Laugh your pants of
20-4-2015
At the ‘World Laughter Day’ (the first Sunday in May), Herengracht Restaurant & Bar in Amsterdam serves free ‘bitterballen’ (this is a typical Dutch treat, mini croquettes).
Herengracht Restaurant & Bar in Amsterdam is located right at one of the canals. The ideal place for a quick stopover while cruising through the canals. Herengracht Restaurant and Bar will launch a special boat catering menu this spring. Serving a nice and delicious lunch on the water of the Herengracht (one of the main canals). To start the boat-catering-season the Herengracht serves the free ‘bitterballen’ in collaboration with ‘Oma Bobs’, to the boats coming by and the visitors of the Herengracht Restaurant and Bar.
The boat catering season starts with a playful ‘Laugh your pants off’
The typical Dutch saying: ‘Laugh your balls out of your pants’ is freely translated in English as ‘Laugh your pants off’. That’s why The Herengracht Restaurant and Bar is serving ‘Bitterballen’ (balls) at the ‘World Laugther Day’.
‘World Laughter Day’ was founded in 1998 within the motto: “We do not laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh” and takes place every year. On 3 May to boats on the Herengracht canal and visitors of the restaurant or bar can pick up their free ‘bitterballen’. “We will distribute the mini-croquettes as start of the boat-catering-season and because we need more laughter” Says Wessel Kuipers, co-owner of the Herengracht Restaurant and Bar.
Easter campaign in Brielle
16-4-2015
We can’t say it often enough: if you do a sales promotion, point it at your potential visitor. After Easter we read about the promotional action of Sven Schreuder for his Brasserie Hotel ‘De Nymph’. Inspiration for Easter next year but in the way he implemented it could work for other campaigns as well.
Fans could hunt for giant Easter eggs in Brielle
Sven hid 10 giant chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday. He did this in Brielle, the town where his brasserie and hotel is located. From 8 o’clock in the morning enthusiasts could try to find the hidden eggs. Last year, participants tried to follow Sven while he was hiding the eggs. So this year he went out extra early! As from 8 o’clock he gave hints on his Facebook page.
The finder of the giant chocolate egg could of course keep it, all finders could get a free ice cream in his ice cream parlor ‘De Koele Kever’ (The Cool Beetle). In addition as an extra incentive Sven hid in one of the eggs a free night at his hotel ‘De Nymph’. A great Easter action and an example of how you can implement a local promotion: local press was involved (the newspaper ‘AD Voorne Putten’ paid attention to the promotion before Easter) and the fact that Sven also used social media to give hints and placed pictures of the ‘finders’ on Facebook. Next to the annual celebration of the Brielle capture by the Sea Beggars on 1 April 1572, the city now has a new tradition.
The Roast Bar and Rotisserie
9-4-2015
The Roast Room is the new restaurant of Michael and Saskia Deenik and opened officially on 8 April. The Roast Room is a butcher shop, roast bar and rotisserie in one, located in the RAI Amtrium at the Europaplein in Amsterdam.
The butchers cut the meat that’s used in the restaurant themselves and they make fresh sausages and burgers as well. The vegetables and herbs for the restaurant come from a five floors City Farming space on the south side of the Amtrium.
The Roast Bar and Rotisserie
The Roast Bar on the ground floor is a brasserie which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If the weather allows, it’s possible to eat outside at the terrace. The bar is decorated with large copper beer tanks filled with Warsteiner lager and the special beers.
The Rotisserie, a fine dining restaurant which is open for lunch and dinner, is located on the first floor. It includes a roof terrace for sunny days. The open kitchen has a Rotissoire, a charcoal grill, Australian Beech-wood furnaces for gas burners and a California South Bend-broiler that can heat up to 1,400 degrees Celsius.
