Rotterdam hotel with playful vibe in former Dutch East India Company warehouse

Room Mate Bruno / Rotterdam / Netherlands

Room Mate is a Spanish hotel chain that is continuing to open new hotels across Europe. Their thing is urban hotels with emphasis on local storytelling. In this post you will get to know Bruno, a fictional sailor that the hotel storyline is built around.

Room Mate Bruno is located in the Kop van Zuid area, in the southern part of Rotterdam, in the Pakhuismeesteren building, a historic four-story building that used to be a tea warehouse for the Dutch East India Company back in the day.

The hotel design is inspired by the building’s history where the theme is maritime which is suitable since Rotterdam has the largest port in Europe. The design scheme is created by Teresa Sapey + Partners and they have chosen a color scheme that is influenced by spice trade and the sea. A lot of blue to connect to the sea and the sky as well as rich yellow, inspired by the sun and saffron and orange, for citrus and cinnamon. In addition to this there are nautical elements to really bring the theme home.

Our room was large and almost felt more like 60s space age theme rather than nautical. BLA BLA. The room was spacious and connected to a large common patio with views of the most iconic of Rotterdam buildings, aptly named De Rotterdam.

Rotterdam is a great eclectic town with a lot to discover, and since the center of town is fairly small you can do it on foot. Some places worth to mention is Witte de With Straat, the area around Oostplein and Nieuwe Binnenweg. At all these places you’ll find some great places to eat, drink and shop.

Welcome to Room Mate Hotel Bruno! Situated in an old Dutch East India Company warehouse.

Heading into the richly colored reception

I love exploring the hotels I stay at, checking out staircases, public bathrooms and similar. It is usually in these spaces where you’ll see if the hotel is taken their design idea all the way. This is the public bathrooms, next to the reception.

Our room was designed with a kind of vintage futuristic look. Like what futuristic looked back in the 70s.

Love that you get some complimentary chocolate from Dutch brand Tony’s

Great with a splash of color in the otherwise grey (although different shades) bathroom

Heading out to explore the hotel. This was my favorite feature, the yellow staircase

The patio bar. Looks like the home of a smurf

Right next to the hotel is the most iconic building of architecture-loving Rotterdam, *De Rotterdam* building by local man, Rem Koolhaas.

Heading into the center of town you cross another iconic Rotterdam structure, the *Erasmusbrug* by Calatrava.

One of my favorite parts of town, the Witte de With street, lined with restaurants, shops and bars.

One of my favorite places to get coffee in Rotterdam is this place, *Cafe Unfiltered*

In eastern part of town, close to *Oostplein*, there is a place called *Bar Bocht* which is a great place to come for a drink…

M is patiently waiting to dig into the dessert.

RG inside info

This place is perfect if you…

…are looking for a Rotterdam hotel with a young and laid back vibe. In a way this almost feels more like a hostel than a hotel, but in a good way. If this sounds like your kind of scene, you should check Bruno out.

My favorite thing about this place…

…is the rich use of color in the design. The building is old and it would be easy to be a bit passive in the design, but here they have done the opposite and pushed the color agenda to the full.

What not to miss when staying here…

…is to go across the hallway to Foodhallen, a food market with some great options for tasty street food, It is housed in the same building as the hotel. If you want to venture further I would like to recommend the eastern part of the center of Rotterdam where there are several great bars and restaurants, like Bar Bocht.

If you like this hotel you might also like:

Room Mate Giulia / Milano, Italy

SIR Albert / Amsterdam, Netherlands

25hours Hotel Hafencity / Hamburg, Germany