Hotels in Amsterdam: between overtourism and new developments

The city is full. When it comes to overtourism, Amsterdam is, along with Venice, one of the first examples to come to mind, sharing with the Serenissima the constrained framework of its Instagram channels. The tourism industry will not complain, with growth of 4% year on year for more than two decades, the Covid parenthesis aside; Amstellodammers probably a little more, tired of the nightly rounds of revellers and the comings and goings of cruise passengers.

To limit the negative impact of this continuous flow, the city council has decided to hit travellers on the wallet, by increasing the tourist tax from 7.5% to 12.5% in 2024, the highest in Europe. Although the Dutch capital is still a liberal and welcoming city, it is becoming more polite, less popular for the smell of its coffee shops and its shop windows that make teenagers' cheeks redden than for the majesty of the buildings inherited from its Golden Age or the works on display in its famous museums. " We want to make and keep the city liveable for residents and visitors. This means: no excessive tourismno new hotels and no more than 20 million tourist overnight stays per year" said the municipal authorities in April 2024.

However, this edict does not put a definitive end to hotel development. New hotels, which obtained their planning permission prior to this decision, will be opening shortly. And more will follow, further away from the historic area. For example, a Mama Shelter is due to open in 2027 in the Noord district, which for many years was home to the NDSM shipyards and has now been converted into a cultural and lifestyle centre.

Similarly, to the west of the city, close to the port and the A10 motorway, Marriott will place three of its brands in the Harbour City Hotel complex, for a total of 600 rooms. Set in two towers designed by MVSA Architects, the site will combine a Méridien and a Courtyard by Marriott for classic hotels, as well as the Element by Westin Amsterdam Harbour City, which is more geared towards long stays. Another playground favoured by hoteliers, the vicinity of Schiphol airport In 2027, two Hilton Group establishments will open in the town of Aalsmeer: a Hilton Garden Inn and a Home2Suites.

While new zones offer hotel groups the prospect of expansion, city centre spaces are expensive. From 2015 until recently, the rules have been progressively tightened around a new for old" concept. In other words, a hotel can only be built if another hotel closes, to keep the number of rooms constant. In support of more upmarket tourism, the hotel must also boast a minimum of four stars, with sustainable standards.

More openings on the programme

At the end of 2024, Amsterdam saw a landmark opening, giving back to the city one of its main cafés, the Heineken Hoek. As part of the pedestrianisation of the famous Leidseplein, the building dating back to the 1950s was transformed to make way for a brand new Grand Café, while adding a five-star hotel, The Diamond. A new design jewel with a glass façade designed by architect Robert Meijer to evoke the spirit of the city. the Koh-I-Noor diamondIt was chiselled for the English royal family by a local master craftsman, Levi Benjamin Voorzanger.

Heineken isn't just anyone in Amsterdam, and the other way of offering a city-centre address is to find the rare pearl in the existing offer. Last year, this game of communicating vessels benefited the Citadines brand, which was able to set up in the Canals district, within the walls of a former Mercure, revamped as a 93-unit design apartment-hotel. Next year, as part of the partnership with Locka Holding, which has seen the Group take over at the helm of the Lutetia in ParisMandarin Oriental will make its grand entrance into the Dutch capital, in the Museum Quarter, with the addition to its portfolio of the Conservatorium, a hotel with a minimalist design housed in a building dating from the end of the 19th century.^e It was first a bank and then a music conservatory.

This art of hospitality conversion will take on a major dimension this year with the opening of a luxury Rosewood hotel at the beginning of May. Previously, in 1992, the Sofitel Legend The Grand was located in one of Amsterdam's historic buildings, once the city hall and before that the city hall, in the XVII^e century, the headquarters of the Dutch Admiralty. The hotel will be undergoing renovation until 2027, under the leadership of Pierre-Yves Rochon. For its part, the Asian group will be taking its place in the former courthousewhich operated from 1829 until recently.

