Unfortunately for us, the Dutch government announced separate lockdown rules a day before our visit, which resulted in the GLOW light art exhibition being cancelled a day before its intended end date. This undoubtedly turned put a damper to our trip, but we thought of giving the city a go anyway because we couldn't cancel and get a refund. But writing this staycay series about the hotel now assures me that we made the right choice of taking a short break after all.

Set just minutes away from the Eindhoven Centraal train station, you could say that the location of Crown Hotel Eindhoven is unmatched. The check-in was seamless, and no thanks to the pandemic, there were rules like wearing our masks at public places such as the lobby and lifts, and we had to pre-book our breakfast times. That said, we'd set rather low expectations for the hotel before we entered our room. Our expectation also stemmed from the fact that the hotel lobby looked rather shabby and the doors leading to the lifts would slam behind us if we didn't attempt to close it slowly.

Upon entering our room, however, we were pleasantly surprised at how absurdly huge it was for a night's stay. Unlike most hotels, you didn't need a key card to power the electricity of the room. You simply needed to hit the "electricity" button and it was all good. Having been vastly disappointed at my previous stay which you can read here, this was an absolute upgrade.

For starters, we were welcomed to a room with what we do think was a king-sized bed. There were pillows aplenty to go around, and a pillow menu left by our side table to note that we were welcome to pick different pillows if necessary. If you must know, I'm very picky about my pillows and very often I'd think it's either too soft, too hard, too tall, or too flat. While we had the options to pick other pillows, I felt the default ones provided ticked every box I needed for a night's sleep so I didn't ask for another set.

There was a small work table set opposite the bed, with a TV mounted over it. We obviously didn't catch any shows over the weekend because it was mainly in Dutch, but I couldn't help to think of the what ifs - if I had brought my Nintendo Switch along. This table ended up becoming my other half's supper spot because we bought some shawarma at midnight after watch No Time To Die at the cinema right opposite the hotel. Another plus point.

As far as amenities went, Crown Hotel Eindhoven provided us with 4 coffee pods fit for the Nespresso machine. There were also selections like green tea and English Breakfast in teabags, and we had a kettle and a hidden mini fridge. You didn't get pre-chilled drinks, but you were always welcome to visit the Albert Heijn supermarket located just outside the hotel. Really racking up on plus points for conveniences here.

Having seen the mostly red outlook of the room, I felt like the washroom was a huge mismatch in colours that I just had to turn a blind eye on. What I loved most was that it came with a bathtub, something I hadn't enjoyed for a while now since I left Malaysia. I promptly visited the Kruidvat nearby after we checked in to get a bath bomb, but also for a set of toothbrush and toothpaste because the hotel provided none. 

While we're on the topic of the washroom, I felt like it was the only downside to the room. The water pressure felt slightly off and I wasn't sure if it was because we were on the 5th floor, but I knew the shower head made sounds each time we held it wrong. There was also an unmistakable stench of pee near the toilet, though I tried to ignore it to my best efforts. 

With all that's said and done, our stay at the Crown Hotel Eindhoven was a fantastic one. I really enjoyed how the bed gave me one of the best night's rests after what was a long week at work, and how it was central enough for us to get to everything we wanted to. Upon checking out, we also left my other half's bag for safekeeping at the hotel as we explored more of the city the next day. This was a complimentary facility, and we were able to leave it there for about 6 hours or so. 

At this point of this blog post, I should also point out that there's nothing much to do in Eindhoven unless you're interested in trucks, in which you should then visit the DAF Museum. We also made a detour for the Philips Museum in a bid to while away time until dinner, because we wanted to dine in at Dadawan - one of our favourite places to eat out that's sadly only available in Maastricht and now in Eindhoven.

Bottom line? Crown Hotel Eindhoven was a true gem with a fantastic city centre location and a great stay. The city of Eindhoven itself however, didn't attract me as much that I would make it a must-return kind of place. I feel like it was a really sad thing we didn't get to see GLOW Eindhoven this year, but perhaps that would be the only reason we'd come back to Eindhoven in 2022. But until then, this is another city in the Netherlands done.