Hampton by Hilton Utrecht Central Station {NLD}
Hampton by Hilton Utrecht Central Station {NLD}
Sep 30, 2018, 1:24 am
June 2018:
We are currently working on the rooms from the Hampton by Hilton hotel on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors, a start has been made on the layout of the reception, facility and public area on the 3rd floor. The design and commissioning of both hotels is done in phases and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2019. For supplying the hotels in the course of June, a passenger / goods lift on Catharijnesingel is being converted. Until the end of June the supply happens via a construction tower crane. Meanwhile, the dismantling of the roof terraces on the 9th floor of the Poortgebouw (Gate Building) building has also started. Here hotel rooms will be realized. During the construction holiday in the second half of July until the middle of August, work will be carried out on the project with limited staffing.
September 2018:
Gate Building
The realization of the two hotels in the Poortgebouw is progressing steadily. Work is being done on the rooms of the Hampton by Hilton hotel and the layout of the reception, facility and public area. In mid-September started with the rooms of the Crowne Plaza hotel and in October the realization of the entrances starts of both hotels. Opening Hampton by Hilton hotel: end of 2018. Opening of Crowne Plaza hotel: mid-2019. Work on the upper roof and the former roof terraces on the 9th floor of the Poortgebouw are almost finished.
Last edited by Sisosig; Jun 22, 2019 at 12:12 pm
Jun 22, 2019, 12:23 pm
- The country's central railway station.
- The unpronounceable shopping mall, which is simply called "Mall of the Netherlands" in English.
- A rather attractive old town with canals and bars / restaurants alongside the former quays.
Oct 12, 2019, 7:41 am
By way of background, I gave up on Hilton quite some time ago. In Utrecht, I've previously stayed at the Apollo, NH, Park Plaza, and maybe another I'm forgetting. I've mostly been staying at the NH.
The entrance is hard to find on 1F of the mall. I knew where it was since I'd walked past it before, but there is basically no signage until you get to it. (If you can find the food places like Leon, Salsa Shop, or Burger Federation, it's one floor up across the atrium.) There is actually nothing on 1F, you go up to 3F to check-in. (It looks like the Crowne Plaza will have it's entrance on 0F.)
The rooms at the Hampton are small, just larger than the bed (though with a reasonably full sized bathroom). I'd say they're less than half the size of the NH rooms (at least in the tower). There's a small fold-out table just under the TV that serves as a "desk" - it's just large enough for your laptop and a mouse, though the unit it's built in does offer some nearby flat surfaces for small items. I noticed a few people spread out in the lobby (on 3F) to work. There is an "open closet" with some hangars and a place to put your bag, but not much other storage.
The bathroom is adequate, with a walk in shower that provides ok water pressure but had trouble maintaining water temperature, even at "off peak" hours. The bathroom uses wall mounted dispensers. There is a hot water kettle, but not much else in the way of amenities.
Breakfast is about what you'd expect for a Hampton in Europe: Better than Hampton in the US, not as good as more premium brands in Europe. There was a decent variety, but I'd get bored with it after about 3 days. Later in the day, there is a bar and apparently you can order pizza.
There is a small gym on 3F with four machines (treadmills, bikes, etc), free weights (up to 12kg IIRC), and a multi-purpose cable weight machine. The staff were friendly and helpful. The lifts were occasionally a bottleneck (only 2 of 4 lifts serve the hotel, and even though there's theoretically a staircase, I have no idea where it goes).
The Hampton occupies 4F - 6F, and the hallway is very long. The lifts are near the middle (room x29), it takes a good minute to walk to either end. Even numbered rooms appear to mostly overlook the nearby (ugly) office buildings. I think the odd numbered rooms have better views, but I can't confirm. Presumably the Crowne Plaza will occupy 7F - 9F, and I would hope it will have larger rooms as a more "premium" brand.
The location for me is excellent. It is a very short walk to the train station. There are many food options immediately nearby in the mall, but also a short walk away in the town proper. And in my case, the office I usually visit is also in the mall, so I can avoid going outside in the rainy season
Would I stay again? Maybe... only for short stays (a night or two) where I did not plan to spend much time in the hotel. For my next trip (4 nights) I'll be trying a different new hotel near the train station.
Mar 22, 2021, 3:23 am
Hampton by Hilton Utrecht Central Station
Hampton by Hilton Utrecht Central Station
Boven Catharijnepoort 4 Utrecht, NL 3511 WN
Centrally located, friendly staff - rooms on the small side (22 Photos)
Hampton by Hilton Utrecht Central Station
This property is the latest addition (well, already approximately 2 years ago) of Hampton Inn by Hilton in the Netherlands. I finally tried it out over the weekend with the ok'ish rate now due to the pandemic (before this, it was always priced around the 100€ and above - which to me is something I don't feel worth it for Hampton Inn's). This stay is also a milestone stay for me - I've stayed at all the Hampton Inn's in the Netherlands and ~80% of Hilton's footprint in the Netherlands (only Hilton Amsterdam and DT Amsterdam Central station - and if considering rebranded ones - the DT Soestdijk).
This owner of this hotel also manages the Crowne Plaza which is in the same building.
Location
The hotel is located in the (newly) renovated shopping centre, Hoog Catharijne The Mall - in what I believe is a newly added wing/building after the renovation. It is on the same level as you exit the train station (1st floor). I did not really see any signage actually (which is quite bad) but on the other hand, it is also not really too difficult to find - just walk (taking either of the branches as you enter the mall and continue walking until you come the centre open concourse - it should be on the left/right (depending on the branch that you took).
