luxury budget hotel

Citizen Coralie Aude Grassin visits Amsterdam’s innovative budget design hotel that is soon to arrive in London…

Going on a city-break always brings a dilemma. Should you splash out on the hotel or the activities? You then end up spending hours on the web trying to find the best deal for a gorgeous looking place.

CitizenM Amsterdam City has come up with an interesting solution – a design yet budget-friendly hotel. Situated just 10 minutes by train from Schiphol Airport and 15 minutes by tram (which stops right in front of the building) from the town centre, it proves an excellent option for week-ends away.

No wait for the check in – you can enter your reservation code yourself on the computers as soon as you step in and program your key card. Same goes for the check-out.

There is, of course, always a member of staff nearby if you are in need of help or a place to put your luggage for a few hours. They proved very helpful with our tourist questions, even going online to give us the train schedules and providing us with a helpful pop-up map of the city.

The rooms use a new design angle – the bed is extra-wide with storage drawers underneath, the window takes the whole wall to offer maximum lighting and the shower is hidden in a colour changing capsule. It feels modern, new and fun.

A remote control allows you to open the electric curtains, play music, watch TV or modify the hue of the bathroom bubble (that alone will keep you playing quite some time).

CitizenM also has a great sense of humour with little touches here and there. A note advises you to lock your valuables… lucky socks included. On each room door is a saying, with a different theme per floor.

We loved how random they could be and visited several corridors just to enjoy them: “When selecting a camel, choose one with a full neck, it indicates heightness” (Egypt), “A good lawyer is a bad neighbour” (North America), “3rd of July: Grandmothers festival”, in which thousands of grandmothers gather to scuba dive, parachute jump, ride motorcycles and play football (Norway). You’re not likely to forget which room is yours! Even coffee cups have a playful wording.

The whole design of the hotel is fascinating. Most of the furniture is by Vitra – an interesting balance of modern and Asian inspiration. Wander through the whole ground floor to enjoy different atmospheres in each niche. Free wifi is available with a dedicated space offering iMacs if you have not brought your laptop. Plenty of chairs and tables invite guests to pause and chat the whole evening away.

Just stop at the café, open 24/7, and grab sushi, fresh sandwiches, pastries, lovely salads with a twist…or even order a gorgeous cocktail such as the violet-based house signature, Mobile Martini!

CitizenM proves a very well-considered hotel, allowing independence and flexibility while still retaining a homely feeling. You can also decide to stay at their airport location (a 25 minute train ride from the town centre). Keep the name in mind – there is also a CitizenM in Glasgow and they are soon to open their doors in London, both near the Tate Modern and in Tower Hill.

Rooms start from €89 per night. For more info and booking, visit: www.citizenm.com

All photos by Coralie Aude Grassin.

I’ve stayed in most Paris neighbourhoods on the numerous trips to my spiritual home, but the Canal Saint-Martin has long been neglected due to the lack of hotels in the 10th… that is, until the arrival of Le Citizen Hotel.

The Canal Saint-Martin is known as the bobo heart of Paris and was the whimsical location in Amélie where she skims stones across the water and as a little girl, frees ‘le Cachalot’, her suicidal goldfish.

Location

Le Citizen Hotel is a stylish, minimalist-luxe new abode on the Quai de Jemmapes, right at the centre of the ‘canal scène‘. As the name suggests, it takes a functional, democratic approach to travel and is affordable with luxury touches.

The hotel is discreet and unmarked, accessed by pressing the buzzer on the door. Once inside, it is warm, intimate and calming, with a canteen-style lounge filled with art and design books.

The Suite

We stayed the Zen Suite on the top floor – a bright, airy open-plan room in soft muted colours with pale wood features, dark wood floors and some interesting design touches.

The most telling mark of an exceptional hotel is the bed, and our double bed was cloudlike, with sumptuous linen and simply divine. A testament to the bed’s superiority was that on arrival, we fell asleep for a good three hours (also helped by a 5.30am Eurostar train).

Add to that a flat screen 26″ TV mounted on the wall, a selection of hand picked art and design books and you’ll find it hard to actually leave your bed!

I fell in love with the landscape of structured wool cushions that made up a graduated sitting area next to the window, framing an enviable view of the Canal Saint-Martin.

I’ve made a mental note add such seating arrangements to my future ‘dream apartment’, which currently looks like a melange of my favourite hotel rooms.

The Bathroom

The blue-tiled bathroom was perfectly sized and came with plenty fluffy towels, soft bathrobes and spa toiletries by Omnisense Paris, mounted on the shower wall.

The water pressure in the shower was just right and another cool design touch was the flat disc shower head.

All the toiletries we could possibly need for our stay were presented on a slate and my favourite thing was the bottle of Omnisense Paris body oil, which had a warm vanilla scent.

A fun feature was the magic tablets, which grew into a disposable face cloth when dampened – very Japanese and fitting the to ‘zen’ outlook.

We were given an iPad to use during our stay, although we could also get complimentary WIFI access on my laptop with a log-in code.

Le Citizen have really thought about how to use the iPads as a self-concierge service and have added homepage shortcuts to information about the breakfast, minibar and hotel facility information.

To help us visitors get the best out of our stay in Paris, they have loaded the iPads with apps from ‘in the know’ travel sites, including French food bible, Le Fooding.

The mini bar and cupboard were filled with a combination of delicious healthy or indulgent snacks at a reasonable price.

The only aspect that could be improved was that housekeeping was slightly relaxed and there was no coffee or filtered water that is usually offered. As the hotel is so new, this will no doubt be brought up to speed and I’m sure the friendly staff would have obliged with replacements had we requested.

Breakfast

In the morning, Le Citizen offers a Cafe-Croissant for 5 Euros or a full continental breakfast for 12 Euros, a selection of Japanese tea and cake in the afternoon and a choice of fresh bento boxes throughout the day.

Le Citizen Hotel has been thought out to the last detail to suit the luxury budget traveller and the Zen Suite offers more value than the average Paris hotel room at the same price.

The location is perfect for experiencing the charm of the Canal Saint-Martin and the buzzing bars and restaurants of the 10th arrondissement. By the end of your stay, you’ll feel like you belong in this small neighbourhood and you’ll never want to leave…

Double rooms start from 169 Euros and the Zen Suite is priced at 249 Euros per night.

Le Citizen Hotel, 96 Quai de Jemmapes, 75010 Paris.

Must Eats in the 10e: Hotel du Nord, La Fidélité, Pink Flamingo Pizza, La Tête dans les Olives.

* Cherie City received press rates for Le Citizen Hotel.

A Great Stay at CitizenM Amsterdam City Hotel

A Great Stay at Le Citizen Hotel Paris

Location

The Suite

The Bathroom

Breakfast