SHERATON AMSTERDAM AIRPORT

Location:
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport is situated not only at, but even directly IN Amsterdam’s airport “Schipol”. Further long, it is the only five star hotel which is directly accessible from the arrival & departure terminals by an enclosed walkway. This means that when you come from the train station or the baggage hall, it just takes you less than five minutes to enter the lobby.

Hotel:
The Sheraton provides what you would expect from a five star hotel, what service and comfort concerns. The cosy, colourful design, brightened up by some modern elements through out the Sheraton (except the rooms, I’ll come to that later), creates a warm atmosphere.

The hotel was opened in the September of 1998 and normally gets renovated every five years. Even these days, they’re redecorating the 8th floor, which further means that the club lounge is closed at the moment. In the summer, the banqueting will be ferried over (new floors, chairs, equipment), and currently, all rooms are enriched with the “Sheraton Sweet Sleepers Bed”.

The customer service, unobtrusively provided by the receptionists, is good. The staff was polite, acted skilled and stuck to the most necessary to ask the guests, although we missed the friendliness and the personal touch which would make you feel being treaten like a person, not just a guest. However, perhaps it was the relaxed way we approached them in which they’re don’t encounter very often as it seemed, that they turned really kind, but stayed polite, and showed a very good and enjoyable humour.
The staff will always keep their distance, not to disturb the guest. Some consider this as impersonal – but what the Sheraton provides is an “invisible service.”

Airlines, who have to cope with stranded passengers at the airport, often send them to the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport, where they are perfectly taken care of. The hotel therefore provides as many rooms as available, spoils them with dinner, breakfast and beverages, which they always keep in reserve for such cases. Japanese Airlines, worldwide respected and well known as one of the few airlines which ensure customers’ satisfaction, send all of their passengers to the Sheraton – because they want absolutely the best for their customers. KLM or Malaysian Airlines, for instance, separate economy from business and first class pax, which further means that those from higher classes get accommodated at the Sheraton, others at the Ibis near the airport for example.

Restaurants:
The Sheraton offers one restaurant and three bars, from which each one is helt in a different main colour, done for separation.
The “Runway Café / Runway Lounge” is a dutch café with an informal ambiance which has a Take Away service corner for a coffee or a refreshment (which normally is bought at the Plaza, the middle of Schipol), on your way to the airport or the meeting. This 80 seats café is the only one which is also open to the terminal walkway. Apart from that, it also has a sports bar where, for example, soccer plays are shown on big screens.
A special lounge, called “Colombus & Marco Polo”, is used as an elegant meeting or dining room.

"Runway Café / Runway Lounge"	"Colombus & Marco Polo"

The “Boomerang Bar” is the main bar and the meeting point of the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport. This elegant, cosy bar serves you with exotic cocktails, tapas-style snacks, live entertainment and even an open fireplace. This bar is also said to be the quietest place in the hotel, which often lets guests take their coffee there and afterwards have breakfast at the adjoining “Voyager Restaurant”.
The “Cascade Foyer”, overlooking an impressive waterfall in the 30-meter high atrium, is used as an open “meeting-lounge” for special groups.

"Boomerang Bar"	"Boomerang Bar"

The “Voyager Restaurant” is an all day restaurant, offering hot and cold seasonal buffets for breakfast, lunch and “dinner under stars”. The 100 seats capacity for a total of 408 rooms of the Sheraton isn’t enough, but they still manage to handle their guests. Every month, the menu changes, and alternatively, you can choose from their “à la carte” international cuisine, which not only features the modern kitchen but also a bit of the elegant, old school.

RATES: 4 course buffet 39,50 EUR, salad and soup buffet 15,00 EUR, Main course of your choice 27,50 EUR, dessert buffet 15,00 EUR

Breakfast:
The extensive breakfast buffet is served at the Voyager Restaurant and is charged with 25 EUR, which we found to be a slightly over the top for what they provide. The buffet is placed in a separate room and is well presented in a modern ambience. Overall said, the breakfast turned out to be very good and also offered a fish buffet and delicious pastries, although generally the variation and the selection weren’t that exciting. The pineapples were cut into too big pieces, and the strawberries still contained their stalks which made it a bit laboured to finally add them in a fruit muesli. The service was attentive and discreet though.

The pleasing design is modern and open, and also features an avant-garde, relaxing architecture – conscious separations of the restaurant and carefully placed sculptures, such as a lightened world globe under a starry sky dome. “Yorin”, a dutch TV channel, filmed on the first day of their broadcast in front of this globe, as well as Wendy van Dijk (tv presenter), who chose the same location for one of her programs.

Rooms:
The hotel contains a total of 408 rooms and suites, located in two eight-floor towers – one offers a view to the south of Schipol, the other one faces the airport’s surroundings.
The Sheraton has (only) two smoking floors, because the tendency of smoking, as we were told, has changed in the last few years, from a levelled-out number on both sides to 15% smokers and 85% non-smokers. W-LAN as well as cable-internet is also available throughout the hotel. The connection, for which you’ll have to pay, is provided by T-Mobile – whose biggest customer, after McDonald’s , is the Starwood Group.

