Communicating with your guests before the opening
16-12-2014
Nikie Houben, manager of the Terhills hotel in Maasmechelen is already busy tweeting about the hotel. Whilst the opening is planned for March 2015, she already inspires with her tweets.
Communicating with your guests before the opening
Recently we read a tweet from Nikie Houben who is the – Guest Loving – hotel manager of the Terhills Hotel. She tweets about preparations leading up to the opening of the new hotel by the ‘Different Hotels’ group. Mood Boards, products from suppliers, photos of the property, inspiring lyrics and so on. We often see that entrepreneurs / managers are so busy in the pre-opening process that they forget to communicate about it or outsource the communication to an agency. The beauty of communicating about the project you are working on, is the fact that it shows your commitment. The enthusiasm of Nikie is a great inspiring example, we really believe she is a guest loving hotel manager.
Quote of Nikie Houben
“At Terhills Hotel it’s all about the experience. A personal and friendly approach and contact is very important! So the sooner you get to know your guests the better. This way the Terhillls Team will also be able to respond to the taste and needs of its future guests. And isn’t it fun when you feel this on arrival?!”
Terhills Hotel
This new lifestyle experience Hotel is located in the former main building of a coal mine in Eisden, part of the city of Maasmechelen. The hotel offers a cocktail of fashion (located near Maasmechelen Village, Outlet Shopping), nature (National Park Hoge Kempen), comfort and culinary enjoyment. It includes 60 luxurious rooms including 7 suites, a cozy bar with lounge corners and a spa in the neoclassical baroque style building. Designers from Limburg county contributed to the realization, Simoni Architects from Hasselt has made modern and clean lines in the building and the interior is provided by Dôm Deco from Dilsen-Stokkem.
Different Hotels
The Terhills Hotel is part of this hotel group which originates in Belgian Limburg. The group has a total of 11 hotels in Limburg and Antwerp.
Recruiting staff
Last year the nhow hotel in Rotterdam had some interesting pre-opening communication as well. The hotel opened in January 2014 and launched a recruitment party in 2013. Next to communicating with your guests you can start a conversation with potential suppliers and staff as well.
Storytelling about going green
8-12-2014
The Beech Hill hotel provides us with inspiration about telling (future) guests about the efforts they have taken to cherish their location. The hotel is located at the beautiful Lake Windermere in the Lake District in the United Kingdom.
The Beech Hill hotel
At Twitter we spotted this great storytelling about going green. We notice that more and more hotels are going green. The owners of the Beech Hill hotel realize that their guests are coming to enjoy their surroundings and their hospitality. The last couple of years they made changes in the operations of the hotel and reduced the carbon foot print by approximately 463 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide per year. A great example of running the hotel in a sustainable way.
Storytelling about going green
The hotel had a video made about the efforts they have taken to reduce their carbon foot print. The video shows all the details and tells how they carefully run the hotel in a sustainable way. Of course they show the surroundings of their hotel as well.
They installed a Biomass Boiler instead of the previously used 4 large boilers with kerosene as fuel. Replaced their lights with LED lights. In order to reduce waste they reuse and recycle, paper, carboard, glass and furniture. They have been awarded by Trip Advisor with a Bronze Level Green Leader.
The Tree Lighting Party by The Pierre New York
5-12-2014
Last weekend I happened to see a tweet of hotel The Pierre New York which invited its followers to The Pierre’s Holiday Tree Lighting Party. The Pierre New York, celebrates the lighting of their Christmas Tree by offering their guests a free cocktail if they take a little toy for charity!
We have recently written an article about the Christmas trees at the Claridge Hotel in London. For several years already they invite great designers to decorate their Christmas trees. They also organize a Tree Lighting Party just as the large department stores in London, New York and the ‘Bijenkorf’ in the Netherlands celebrate their ‘window lighting party’, since a couple of years.
Combine the Tree Lighting party with charity
The Pierre New York Hotel is trying to tempt guests to take along a toy for charity. A couple of years back I read about parties in Hollywood where Christmas trees decorated by celebrities were auctioned for charity. Nice idea to create a similar auction with your local celebrities!
^ Marjolein van Spronsen
Dutch Coffee Makers back in The Netherlands
28-11-2014
Coffee has gained a more exclusive status over the past years and there are a lot of connoisseurs nowadays. That said, most of the coffees are brewed hot and the (re)introduction of a cold brew method might bump into some doubts.
Dutch Coffee
The classical Dutch brewing method dates back to the Dutch East India Company period. With this method cold (ice) water drips through the ground bean reservoir. Making a pot of coffee takes four to six hours, the result is a less bitter and less acid coffee. The cold coffee barely oxidates and therefore has a longer shelve time. The Dutch Coffee contains zero calories because the fat in the beans doesn’t dissolve in cold water.
Design
The design of the classical Dutch Coffee machines, or installations, dates back to the trade of the Dutch East India Company. The elegant design is a fusion between Dutch stolidity and Asian craftsmanship.
Taste
The various tastes of the coffee bean are well preserved by the cold brew method. The founders of the ‘Dutch Coffee’ company, Jits Krol and Robert Nijhof, say it’s even strange that we’re brewing coffee hot. This tradition probably started back in the days when it was more hygienic and healthier to brew coffee with boiled water. It does have a negative impact on the taste though.
The website www.dutch-coffee.nl/en shows a variety of serving methods, brew-experiments and the machines of course.
Small hospitable gesture: Leave it at Hyatt
27-11-2014
The Grand Hyatt Melbourne has launched its ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ service, enabling visitors to safely store their belongings on site, ready for their next stay.
