My review of the InterContinental Amstel hotel, Amsterdam

As promised, this is my review of my stay at the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam.

This is not a hugely detailed review as I was in the hotel for less than 24 hours.  I did not visit La Reve, their Michelin starred restaurant, or the brasserie, or the swimming pool and health club.

I didn’t even take breakfast in the hotel – room service was €35 so I guessed that the restaurant would charge the same, and there is a bakery about 60 seconds away!

The Amstel is not like your average InterContinental.  Despite being a very large building, it has only 55 standard rooms and 24 suites.  This means that there are very people around and you will not feel overwhelmed in the pool, the bar, the terrace or indeed anywhere.

Location-wise, it is literally on the edge of the canal network.  You need to think about the location if staying here.  The good news is that one of the very few central Metro stations is outside the door.  It is a long walk from Centraal Station or Dam Square (shopping area). 

It is most convenient for the museums (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh) and the luxury shopping area surrounding them.  What I tended to do was one-way wandering / sightseeing trips, ending up at Centraal Station and then getting the metro back.

I booked a standard room and was upgraded as an Ambassador member.  All Ambassador benefits were honoured – I would even have had a noon early check-in had I been there.  4pm late check-out, free pay-tv film and free fruit and water were all provided even though it was a reward stay.

I’m not sure what room category I got.  I get the feeling that the rooms are hugely varied and that the categories on the website are rough approximations!  As you can see from the photos, it was pretty good whatever the official category was:

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Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the new bar and outdoor terrace.  This was the most modern aspect of the hotel.  Here are two library photos:

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It is important to stress what a fantastic redemption deal InterContinental Amstel turned out to be.  It is just 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night – 10,000 fewer than the IC’s in London, Paris etc.  Had I paid cash for my room last Monday, it would have been a crazy €749 ….

I do recommend it for a sensible, quiet weekend – although not necessarily a great base if your plan is to hit the clubs and bars until early morning before stumbling back.

You can find out more about the hotel, and book, on this page of the InterContinental website.

IHG Rewards update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: You can earn up to triple IHG Rewards base points with IHG’s new Autumn promotion. It runs from 1st October to 31st December. You can register here and our full article on the offer is here.

New to IHG Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG Rewards points worth?’ is here.

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