The Student Hotel is geared to the ‘demanding 21st century student and today's design-sensitive travelers'. It is expected that the 400 rooms in the chain's Eindhoven hotel will be occupied mainly by international students and knowledge workers. Staying for relatively long periods, these residents will be able to rent ‘semester rooms’, which provide a few more facilities than the rooms for ‘regular’ hotel guests. In addition, the hotel has trendily styled communal rooms, such as a launderette, lounge and gym. For relaxation, table tennis and foosball tables are provided. And especially for students, the hotel has various classrooms for communal study.

It must be said that the hotel has all kinds of quirky touches (striking patterns and quaint sayings on the wall) that give it a unique feel. On the opening day, the staff - including the PR ladies who came down from the head office in Amsterdam for the occasion - were at their most hospitable. That visitors could enter but not exit the lift without an electronic key we will put down to teething troubles. More of a worry, however, was that the stairwell was completely inaccessible without an electronic key.

After Rotterdam, Amsterdam (2x), The Hague and Groningen, Eindhoven is the fifth Dutch city to have a Student Hotel. Others are planned for Delft, Utrecht and Maastricht. Student union LSVb plans to take legal action against the Student Hotel on the grounds of its high prices  and lack of security of tenure.