The location is most probably the best selling point of this property compared to all other Hampton Inn's - you are basically in the centre of Utrecht - and with the renovated mall - you have basically everything within walking distance and in wet/cold weather within the mall itself and quite a lot of F&B options within 5 mins walk from the hotel entrance.
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Check In
For check-in, you will need to take the lift up to the 3rd floor. On the 1st floor, you might need to use the call-bell for them to open the sliding doors (not sure if this is the norm of just because of current lockdown - to avoid non-guests from going up to the hotel bar for drinks - or it is just the norm for security reasons). The entrance looked inviting. I had already done an online check-in, but again guess for security reason, I was not provided with the digital key - was requested to drop by the front desk to register, etc. I was warmly greeted and as an elite HHonors member, received a nice welcome gift - a tin of Dutch Stroopwafels (caramel butter waffles) and 2 bottles of water.
Also during online check-in, I had wanted to select the room at the end of the hall (which did seem larger compared to the other rooms) - but it was not available for selection - I did not ask if these rooms had a larger real estate. Anyway, the room I selected faced the city centre and did look also slightly larger compared to the other rooms - but in reality - it was still on the smaller side. From room size point of view - this and closely followed by the Schiphol property - rooms are on the smaller side.
After receiving my keys (and the forms for breakfast (and a small dinner options - currently all eateries in NL only allows take-out)) I went to my room. Elevators needs to be activated by your key card to your floor. This property has about 70+ rooms across their 3 floors - therefore the corridors are indeed very long - basically walking the whole length of the building.
Room
The room although on the smaller side was well assigned and distributed. There was a work desk - which is integrated into a multi-function cabinet. The design/colour palette used was modern - and not as your usual white washed room. There was provided tea/coffee making facilities. There were sufficient electrical outlets (and for the first - they included USB charging outlets) around the room and next to the bed. The TV size sufficient (~42") with the usual local and international options. Too bad again - there's no possibility to view streaming services on the TV. Internet speed was reasonable and stable.
The bathroom size was not too bad - the shower area was ok, although due to the short length, the floor will certainly get wet due to the short glass shield. Water pressure and temperature control was ok. Toiletries were the usual as at all the other Hampton Inn's.
The view towards the city centre was ok with a view towards the (recently re-opened) canals. Noise isolation from exterior noise was ok - but not sufficient if there's an ambulance/police sirens passing by. I am not sure how it would be when the night curfew is lifted and foot traffic continues late into the night - but based on my stay it was very quiet and even with the normal daytime people traffic - the isolation was sufficient. The temperature control was sufficient - and most importantly even at high fan speed, not too loud.
Breakfast
In current times, breakfast like all the other properties procedure is that you will have to fill in a breakfast list - hand it in the night before to the front desk. The options were very close to the normal buffet selection - sans waffles (this is where the Amsterdam East property is better). The breakfast was well packed and good thing is that the hotel did try to use as much as possible bio-degradable disposal items.
All in all - for current situation - the hotel did a great job in making it as close as possible to normal. Only small complain is due to the small room size and lack of a real table - eating breakfast in your room is not really the best experience - but again not much the hotel can do here as it was never designed to really support such an unexpected situation.
Overall
All in all - the stay was pleasant. Indeed rooms are on the smaller side, but from what I saw of the open public area on the 3rd floor - it was done up very well that under normal circumstances, it would be a nice place to sit to work or casually hang out - with a nice mix of commune and table corners to hold discussion/work - a very casual cafe like atmosphere.
For me this is one of the best interior designed Hampton Inn I've visited (of course individually taste dependent) - modern and functional.
There's also a workout/gym on the 3rd floor which looked functional.
I will certainly return to this property with the right price - hopefully also after the current pandemic.
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Apr 13, 2021, 2:46 am
During my visit I was given the corner room to the north side (reasonable space and a smallish desk, HDMI port of the TV accessible) on the 6th floor, breakfast as expected in a Hampton, standard cheapish fare. Overall the streetnoise was not unbearable, but it wasn't very quiet either. Diamond treatment similar to yours, but not two bottles of water, but a bottle of water and a bar voucher for the Crowne Plaza.
Room overview
Additional bonus for this hotel: it is the second Hilton property in the Netherlands that is within walking distance from Five Guys (the other being the Hilton Rotterdam).
Jul 17, 2022, 1:25 pm
Jan 7, 2023, 3:02 am
Everything of course as set out by previous posters, except for breakfast being advertised as starting at 6am, not being ready at 6.30 still, but offering some edible items by that time, with hot items, milk (!), etc appearing somewhere before 7am but bread still missing aft 7am - don't know when that would have made it as I had left by then. Receptionist failed to see my problem with their delay.
Room fine if only crashing for a night, but the foldable "desk" solution doesn't work for me and will see me choosing other accommodation in future.
Oct 2, 2023, 2:51 am
Positives: excellent reception staff, bar open late (although very quiet), superb location in Utrecht, as easy for Schiphol airport as any Amsterdam hotel, clean and comfortable, great breakfast buffet offering, definitely acknowledged as a Diamond
Challenges: did see someone denied a room on Sunday afternoon with an existing booking even though they were still selling online for only €107 (which was half the rate of the night before) - don't want to say that's entirely on the property but they must have some issues with inventory management for that to happen; room was on the small side even for a hotel of this kind in this location; elevators overcrowded, and the breakfast area was far too small or the Sunday morning peak.
Even so, they were all minor issues that didn't really detract from my stay, but which might make me think twice about booking again if my needs were different.
Oct 2, 2023, 9:51 am