Blue Mansion Hotel

The location is great and quiet, but the coffee machines in the rooms seem to be a recurring problem. Mine leaked water everywhere, and when I asked for a kettle, I was told other rooms had the same issue too. The food was okay, though a bit expensive, so I went across the road instead. The steak there was amazing. I also didn’t like that my room was cleaned the day after I checked in, even though I hadn’t put out the “please clean my room” tag. It felt like my privacy had been violated. After that I put the “do not disturb” tag on the door every day, and that worked.

The manager was really friendly, which always makes a stay nicer. It seems privately owned, and the hotel is lovely and fairly new. Rooms are clean and tidy, if a little small. I didn’t eat there, so I can’t comment on the food. I went to the beach club bar across the road, which was excellent. There’s no guest laundry, but they’ll wash a 5kg load for €15. An Uber from the airport is about €20. Public transport is tricky to use to get here. The pay-per-day Basic-Fit gym is a 30-minute walk away.

Comfy and quiet, and fine for a one-night stopover. It’s a cost-efficient hotel, though the beds felt narrow and short, which seemed odd for a girl in Holland. Breakfast had cereal and coffee. There’s also an electric blue bar in the hotel that makes you wonder what goes on there at the weekend, or maybe not.

Inside, there was an odd smell I couldn’t identify, maybe too much cleaning product. The shower didn’t work properly, though I was able to use the shower attachment. The hotel looks very close to the airport, but getting there from Schiphol Plaza is actually quite cumbersome. If you don’t take a taxi, it means two buses and about an hour of travel each way.