New brand of hotels promises affordable luxury, to debut in Amsterdam

A new concept and a brand of hotels, citizenM, has been established to cater to ` Mobile Citizens’, offering a new type of hotel experience for sophisticated travellers.

The first citizenM hotel will open at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam with 230 rooms at the beginning of 2008.

The founders are: Rattan Chadha (founder and former CEO of Mexx, director and partner of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts), Jan Wulf van Alkemade (hotel specialist), Tom Bas (former member of the board of directors of NH Hotels and Golden Tulip) and Michael Levie (former Executive and VP of Operations of various international hotel chains: Sonesta and NH Hotels).

The second citizenM hotel will open in the fourth quarter of 2008 near Amsterdam city centre. The company plans to open 20 hotels throughout Europe in its first phase of roll-out. Included are major cities such as: London, Glasgow, Barcelona, Berlin, Milan, Brussels and Copenhagen.

citizenM has partnered with internationally renowned architects Concrete, and European design giants Vitra and Philips to offer “affordable luxury for the people.” Rooms are friendly and functional and feature: a super king-size bed fitted with luxurious linen and pillows, a wall-to-wall window for plenty of natural light, a flat LCD television, Philips technology and ambient lighting, a rain shower and other luxurious amenities especially developed by a famous ‘nose’ (also responsible for creations of Commes des Garçons and Viktor & Rolf).

“citizenM offers a new type of hotel experience for sophisticated travellers. People who value personal choice, contemporary design, friendly technology and the proximity to a city – for an astonishing price,” said Michael Levie, CEO, citizenM hotel group.

A night’s stay starts at € 69, with bookings starting on October 31st 2007.

“Honesty and transparency play an important role in citizenM’s philosophy. Hidden costs are eliminated. Internet access and movies on-demand are free of charge,” stated a release. “The result is a unique, quality hotel experience for an affordable price, tailored to meet the expectations of today’s modern traveller. Inspired by accommodations on luxury yachts and private jets, citizenM built its own factory in order to realise its high quality hotel rooms. In its vision, no detail was left ignored: each room is 14 square metres – each of which has been carefully thought through to offer the height of functional design.”

Rooms can be customised while making a web-reservation, at the self check-in kiosks, or on the touch screen mood pad in the room. Personal settings include preferred lighting, music, mood and temperature.