Bastion Deluxe Amsterdam / Amstel, Amsterdam

The Bastion Amstel Deluxe Hotel was the final leg of an exhausting journey around the Netherlands visiting a range of Universities, and was to be our final stop for two nights before the onward journey with the KLM “I believe I am a racing driver” Pilots.

Bastion is a Dutch chain which currently has 28 hotels across the Netherlands and one in Germany.

Arrival at the hotel quickly established that we were in the middle ...
...taxi driver you want the Bastion deluxe hotel on the Amstel Business Park as there are numerous Bastion Hotels in this city, and we ended up at the wrong one – bang went the taxi drivers tip.

SECURITY
I will mention this separately as stringent was the word for it – you were issued with a swipe card for your room and could not access the lifts (up and down) or gain access to the stairs or your room corridor without it. The standard ... more

The Bastion Amstel Deluxe Hotel was the final leg of an exhausting journey around the Netherlands visiting a range of Universities, and was to be our final stop for two nights before the onward journey with the KLM “I believe I am a racing driver” Pilots.

Bastion is a Dutch chain which currently has 28 hotels across the Netherlands and one in Germany.

Arrival at the hotel quickly established that we were in the middle of nowhere, save for a petrol station next door, situated on a business site with an apparent direct metro connection to Centraal Station close by (actually about 15 minutes walk).

CHECK-IN
Nightmare – 16 people all arriving in one go – reception refused to check for individual names but insisted that we would all crowd around and wait for our names to be called out – not a service you would expect from a 4* deluxe hotel used to dealing with high profile business people.

LOCATION
As you may have gathered from my above comments this was not one of the hotel's high spots – it was situated about 15 minutes walk from OverAmstel tram station along a dusty road and under a road-bridge – not really suitable for a lone female.

Our first night there was the only space in the whole tour where we actually had time to ourselves (everyone say ah!) and of course as one of our party had never been to central Amsterdam we just had to go and show her the sights. Herein started out problem – to get a 3 day pass which was what we had been advised to do, we discovered we required 11 Euros 90 cents in change for the automated machine – the station had no guards or any facility to change money – even a 1 day pass which would have set us back the princely sum of 5 Euros 50 cents was beyond the reach of our whittled down change as a result of sitting on a bus for 3 days, not having visited any shops or bars and giving money for more collections than I have done before in my life.

The decision – as there were 4 of us was to get a taxi – the trip by this means into Centraal took around 25 minutes and cost us 18 Euros (1 Euro = c67p).

A useful point to remember:
If you do have the misfortune to be staying here and require a taxi back to the hotel, it is imperative that you tell the taxi driver you want the Bastion deluxe hotel on the Amstel Business Park as there are numerous Bastion Hotels in this city, and we ended up at the wrong one – bang went the taxi drivers tip.

SECURITY
I will mention this separately as stringent was the word for it – you were issued with a swipe card for your room and could not access the lifts (up and down) or gain access to the stairs or your room corridor without it. The standard number of swipes to get the damn things to work was around 4 – not great when you have had a skinful of beer.

THE ROOM
What can I say? En-suite with bath, shower, sink and toilet – towels that were better suited to a midget than my ample frame - tea and coffee making facilities with cardboard cups – don’t think our continental friends have quite got the hang of this lark yet – no free biccies and cruddy coffee – thankfully these days I always carry a jar of Gold Blend with me when travelling.

The room was MFI type furniture all very light in colour making the room light and airy with two single beds – a seating area with two chairs, a mirror which had no suitable facility for sitting in front of, a hairdryer in the bathroom, plus unusually a plug point which saw me breaking all the rules of using electrical equipment in the bathroom, remote controlled colour TV which did not have BBC1 (the first time I have stayed anywhere in the Netherlands that didn’t have BBC1 and 2) I don’t normally watch much TV when travelling but as we were in the middle of a war with Iraq I did want to know what was going on the world and therefore had to suffer the American perspective from CNN – I do believe there was also the facility to purchase the all too popular and really boring movies – but as I spent less than 10 hours in my room during the whole stay I didn’t really pay much attention.

There was apparently a safe in the room, but I didn’t see it. There was also a not so well stocked mini-bar – containing 3 cans of beer, some chocolate and a couple of bottles of wine – we made good use of the beer, the bill amounting to a mere 6 Euros.

Unusually, none of the additional facilities such as sleep timer and wake-up facilities worked on the TV, although, again a rare feature, there was a digital radio alarm clock alongside one of the beds which more than served its purpose.

INTERNET CONNECTION
Travelling with a bunch of computer people it was a foregone conclusion that at some stage we would be seeking internet access to check e-mails – however the only connection I could decipher was a network connection and as luck would have it I didn’t have a network cable.

However, at 2am in the morning, smashed out of my brains I ripped the cable out of the phone and connected to BT through an International number – in my drunken state I was connected for just under 15 minutes before I realised what I was doing and major panic ensued as I realised the following morning I would have to pick up the tab for it – the following morning complete with major hangover after only 4 hours sleep, and credit card to pick up the tab, I thought I was hearing things - …….can you say that again please sir --- 3 Euros (around £2) I got him to check the facts three times before paying – I seriously think our British hotels could take a leaf out their book on this front – I paid almost the same for a 3 minute local call from my hotel in Cardiff.

OTHER FACILITIES
The only ‘leisure’ feature we discovered was a bar – where half a lager could be purchased for around £1.20, pretty much the same as home, but much nicer tasting – less chemicals = no hangover. There were also some very tasty freebie snacks. The downside? the bar shut at 1am – from my experience this is unheard of in UK hotels, it was however the latest of all the hotels we visited during our trip, hence why we ended up raiding the not very well equipped mini-bar.

FOOD
For me, this is one measure of a hotel’s quality, and to be fair to the Bastion Deluxe – it could be the reason why it got its name. The brekkie was absolutely superb consisting of a whole range of bread-rolls, different nationality breads and crispbreads, cereals in abundance, fresh fruit, a range of fruit juices, cold meats and cheeses a whole range, bacon and very well cooked scrambled eggs and boiled eggs washed down with very nice tasting coffee – as could be expected, the restaurant was no smoking – but there was a pleasant south facing seating area around reception where you could sit with your coffee or orange juice and partake.

Cost:

I can’t comment on the rate we paid as our trip was paid for up front with P&O but the rates from their website are:

Single/Twin room – 86 Euros per night
Deluxe room – single/dual occupancy – 108 Euros per night
Suite for up to 4 people – 130 Euros per night

Buffet breakfast – 10 Euros

SUMMARY
Would I stay there again? Difficult one this – if I was using it as a travelling base convenient for the road network around Amsterdam and wanted affordable light airy comfortable accommodation with good food then probably yes – if I was visiting central Amsterdam then expletives translated to “not on your life” spring to mind.

All in all a very nice hotel with abrupt but efficient staff and not a very good location. Although with cheap 3 day travel cards providing you have got change then it would more than likely be much more affordable than some of the more central accommodation in high season – for other times of the year you may be wise to visit www.bookings.nl first – as we had a cracking deal with the Swissotel on Dam Square in January.

For more info on the Bastion: http://www.bastionhotel.nl/en/ourhotels/amsterdam/

Bastion Hotel Amsterdam/Amstel
Verlengde Van Marwijk Kooystraat 30
1096 BX Amsterdam
Tel: +31 (0)20-6634567

 

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