“Welcome to my house,” says Vincent van Dijk as he ushers a crowd of fans into the lobby of the Citizen M hotel at Schiphol airport.
Van Dijk has brought us here to do a reading from his book Amsterdam Sleeps. It is a full length chronicle of his adventures as a hotel nomad. For the whole of 2010, Van Dijk spent every night in a different Amsterdam hotel bed – and blogged about every detail.
Saying goodbye to his cosy apartment in The Hague, Van Dijk packed up one suitcase and took on Amsterdam’s hotel scene. Staying everywhere from luxury lofts to gay-oriented hotels, designer establishments and haughty hostels, Van Dijk comes to a surprising revelation – feeling “home” in a hotel comes when you least expect it.
Amsterdam Slaapt is at once the personal story of a man on a quest to find himself. A self-proclaimed drifter, Van Dijk says he was in search of love an security. Love for the guest and the hotel professionals that help you feel that. But also love of the feeling of coming home to a hotel, even if it was just for one night.
“You know what sort of hotel it is as soon as you come in through the door. If the receptionist immediately starts chatting warmly to the guest, you know it’s a good hotel,” he says.
“But there are some hotels where you feel a cold atmosphere as soon as you walk in. The people at reception are only there to earn money. They take no pleasure in making you welcome.â€�
What Van Dijk experienced was a startling difference among the super-suites in Amsterdam and their commitment to maintaining their five-star rating. Some of the city’s most grand hotels indeed had comfy beds and pillows and superb room service, but Van Dijk writes about the more personal elements these highly priced hotels sometimes lacked.
What’s more, Van Dijk says he was surprised at the helpful and kind staff he met along his journey, and the community of family and friends he built among them and his fellow travellers. As a man on a year-long, solo adventure, he truly appreciated their company.
“I only managed to survive it because of the enormous hospitality found in very many hotels – and the enormous warmth shown towards me. That kept me going,” he says.
Although Amsterdam Sleeps has provided Van Dijk with a wealth of personal experiences, the book serves another purpose. As an alternative hotel guide, the it uncovers the large diversity of overnight accommodation in Amsterdam and a true-to-life description of what you can expect as a guest.
With offers to do the same in New York, London and Brazil, we may soon turn to Van Dijk as the ultimate word in hotel room reviews.
