New Dutch hotel group offers the best of both worlds

A new budget hotel chain planned for Europe is taking a bit of a different tack. Billing itself as “affordable luxury,” the 230-room CitizenM Hotel (citizenM.com) at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport offers prefabricated rooms that keep prices down, while the interiors have luxury touches like a king-size bed, wall-to-wall windows, a flat-screen LCD TV, ambient lighting and a rain shower. Prices start at just €69 per room. The Dutch budget hotel group gets its name, citizenM, from its belief that modern travelers are all “mobile citizens” whose needs must be met. Internet access is complimentary, as are movies on demand. Guests check in via kiosk, and when they make an online booking, they can store their personal preferences for lighting, music, mood and temperature in the room. The Amsterdam Schiphol Airport location was due to open in the first quarter of 2008.