in amsterdam, to make splashy news with the opening of an hotel is not easily done: pleasant places aplenty. yet this friday, the already buzzing hotel scene of the city welcomed a new competitor to the embattled field of offering not just a bed, but also a spill of thrills.

located in a concrete behemoth on wibautstraat in oost that used to serve as the headquarters of newspaper de volkskrant, the volkshotel is already a story for its architectural rethinking and remodeling in itself. but the software is even more impressive.

the eight floors hold so many surprises that it feels almost impossible to do justice to the colorfulness of the place. the creative crowd gathers at workingspaces (“werkplaats”) while the basement is home to already infamous speakeasy club/bar doka. before getting lost in the darkness, however, guests can and will visit, on the 7^th floor, new restaurant (and former canteen) canvas and its open terrace for one of the most spectacular views over the city.

that is if they ever leave their brilliant rooms. besides its 163 standard rooms (which are, by the way they play on the newspaper topic, by no means standard at all), the volkshotel also offers nine design mini-suites: “soixante neuf” gets kinky with a dancing pole next to the suspended, feather-sprinkled bed, while in the “white bike room” you sleep in a proper dutch bakfiets.

it doesn’t get wilder than “danny‘s room”, though: designed by canvas’s, well, toilet lady, the place is one crazy hotchpotch of vintage dutch memorabilia, dominated by huge deer danny. what? exactly! my personal favorite, for obvious reasons, was the opland room, the walls of which are adorned with the original drawings by the honorable de volkskrant illustrator of the same name.

rooms come surprisingly cheap (for the entire july there is even a 69 euro / night flatrate, which in amsterdam is totally ridiculous) and with the location close to still überpopular hipster hive de pijp, the volkskrant is bound to be a success story with the young urban travelers of the globe.