2022.12 German Christmas Markets (Part 13)

2022.12 German Christmas Markets (Part 13) – HIlton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Upon arrival at the hotel, my plan to return the rental car to Dusseldorf and take the train back to Schiphol disappeared. She was happy to not be in a car however balked at my attempt to leave her at the hotel for several hours while I drove and took a train. After a call with the rental car agency, I was able to return the vehicle to their airport location at Schiphol, and gave me extra time to enjoy the hotel before our flight the next morning.

Location

This hotel is directly connected to Schiphol airport and plaza via a covered walkway. The walkway will take you past the Sheraton airport hotel, a few office buildings, and Schiphol’s large parking garage. This is the view of the entrance when you reach the end of the enclosed walkway.

If you are arriving by vehicle, watch-out for an exit on the left side of the road after you exit the highway. The exit is signed for a few buildings including the hotel. From the exit you can see the hotel entrance and it’s a quick two turns to get to the driveway of the hotel. Even though the hotel seems focused on guests from the airport, check-in in on the main level, down one from the walkway to Schiphol.

The design of the hotel is impressive. The interior is open throughout, with all floors providing a birds-eye view down to the check-in desk, along with the lobby bar.

Check-in was quick as we arrived with one other person waiting to get their room card. We lucked out and were upgraded to an executive room, that granted us access to the executive lounge. Executive rooms are on the top two floors, with the executive lounge being on the lower level of the two. The hotel has a combination of interior and exterior facing rooms, and we got an exterior facing room facing a portion of the airport.

Executive Room

The lobby lighting does not last once you exit the elevators and start walking down the corridor. When exiting the elevator it’s technically impossible to go the wrong way as the hallway is circular and take you on a lap of the floor.

Once we found our room, the layout of the room was as expected, with the bathroom immediately off to the side upon entering. The closet and mini-bar/kettle/Nespresso area were the next sets of doors.

Initially she didn’t notice the handle to open the area that contained the mini-bar, cups, glasses, as it’s rare that a curved piece is a door.

Inside the closet was extra bedding, safe, ironing board and iron.

The bathroom was functional with lots of counter space, and a large walk-in shower.

Toiletries were Crabtree and Evelyn brand in large containers affixed to the wall by the sink and in the shower. The bathroom had three things of note — the door to the bathroom was heavy (being glass), and it didn’t stay fully open as it would slowly close every time. The second, is that there is patterned glass in the shower area in which the light spills towards the bed on the other side of the wall. If one is light sensitive while sleeping, and the other gets up in the night one might wake up the other. We didn’t have this issue as she wasn’t 100% and slept soundly for almost all our time at the hotel. The third and final item, is that the door to the shower is good, however wasn’t a perfect seal, so a bit of water did get out of the shower, however it was nothing compared to the pools of water that formed during our stays in any of the Hampton hotels.

The diamond design of the building is evident with exterior facing rooms as instead of one or two large windows, they are diamond shaped. We had a good view of the airport from our room. The bed was comfortable — it seems that the higher the brand within a chain, the softer and more plush is the bed and bedding. We didn’t spend much time sitting in either of the chairs.

Executive Lounge

I headed to the executive lounge to not disturb Little Miss while she tried to sleep, and grab a snack. Our driving day was filled with quick serve food and I was hoping for something that wasn’t prepared in or beside a deep fryer. The lounge opens at 2pm and closes at 10pm. No breakfast is available due to its opening hours. Entrance to the lounge is through your room key. Once inside off to the right is a counter for Hilton staff (it wasn’t occupied when I visited), and immediately to the left was the food and beverage area. Complimentary evening snacks and alcoholic drinks are available 6-8pm.

I arrived near the end of this service and grabbed a few items. Two of the hot items were already empty and the employee working in the area joked “That was too popular tonight, you should have visited earlier. It’s one of our most popular items.” There was fruit, nuts, candy, along with fruit salad, and two other types of salad along with a cheese board available to eat.

For drinks, it was completely self serve with a handful of hard liquor, wine and beer for alcoholic options. Coffee, tea, water, and soft drinks were also available.

I grabbed a selection of items to have as my evening snack. I found wifi in the lounge to be fine on my smartphone during my stay. It connected without issue.

The lounge is one large room with couches and club chairs further into the lounge where the TV was located. Given that the lounge was fairly busy, and the majority of speaking guests were American (unless I’m incorrect and following US college football is popular outside of the USA 😉 ), I didn’t get pictures of that space, however if one turns right after entering there is a smaller area, away from the rest of the lounge. If you continue walking the washrooms are located right before the staff area for the lounge.

Breakfast

With the lounge closed until the early afternoon, we headed down to the lobby level where breakfast was available. We were seated quickly and there is plenty of seating. I was finally feeling better, and was happy to sample what the buffet had to offer. Unfortunately she was still on the mend, so a breakfast being a banana and bread was as adventurous she was given we’re flying today.

Layout of the buffet had beverages at the bar when you first enter, then two sections of hot food around the open kitchen, with cold items at the end as pictured below:

Here are the hot food options that were available:

Don’t forget cereals, breads, and spreads:

With a bit of food in her, and me being full for the first time since our first night in Nuremberg, we packed up our suitcases, checked out and started the walk to the terminal. As we had purchased a lot of items during our many visits to Christmas markets, and grocery stores, having a stand of airport luggage carts just outside the hotel was very convenient and helpful to us. There are signs at the entrance to the hotel that the carts are to remain outside.

This is a good hotel to stay at, especially receiving benefits to an upgraded room, and our status within Hilton honors giving us complimentary breakfast in the morning.

Explore other parts of this trip:

Part 1 – Air Canada Signature Class Lounge & Flight Toronto to Amsterdam

Part 2 – Doubletree Hotel by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station

Part 3 – DB ICE Train Amsterdam to Dusseldorf

Part 4 – A Christmas market in the countryside

Part 5 – Hampton Inn by Hilton, Berlin West (Zoo Station)

Part 6 – Lego Berlin and other stores

Part 7 – Berlin Christmas Markets

Part 8 – Hilton Dresden

Part 9 – Dresden Christmas Market

Part 10 – Nuremberg Christmas Market

Part 11 – Nuremberg Hampton by Hilton