Interior
The interior is the work of Studio Modijefsky and Studio Molen, who were responsible for the interior of Visaandeschelde as well. Restaurant Visaandeschelde is from the same owners. A bronze ‘Tower of Babel’ with shiny sausages welcomes guests at the entrance, an iconic butcher’s leg dangles in front of the butchery and a giant bronze ‘Ginger’ chandelier is one of the other unique cool features of the restaurant.
10 tips for small gestures that make a room more welcoming
31-3-2015
A hotel room is a room where you sleep when you are traveling. Whether this is for business or pleasure, it doesn’t really matter much. The guest pays for the luxury he or she wants to experience during the stay. Yet there are those little gestures you can use to pamper the guest just a little extra. We have collected 10 examples of small suggestions to spice up your hotel room.
Hotel amenities
We all know the standard of soaps, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, bathing caps, toothbrush sets and shaving kits by now. Many of these amenities disappear in the suitcase and are a lasting reminder of your hotel in the bathroom of your previous guests. Definitely keep the standard amenities as a giveaway. I must say, I’m still positively surprised if I find mini packs makeup remover wipes. Hoteliers, this is highly appreciated by women!
Bath Menu and sunscreen
At the Andaz Hotel in San Diego they have a bowl at the front desk with sunscreen sachets that have a high protection for your face! What a great service. At the Surf & Sand Resort Laguna Beach (Los Angeles) there are cheerful messages on the amenities of the hotel. Texts that make you happy when you walk into the bathroom in the morning.
More and more hotels are offering some kind of a Bath Menu: you can get an extended bath treatment from top soap brands. This can be a form of upselling, recently we wrote about it on horecatrends.com.
Magazines or other books besides the bed
At Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Los Angeles next to the Getty Museum, the nightstand contains a book with uplifting and cheerful texts and drawings next to the traditional Bible. Guests can buy the book downstairs in the shop as well, along with other fun books in this series! You see more and more luxury hotels that present a selection of magazines in the room. And if you do it, do it right. At the Schloss Bensberg in Bergisch Gladbach we received a daily selection of various magazines!
Children in the hotel room
It always amazes me that there is so little attention to detail for (parents with) children. Occasionally we’ve encountered some toys at a room, a simple gesture which makes a child happy and the parents as well. At Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica they have a box in the bookcase with a yo-yo and three juggling balls. For the little ones, they have also a small whale for in the bath! But even older children find these toys fun, is my experience! A beach ball in a seaside hotel or some traditional Dutch games like the reversed buckets that you keep under your feet while walking by two strings in your hand. A doll in traditional costume for the toddler could be fun too, and so on.
Even adults like to play …
Adults also love to play as well, they know that at Shutters on the Beach. At the bathroom they have locked some guilty pleasures in a bathroom cabinet. More hotels are offering excitement in this form, sometimes in collaboration with well-known adult shops like Christine le Duc.
Yoga offer in your hotel room
At LUXURY Sunset Boulevard hotel a yoga mat in your hotel room is ready to use. There is a business card attached to it that says “Decompress with my yoga works” and it includes a code for a month of online yoga classes. Guests can also attend a complimentary yoga class at a location nearby. It could be interesting to collaborate with a local yoga teacher on this. Or if you haven’t got a gym at the hotel, working together with a gym nearby can be an option as well.
Use a minibar in a charming way.
In a number of luxury hotels the minibar is already free of charge. Given the prices you pay for the room, the cost is often negligible. It is really charming to offer some drinks for free in any case, even a simple bottle of water on the nightstand is appreciated by your guests. Every day the Andaz Hotel in San Diego offered some drinks and snacks for free. They would put these on top of the mini-bar with a friendly note attached.
Do not disturb sign
The Marriott hotel in Dana Point California has a special ‘do not disturb’ sign: Gone Surfin ! It’s definitely responding to local conditions ;-). The Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach (Los Angeles) has a ‘do not disturb sign’ sign that you put into the keyhole. That will keep the maid out if you want to sleep..
