Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! Let me tell you about my very interesting night in the bedroom, as I slept with a Boeing 737…
Continue reading: My Night In Amsterdam’s 737 Cockpit Suite…
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I looked at the aircraft that KLM is flying to Johannesburg, and feel like I now know why you're deciding to go via Amsterdam...
(Will be looking out – there seem to have been a couple of equipment swaps lately)
That suite looks pretty solid - it would be indeed nice to have it on more places. In Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, it is quite common (at least compared to other countries) to find a café or a restaurant that uses a retired airplane, while airplane hotels are commonly found in Europe, in my understanding.
But that leather seats in the 737 cabin look rather grim... though not a major issue.
Plus, not exactly related to the post, but it seems like JAL plane had some kind of incident at San Diego.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/02/14/japan/jal-plane-crosses-runway-stop-line/
You probably already know this but the Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu has an actual working 737-800 simulator in one of the rooms as well!
That's one way to join the mile-high club I guess, my wife, the germaphobe, wouldn't be impressed 🙂
This mile-high club definitely comes with an asterisk. It's more like a kilometer-high club.
I am curious - you say the price is reasonable for what you get, but the rest of your review is that you don't actually get that much... I understand you're referring to the fuselage, but besides sitting in it for a little bit, you don't actually get anything from it. It would be different if there were a simulator, or if the room came with a "butler" flight attendant or something else to give it added value; so shouldn't you feel like it's really just a gimmick and the price is actually quite high?
Do you have to go through the plane to get from the Bedroom to the Conference Room? Is there another bathroom with showers? Also, how far back does the plane go?
Then Ben starts critiquing the hotel room lol. As if a room with a 737 in it is not enough. I want my room to be like Raffles. Cake eater!
" I slept with a 737" I hope Ford gave you a hall pass. Happy Valentine's Day!
There's a mini lobby after entering with three doors- Bedroom to left with separate shower and toilet rooms. Airplane straight ahead. Conference center to the right. Alternatively you can also go from bedroom, up to plane, down to conference side and vice versa. Plane only goes back the 5 or 6 rows in Ben's photo. Nice room to take photos in but not where you'd actually want to stay in.
No you can walk behind it, this website has a floorplan and a 3d layout move through the room thing.
https://matterport.com/discover/space/corendon-vitality-737-cockpit-suite
Looks like they cut off most of the aircraft, including the underbelly cargo area. Just the nose, cockpit and a little of the cabin. Took out the lavatory and combined that with the cabin.
Is the cockpit well preserved? did you notice any missing knobs, switches, etc? I'm not sure if every single guest would treat the cockpit with enough care if it's always open.
Thats super helpful. If I was the hotel, I would make the conference room a second bedroom and call this a 2-bd suite. I would also put curtains around the plane that could be drawn at night to make it less freaky.
I used to teach the 737-200 at my airline. The cockpit looks like a "vintage" 737-200/300 cockpit. Very cool!
This is the Netherlands we’re talking about. A room on the top floor is the sea level club.
Ok this link is perfect. I was really trying to figure out the layout of this room and this makes it crystal clear. Thank you!
Ben you mention a couple of times that it’s a budget hotel… curious how you arrived at that conclusion. It looks pretty full service to me, and it’s certainly not cheap.
Just curious - is your child old enough to travel with you yet? Or do you leave him at home for all of these trips? What will happen when he starts his education?
The reason I am curious is because I have friends who recently gave up their travel lifestyle because they felt responsible for raising their child at home, which I suppose is the more traditional method. Not home schooled, just spending more time at home than when they used to travel. Interested in anyone's opinion on this - I see people flying with infants all the time and it amazes me that they do it. But I understand why they do it, because it's their child and they want to be with it.
It amazes you when people travel with infants? Why?
Traveling with kids isn't as easy as traveling without them, but it's hardly an insurmountable hurdle.
Best to get your kids out traveling early when their lives are simple and unscheduled. Once they're in "real" school, getting them out for long periods of time can be disruptive.
Friends of mine just had another child. Within 3 weeks of that child's birth, they had the infant's passport in hand and took off on a month long trip through Europe. Don't say it can't be done!
I wonder if Corendon uses this as a training space (e.g., for Flight Attendants). I could imagine the conference area being used by a crop of trainees, while the bedroom area allows that same space to be monetized for guests. It is pretty cool either way, though.
No need to imagine the logistics of how the 737 got in there. There's a website which shows exactly how they did it.
Pretty spiffy! Sure, as a former airline exec, I'd book it.
Might be a good accompaniment to a side-trip to Rotterdam to stay at the S.S. Rotterdam Hotel...formerly the famed Holland-America cruise ship.
Very cool. But odd layout. If they are selling as a room, make it a room. Turn the conference space into a relaxing lounge area with sofa. Join the bathrooms to make one large luxury bathroom. Either sell it as a hotel room or as a conference room. Not both.
I’m glad your wrote this review as I saw this room for the first time recently and I saw it was an actual sim which I thought was great but seeing that it is now just a view out the window is very disappointing.
If you find yourself in stockholm, sweden, try https://www.jumbostay.se/ for another aviation related accomodation.
It's a 747 converted to a hostel.
Just as heads up for folks, we had a reservation in late summer and received the following message: Regrettably, we must inform you of unscheduled maintenance work required in our Cockpit Suite during the duration of your stay.
Consequently, the Cockpit Suite will be unavailable for your reservation period.
Not sure how extensive the "unplanned" maintenance is if they are cancelling reservations for months in advance.