From luxury to MICE

This imposing building lining the Prinsengracht canal was entrusted to the inventiveness of the Piet Boon design studio to be transformed into a hotel with 134 rooms and suites, presented as unique. Between courtyards and rooftopsThe Rosewood Amsterdam offers three bars and restaurants, an indoor swimming pool and, for business travellers, several exclusive meeting rooms and reception areas, including a ballroom for 280 people.

The year 2025 will be marked by other openings, including the one, probably in early summer, of a flagship hotel for corporate events The Maritim Hotel Amsterdam. Long-awaited - the project was presented in 2015 with a view to opening in 2018 - this establishment rises high in the Overhoeks district, developed on the site of the former Shell oil company premises on the banks of the river Ij, opposite the city centre.

On a par with the Adam Lookout tower and its panoramic observatory perched 100 m high, the hotel will offer one of the largest meeting capacities in the city. In addition to 579 rooms and suites, three restaurants and a rooftop bar, the hotel will also offer two ultra-modern conference rooms16 other meeting and reception rooms and 7 multifunctional boardrooms. Spread over three floors, this MICE venue will be able to accommodate more than 4,500 participants.

If, to take the example of Venice, the commercial power of the Serenissima has gone from strength to strength since the XVI^eAmsterdam has managed to capitalise on the legacy of its Golden Age to remain a vibrant city. a business city that counts in Europe and around the world. Even though Stellantis has announced that it is moving its European headquarters to Italy, the 3,500 international companies based in its metropolitan area bear witness to this. The activity of its Schiphol hub is further proof of this, Europe's third-largest airport behind London Heathrow and Paris-CDG, and its port, the fourth largest on the continent. the ongoing extension of its central stationwith high-speed connections to Paris, Brussels and London. At the heart of the Randstad economic region, Amsterdam also attracts business travellers and conference-goers, with the RAI congress centre and its 112,000 m² of exhibition space as its anchor.

A diverse range of customers, high occupancy rates and correspondingly low prices: this combination enables hotel groups toto open up the range of their brand portfolios and to offer travellers the answer to their expectations. With three hotels in the city, Hyatt illustrates this range of possibilities with a luxury lifestyle hotel of its Andaz brand along the Prinsengracht canal for individual customers, a contemporary Hyatt Place at the airport for travellers passing through and, a short walk from the historic centre, a Hyatt Regency in the Plantage district, easily accessible for business travellers and participants in meetings organised in this predominantly business hotel.

Showroom for hotel groups

Major international groups have carved out a prominent place for themselves in the Dutch capital alongside a number of well-known local players such as Van der Valk, Postillion or CitizenMwhose design concept was presented for the first time in 2008 at Amsterdam Schiphol before expanding into the city centre and south, near the RAI. This pioneering lifestyle hotel brand will soon be joining the ranks of the Marriott group to continue its expansion in the world's major cities, adding its three establishments to the twenty or so hotels - under 11 brands - that the world leader already has in the city.

Accor, for its part, has been present since the 1970s, and has since greatly expanded its offer, soon counting thirteen brands in Amsterdam with the arrival this summer of the Grand Canal Boutique Hotel Amsterdam as part of the Handwritten Collection. With more than 25 hotels taking those at Schiphol, its range extends from the budget Ibis to the luxury Sofitel Legend Le Grand, including lifestyle, with a second Hoxton recently opened, in anticipation of the future Mama Shelter.

Amsterdam, or the showroom of hotel brands: another group, Minor Hotels, has made it its adage. Having become the owner of the NH Hotels group in 2018, the Thai hotelier is taking advantage of the latter's established position, with 13 hotels in the city, to move forward with its other brands launched in Asia. Several former NH or NH Collection hotels have exchanged their pennant after renovation. This was the case in 2023 for one of Amsterdam's historic hotels, the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, which was upgraded from the NH Collection to the NH Collection. luxurious Anantara.

Similarly, the city's oldest hotel, the NH Doelen, opened in 1883, has been converted to the Tivoli brand. Last year, this change enabled the lifestyle brand Avani to set up shop near the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, replacing the former NH Amsterdam Museum Quarter. What hasn't changed, however, is the size of its contemporary hotel, the 650-room nhow RAI, next door to the large convention centre. The largest hotel in the cityand even the entire Benelux region.