Local hints in your hotel room
It’s old fashioned but at the luxury hotels it’s certainly still common, a box of stationery and postcards. Yet there are more and more people who just send postcards from their holiday address. The Surf & Sand Resort has put a handful of shells from the beach in their box which can be added to your letter. What is a local element at your location? If it’s the view, provide a binoculars for your guests.
Responding to special circumstances for your guests …
Nothing is easier than a guest who indicates that he or she is at your hotel to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or something else. An opportunity to score for an open goal. And yet many hotels miss this! A small cake with a personal congratulation can sparkle a miracle and is often shared via social media. It is not really about what you do, as long as you do something.
Marjolein van Spronsen
Fiii Fun House, the place that has everything to make kids happy
17-3-2015
Fiii Fun House is a fun restaurant for kids. It has toys, swings, hanging hammocks (for the sleepy young ones), a coloring table, a ballroom, a play area for babies and an area for the parents and other adults to enjoy a meal while the kids play.
The interior of Fiii Fun house
Fiii house is located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is designed by architect Iris Cantante, obviously with kids in mind! The environment is eco-friendly and a lot of wood was used in the design to create a calming atmosphere. The owners Mariela Vergagni and Diego Cores have an eatery that offers something for everybody from 0 till 99 years of age. The two-story space features a top floor designated for private events and a bottom floor with long communal tables, with for example swings as seats. So no more: ‘don’t rock your chair!’
Upselling with a luxury bathing service
16-3-2015
At the Ritz hotel in Kuala Lumpur, you can choose a bath ‘fragrance line’ from a Bath Menu. A luxurious gesture … We wrote about the Bath Menu in our publication ‘Royal hospitable gestures’ in April 2013.
Luxury bathing service at St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Recently we read an article on Luxury Launches that the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel is bringing back the Bath Ritual. This (free) service is only available to guests of the suites of the hotel. The guests can choose between 3 rituals: Journey to India, Journey on the Silk Route and Journey to Africa. The bath will be prepared while guests drink or dine. After returning to your room, your bath will be ready and you can bathe with a set of fragrances, body oils and unguents, while enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of cake or something healthy. After this relaxing bath you can use the lotion from one of the ‘ritual bath’ lines.
Inspiration: More luxury hotels offer a ‘bath butler’ service. The butler comes to your room with the luxury bath products the hotel offers, you choose the one you prefer and buy it. If a hotel offers the right products this might be a form of upselling.
Papa Poule, the new rotisserie chicken hot spot in New York
12-3-2015
Rotisserie chicken served from the counter by Michelin starred chef Arman Arnal and team in New York.
The team behind the bakery Maman, with Michelin starred chef Arman Arnal (former chef at the Michelin starred restaurant ‘La Chassagnette’ in the south of France), Benjamin Sormonte and Elisa Marshall opened their new project Papa Poule in the beginning of February 2015. Papa Poule focuses on French rotisserie chicken that is only available for takeout and delivery.
Inspiration
Papa Poule had a lot of attention in the American press with their culinary (grill)chickens and Resto Poule & Poulette in Antwerp is also very popular. We wonder if we get a culinary revival of the chicken in the Netherlands as well?
The menu at Papa Poule
The menu includes a variety of flavoured rotisserie chickens, all massaged, marinated, and stuffed. The chicken will be finished with different sauces, including BBQ, honey mustard, béarnaise, chimichurri, and aioli. If a whole chicken is too much, you can also choose for a quarter or half a chicken to take away. There will also be a daily changing selection of sides, specials and desserts, like chicken potpie, potato gratin, sage-and-onion stuffing, Israeli couscous and profiteroles.
Location
Papa Poule is located at Lafayette street in New York. It is a small room with no seating. The restaurant is inspired by a typical French farmhouse. The kitchen is enclosed with chicken wire and the lamps are made from this material as well. Check their Facebook page for pictures.
Travel light
10-3-2015
Travel light is powered by TNT Express, they take care of the transport of your skis, snowboard, golf set or even your luggage to your holiday destination. The luggage will be picked up at home and ready upon arrival at your holiday destination.
