Conservatorium Hotel
A glowing pool at the Conservatorium Hotel's spa.
A contemporary grand hotel in a smartly repurposed landmark 19th-century building, with 129 rooms and suites from 485 euros ($618, at $1.27 to the euro).
BASICS
Finally Amsterdam's old-school five-star hotels get some serious competition. The Conservatorium was ambitiously conceived, with a sprawling state-of-the-art indoor pool, a destination restaurant overseen by the highly regarded chef Schilo van Coevorden and an eager staff in a city where friendly service can be hard to come by. The real standout factor, though, is its old-meets-new design. The Italian architect Piero Lissoni meticulously restored the west facade and enclosed it in an enormous glass box to create a soaring light-filled atrium, which now serves as a sleek lobby and brasserie buzzing with a well-heeled crowd.
LOCATION
Across the street from the northwest corner of the Museumplein, the Conservatorium is well placed for visitors to the recently reopened Stedelijk Museum and, eventually, the Rijksmuseum, which will reopen next spring.
THE ROOM
This past spring, just a month after the hotel opened its doors, and with scaffolding on the facade, my husband, two children and I took advantage of the soft opening rates and splurged on a duplex suite. The kids shared a designer couch in the ground-floor living room area while my husband and I took over the en suite bedroom on the mezzanine. Piero Lissoni is clearly a fan of clean lines and shades of brown: the floors were brushed oak, the bathrooms seemed to have been cut from one huge chunk of oatmeal-hued marble, and the couch was covered in beige linen. Giddy from finding ourselves in this elegant suite, we were deflated somewhat when, 15 minutes after being shown to our room, we realized our luggage hadn't been delivered. (It arrived five minutes later.)
THE BATHROOMS
We had two — one on each floor — which might have seemed excessive except that they were so inobtrusive. We didn't even realize our bedroom was en suite until our "concierge" pushed back what looked like a wall to reveal a marble tomb of a bathroom to us. The ground-floor bath had a deep, luxurious tub; both had power rain showers, L'Occitane bath products and the latest hotel trend: flat-screen mirror TV's.
AMENITIES
Like most hotels in the bike-loving Netherlands, the Conservatorium offers its guests sturdy Dutch bikes to borrow. Unlike some of Amsterdam's other five-stars, it does not charge for Wi-Fi. It also claims to have the city's largest wellness center, with a yoga and Pilates studio, indoor watsu and swimming pools and a hammam. With such modern exercise facilities one can afford to eat well at Tunes, the hotel's formal restaurant, whose open kitchen is directed by Mr. van Coevorden. Having made a name for himself at the city's trendiest hotels, the chef is now serving up beautifully executed dishes inspired by his travels and four-year stint in Spain, using mostly locally sourced ingredients.
ROOM SERVICE
Despite the sophisticated room-service menu we were able to find something for the girls that they loved (a refined chicken noodle soup with dumplings) and ordered that with two glasses of milk. It arrived, as promised, about 20 minutes later, along with a large array of bread.
BOTTOM LINE
The service needs some fine-tuning but in terms of design and location, the Conservatorium is a needed addition to the city's luxury hotel scene.
Van Baerlestraat 27, 31-20-570-0000; conservatoriumhotel.com.
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