We have been writing about small hospitable gestures for quite some time now and this is one great example. ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ is facilitating frequent visitors to travel lighter or in case they are a bit over packed for one return flight, to pick their luggage up the next time. According to the Australian Business Traveller, regular guests can fill out a form and leave items at the reception (all within reasonable proportions of course). When they return, guests can get their items delivered to their room. Clothes can even be dry-cleaned if requested!
The ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ service is creating repeating visits and brand loyalty
A similar service like ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ is sometimes offered at wintersporthotels. Having the ability to leave skies and ski shoes at the hotel enables the guest to travel lighter. On the other hand, hotels are assured that the guest will return! Nice small gestures. What small hospitable gesture can you offer your guests? ^Marjolein
Storytelling by Hotel Casa 400
26-11-2014
Hotel Casa 400 launches storytelling website ‘Home To 400’ and shares its history by the motto “Mi Casa es su Casa ‘.
In 1957 Gabbe Scheltema, Frits Bolkestein and the late Nol South took the initiative to introduce a successful student hotel concept from Copenhagen in Amsterdam in Copenhagen. They wanted to offer a solution to the lack of student housing and wanted to solve the increased demand for hotel rooms in the peak summer season as well.
“With us behind every room a story”
The hotel pays tribute to the founders and 57 years of history by launching a unique website with stories from students, staff and visitors of Casa 400. The accompanying video for instance tells the story of the housekeeping staff, but there are also extensive written stories about (former) residents.
Expanding the storytelling website
Besides stories that are published already the website will gradually be supplemented with stories of all students, employees and guests. It is one of the best examples of storytelling in the hospitality industry nowadays.
Shopping via hotel television
26-11-2014
Guests from hotel The Dylan in Amsterdam can virtually shop in stores around the hotel via the tv screen in the room. Luckily the hotel is positioned in the shopping area ‘The 9 streets’, with a lot of boutiques.
Once the order is paid, distributer PostNL makes sure that it is delivered in your room within one hour. Return items that don’t fit can easily be dropped off at the hotel reception. The service is a collaboration between The Dylan Amsterdam, 9straatjesonline.com and PostNL.
Room Shopping
The www.9straatjesonline.com website offers virtual visitors the opportunity to browse online through the range of 40 boutiques without taking one step out of the door. The Room Shopping concept launched earlier this year with a temporary ‘Room Shopping Package’. Although the package is not available anymore, the unique Room Shopping service remains. The initiative is a nice extension of the hotel’s service as well as a strong promotion of the shopping area.
Blackjack with taste, Vino Casino
25-11-2014
Last Sunday at the ‘Wine Weekend’ wine fair I spotted the ‘Vino Casino’ game. ‘Vino Casino’, as you can see in the picture is a specially developed BlackJack table, representing a large world map and different vintages on the side.
Blackjack with taste
The game begins with a wine tasting, without seeing the label. Through smell, taste and look participants need to indicate the country / region and the age of the wine. Blackjack with taste thus! The casino chips, which are distributed in advance, must be deployed on both the country and the age groups. When the country or year is correct the number of casino chips is doubled. You can agree in advance how many bottles to taste at this blackjack table. The one who has the most casino chips at the end of the flight, is the winner.
For staff parties or during a tasting
This game is perfect to teach your staff or guests more about wine, in a fun and playful way. It gives a competitive element to a tasting and selects the real ‘wine connoisseur’ among your friends and colleagues. ^Bram Kosterink
An Airbnb with as host the KLM
21-11-2014
KLM listed an MD-11 as ‘Spacious Airline Apartment’ on Airbnb
The Dutch carrier KLM has teamed up with Airbnb for a promotion in which aviation enthusiasts can win a night’s stay in Amsterdam. The lodging would be inside one of the airline’s just-retired MD-11s. It’s listed on Airbnb as a ‘Spacious Airplane Apartment’ in Amsterdam. Airbnb says the Wi-Fi equipped two-bedroom lodging option also comes with two kitchens, a living room, eight “small” bathrooms, 116 windows and “a giant cockpit panorama window”. Unfortunately flying is prohibited. The Airplane Apartment is available for three nights only, Nov. 28-30 2014.
Map allergens via Ingredient Information Netherlands
13-11-2014
Within exactly one month, every food provider in Europe is obliged to be able to tell his customers or guests which allergens are processed into a dish or product. It’s a complicated matter and time consuming to have to determine this yourself. Ingredient Information Netherlands supports.
The solution
Ingredients Information Netherlands (IIN) connects the allergens, but also the nutritional values and the E-numbers, to the products you use. Based on this information they give an insight in which allergens, nutritional values and E-numbers that are processed in your dishes. IIN provides you with the solution for the provision of allergen information within your organization; it does this for large or small restaurants, hotels and catering companies.
This is how IIN works
The philosophy behind the IIN software; ‘being transparent in a simple way about all the allergens in food’. The software design is based on your menus, recipes and the products involved and thus provides a custom made ingredients-information package. In addition to allergens you can also gain direct insight into the nutritional values (required by law in 2016) and the E-numbers. In short IIN makes the link between the information provided by your suppliers’ raw material specifications and your own recipes in one database. Through your own ‘My IIN’ you have a quick insight in which allergens the products contain in both your dish and menu. You can print the results and process in a separate allergen menu, display the information on a tablet or smartphone, or even mail it to your guests.
100% custom made
So no sheets of paper, but a web based solution. That means you have access to the information via a PC, tablet or smartphone. The system saves time, you meet the legal requirements, you can receive guests who suffer from food allergies and you create added value for nutrition-conscious guests. Check out the website of IIN, it’s possible to experience the capabilities of Ingredients Information Netherlands in a demo environment.