Travel light as part of the service to your hotel guests
We have already seen several hotels that accommodate in solutions for the luggage of their guests. At the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, they have a ‘Leave it at Hyatt’ service, enabling visitors to safely store their belongings on site, ready for their next stay.
Some hotels in ski resorts offer the same service for skis and snowboards, with the effect that their guests travel lighter and return! If your hotel welcomes guests who take extra luggage such as skis or golf sets regularly, you could point them to this possibility. The service of Travel Light allows your guests to book flights with only hand luggage. The luggage is traceable via a track and trace system. On the website of Travel light you will find an instruction video, how to pack your luggage and send it to your holiday destination and back.
The AntiCafé – more comfortable & cheaper than holding office in the Starbucks
20-2-2015
Leonie van Spronsen, lives and works in Paris and visited the AntiCafé. At this place you pay for the time you spend there!
In big cities most people have small homes and big dreams. To make these dreams come true you need to make long hours of studying/working/meeting and with those small living situations and high rents, finding a place to work can be challenging.
This fact has made it completely acceptable to work in your local Starbucks/McDonald’s/Coffee shop but obviously this is not ideal, the manager does not appreciate you being there all day, the F&B is expensive and the furniture was not set up for comfort on the long haul.
This is where the AntiCafé comes in, a concept where you are at a hospitality outlet and pay for time instead of per item. For a couple of euro’s you receive;
• coffee and tea
• snacks and fruits
• fast Wi-Fi
• access to a projector, printer, scanner and board games
• in addition, you are welcome to bring in your own food/soft drinks
You come in, receive a keycard that you need to hold onto until you leave, then when you are ready to leave you ‘check-out’ and pay per hour (€4 for the first hour, €3 per hour for the following hours and a maximum of €16 per day), that’s how easy it is.
Weekend days all Parisian locations fill up completely, you really have to be early to get a good spot!
The idea is to create a shared space where people can work, inspire each other or just have an extension of their living rooms. Maybe the mission statement is somewhat idealistic, dare I say hippie, but the practicality of the concept is very convenient. You are working between people from all over the world, hearing a plethora of languages, have access to unlimited drinks & snacks and you are comfortable in a beautiful, light space. I hope the AntiCafé will take the world by storm!
Editor’s Note: In the Netherlands we have a meeting concept, Seat2meet. You can work here and get free Wi-Fi, coffee, tea and lunch. Their business model is renting meeting rooms: premium spots for flexible workers who want a little more quiet, and meeting rooms for groups. The only conditions if you want to work here; you need to show your ‘social capital’ meaning, everyone present is aware of your expertise and if possible you help each other. Meanwhile Seats2meet has quite a few branches. Perhaps an idea for Paris?
And while we’re at it: look at DrawAttention. You can buy whiteboard stickers here to stick on your laptop cover, on which you can advertise your expertise or say you don’t want to be disturbed!
Virgin Rumors
13-2-2015
Back in August, the yet-to-open Virgin Hotel in Chicago started the #VirginRumors social media campaign. The hotel began encouraging people to spread rumors about the hotel on social media, Virgin Rumors. The person who had the best #VirginRumor would then win a two-night stay at the hotel during the opening party along with airfare and transportation.
Virgin Rumors
The owner of the hotel, Sir Richard Branson, had actually act out one of the Virgin rumors. Richard Branson was tucking the big winner and her fiancée in and was reading them a bed time story.
Lucy
If Richard Branson isn’t able to provide personal advice or read you a story, Lucy is a great stand-in. Lucy is an app that is your personal assistant during your stay. Lucy gives you advice to find the best local restaurants and gives access to the Virgin Hotels chatroom where you can get recommendations from other guests, meet up, or make new contacts. Besides that Lucy is the remote control you need to watch TV or order movies on demand. You can browse the menu and order with a few ticks. Order while you’re out and come back to find a meal waiting for you.
