sure and read the room description before you book.