Deluxe Room 152:
The sound proofed Deluxe Room in the first floor was very quiet and offered a nice view through a floor to ceiling window at the entry hall and the tower of Schipol airport. The interior was held in a slightly dark style, characterised by black and dark-red wood, dark blue stripped wallpapers, a soft-brown, black dotted carpet, a dark blue painted wall, grey-dark blue curtains and many spots and lamps which gave the room a luxurious touch. Although, from our point of view, we would rather describe this as a “cold, too impersonal and unattractive luxury”.

As used to from other Sheratons, the room provided a lot of extra amenities, such as three telephones, a relaxation chair, a working desk, a mirrored and foldable closet in which the light gets turned on automatically as well as magazines and, what I appreciated, a special book about Amsterdam.

However, the air conditioning couldn’t be fully turned off, so a constantly rushing ventilation accompanied our sleep. Apart from that, the whole furniture was already frayed around the edges – chipped chairs, a soaked lamp, splashed walls and a totally dirty, sticky relaxation chair, to outline a few drawbacks. An attentive and accurate house keeping wouldn’t have failed to notice that. For a 360 EUR room, we were a bit disappointed for not finding at least water bottles upon arrival. The prices for the well-filled minibar were exaggerated.
All rooms of the Sheraton are equipped with the “Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Beds” which, according to the information sheets, were produced under special conditions to assure you totally comfort and relaxation during the night. Honestly, I’ve never slept so terrible – I woke up at least every half hour, although I felt very tired. In the next morning, I stoop up totally shattered and overtired.

Even though the bathroom made a rather small impression, it turned out to be quite spacious. It had a large washbasin and a separate shower and bath. The luxurious bathroom was planned in detail – the amenities were placed in a well thought out way. However, there was always a cold draught on the floor, the temperature of the shower wasn’t that easily adjustable and the hair drier was not only fussily to use, but also just blew cold air.

To put it into a nutshell, the spacious room was well fitted and offered a lot of amenities and services. But it lacked of a warm and cosy appearance and thus had a cold, impersonal atmosphere on me. That some parts had their faults was unnecessary and maybe a bit thick.

Club room 746:
This room is located at the 7th floor. The Club floor rooms are also for SPG’s (Starwood Preferred Guests) and are based on Deluxe Rooms which are situated in the upper levels. Additionally, they offer more amenities and extra services, such as Stroopwafels and a daily refilled bottle of free water as well as a complimentary breakfast at the Club Lounge. Till now, such a breakfast was always smaller than the one provided at the restaurant. In the near future, the hotel intends to change that though, and beside the normal buffet also offer warm and cold buffets in addition.

Suite 556:
This two-room-suite is situated on the 5th floor, and is mainly used by SPG’s who receive an upgrade, vice-presidents and CEOs, VIPs of big companies and, for example, also the Dutch soccer team which plays abroad, come back, have a stay at the the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport and finally leave for another game the next day.

Living room of Suite 556

RATES for single use: Deluxe – 380 EUR, Club Room* - 430 EUR, Suite* - 755 EUR, Royal Suite* - 955 EUR; * - breakfast in the Club Lounge included. Club Rooms are situated in the top floors.

Facilities:
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport hosts a new “Inshape with Sheraton” Fitness & Health Centre which was opened at the 1st May 2005 and is still running as a pilot project. The fitness centre is free to use for hotel guests and can also be accessed by members. In the evenings, an instructor will assist you with your training program, massages are offered on appointment.
Before the renovation, the hotel even had a swimming pool, but it wasn’t used too much. After a survey, it came out that guests long for fitness or just relaxation, that’s why they replaced it with a sauna, a Turkish steam bath and a relaxation area, where people can rest and clear their minds which is known, especially under business travellers, as an important matter. A great view at Schipol airport and even free wellness tea will surely spoil you.

Meeting facilities:
As already outlined, some parts, including some meetings rooms at the “Business Center”, get renovated or even rebuilt, which means that the hotel is currently going from one project into another one. Anyway, a large function room of 420sqm can be divided in three sections from the size of 140sqm each. A pre-function area of 135sqm and a foyer of 318sqm are available as well. The meeting rooms can accommodate two up to 555 persons in theatre style. Fully equipped smart meeting rooms and private rooms are located at the Business Center on the second floor where you’ll also meet your dedicated “Conference Concierge” who will assist you with reconfirmation of flights, general information and all other issues related to meeting needs.
The totally noise-proofed private room “London” offers state-of-the art equipment and costs around 2.500 EUR. If you want to hold a secret meeting – that’s where you can do it.

Universe meeting room	Private room "London"

Overall:
For a quick overnight stay at the airport, to catch your connecting flight the next morning, as well as to hold meetings, we can highly recommend the Sheraton Airport Amsterdam.

Rating:
Hotel: 4/5
Location: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Facilities: 5/5
Room: 3/5
Food: 5/5
Overall: 4,5/5

Pictures by Marco 't Hart and MW
Text by MW


Schiphol Boulevard 101 Amsterdam 1118BG Niederlande
Telefon (31) (20) 316 4300 Fax (31) (20) 316 4399
website