At Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week amongst others an article about Amaranth an alternative to wheat and rice that is becoming more popular. Restaurant Taiko in the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam introduced a Japanese style gin. In London The Distillery Portobello Road Gin Hotel & Bar is soft launching. In Amsterdam we will be getting a new restaurant, The Avocado Show.
If you like to read the whole article, click the title. Enjoy reading! read more
Blink and you’ll miss it, the statement of Blink. Blink from travel experts Black Tomato provides the ultimate custom designed pop-up hotels for guests in search of rare, one-of-a-kind travel experiences. The kind traveling you’re looking for if you get bored and have a high level of ‘been there, done that’. Blink is a new travel service that offers the most personalised luxury travel experience imaginable; the chance to design your own pop-up hotel room or room at private and untouched locations. As they’re working with a lot of tents it better to speak of glamping.
Gym Boat in Paris by Carlo Ratti Associati 
Gym Boat in Paris by Carlo Ratti Associati 
Gym Boat in Paris by Carlo Ratti Associati We think it would be great to have a workout-powered gym boat in the canals of Amsterdam as well. But for now the International design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati has teamed up with fitness equipment manufacturer Technogym, architecture group Terreform ONE and the urban regeneration institute URBEM to present the Paris Navigating Gym. This will be a fitness vessel that moves along the Seine River by harnessing energy from the workouts of their passengers.
Starbucks Red Cup Cheer Campaign 
Starbucks Red Cup Cheer Campaign The holidays are traditionally a time of giving. Starbucks Red Cup Cheer campaign which is currently taking place across Europe through December 24, is generating ‘Cheers’ for charity. During this period, a portion of Starbucks holiday beverage sales in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and France will be directed to selected non-profit organizations. read more
Conservatorium Hotel 
Greg Shapiro Already the fifth edition of the Hotelnacht! (Dutch, meaning hotelnight) Because there are so many great Hotelnacht parties, Hotelnacht diners and touristique activities organized, we thought we had to write about it again. The people from Amsterdam can again enjoy a great weekend holiday in their own city in the weekend of January 14-15 against reduced prices. read more
On December 26th between 10.30 am and 5 pm, exchange any unwanted holiday gift for a free Whopper sandwich at the Burger King restaurant located at 910 Arthur Godfrey Road in Miami Beach. Another way to celebrate the second Christmas day we celebrate in the Netherlands and a great way to get a lot of exposure with their #WhopperExchange for their Burger King restaurant.
Floor17
Floor17
Floor17
Floor17Is curling boring? Doubtful. Amsterdam offers plenty of possibilities in the upcoming weeks to try out this Olympic sport. For example Bowery Restaurant at the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the Rooftopbar Floor17 on the Ramada Apollo Hotel offer people the possibility to get familiar with the sport! read more
The first of its kind, the self-pouring beer pump allows drinkers to pour their own pint of ale and pay with a touch of their contactless card or device in just 60 seconds. Pay @ Pump has been designed to help pubs and bars speed up service in response to a quarter of Brits saying that queuing for drinks is the worst part of a night out. Average waiting time at the bar during the festive party season is 12 minutes per order. Pay @ Pump is designed to help reduce queuing time especially during busy period like Christmas. read more
Picture by: Stuart Bailey
Picture by: Stuart Bailey
Picture by: Stuart BaileyGin is still gaining popularity, British Airways is proving this with the launch of the specially made tipple – British Airways Gin. The gin will only be served to the airline’s First customers, from the bar of the prestigious Concorde Room at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. read more
At Horecatrends we spot a lot of national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write articles about, the smaller trends we use in our column ‘Trends we spotted this week’. This week 2 small articles; a recipe to use chickenpea liquid, aka Aquafaba and bacon-flavoured mushrooms. In the Dutch article a couple of unique items from Dutch hotels and restaurants for the auction of 3FM Serious Request.
If you like to read the whole article, click the title. Enjoy reading! read more
Breakfast buffet in the kitchen of Hotel B Design & Spa
Breakfast buffet in the kitchen of Hotel B Design & Spa
Breakfast buffet in the kitchen of Hotel B Design & SpaCreating a breakfast buffet in the kitchen of your restaurant, allowing your guests to take a look in the kitchen. That is what chef Nancy Bourguignon from the restaurant at Hotel B Design & Spa in France is doing. This charming design hotel in the Provence is located near Les Baux-de-Provence and offers their guest this small gesture of hospitality.
On average one out of ten people in the world are lefthanded. According to a Dutch article ‘Wetenschap in Beeld’ a cork screw is one of the worst obstacles for lefthanded people. In order to solve this problem Pulltex, producer of cork screws, developed a special version of the corkscrew for lefthanded people with another direction of rotation. De ‘Pullparrot’ has a double lever and an extra-long spiral. read more
At the Manta Resort in Tanzania you can spend the night in a special way. The resort offers a room which lays four meters beneath the waves. The room lies approximately 250m from the shore of Pemba Island, one of the islands surrounding Tanzania. read more
Spelly Straws aren’t just any straw. They’re individual letter pieces that connect to form personalized words straws you can drink from. Spell a name, form a message or just let your imagination run free. read more
Approachable inspiration, trends and highlights from 2025 that can be easily applied to your own business in 2026. A whitepaper to scroll through when you read more
We’ve been enjoying glorious summer weather for a few weeks now, and the popular seasonal drinks are already known. Mocktails, cocktails, spritz variations, rosé, and read more
Stockholm Arlanda Airport has renewed the cafés and restaurants at the airport. There are new cafés and restaurants located at the airport. To raise awareness of the new F&B concepts, the Arlanda food trucks are visiting multiple locations around Stockholm. The food trucks sell samples of the cuisine available at the airport. Via the website Consumers are kept informed about the route of the food trucks and the dishes being sold. This is an innovative way to give potential passengers a tasting of the cuisine at the Swedish airport.
McDonald’s added steak to the breakfast menu in the USA. Besides the regular breakfast menu, customers can now for example choose a bagel with steak, egg and cheese. At this moment the steak as breakfast is available at approximately 9,600 locations in the USA. Besides this heavy breakfast item, McDonald’s is also testing the bundled ‘Blitz Box’ in Kansas City. Customers can order the Blitz Box for $ 14,99, it contains two Quarter Pouders with cheese, two medium orders of French fries and 10 Chicken McNuggets with dipping sauces. The Blitz Box is tied into a promotion with the Kansas City Chiefs and will be available during the football season. If the Blitz Box is successful, McDonald’s might introduce this bundled menu at multiple locations.
Mr. Aboutaleb, the Mayor of Rotterdam opens ‘The World Food Festival’ on Thursday September 19th. More than five weeks hospitality, scientists, food producers and chefs will show and let you taste what Rotterdam has to offer. Festivals, markets, tastings and trips through the city will bring the visitor in contact with food. From a Maroccan food court to the Rotterdam meatball. In the Future Food House designers, scientists and artists give their predictions about the future of food. The Italian culinary movie ‘Pranzo di Ferragosto’ will be shown at the ‘Museumpark’.
At the ice cream parlor Peddlers Creamery in Los Angeles, customers can make their own ice cream by cycling. The ice cream parlor sells both dairy and non-dairy organic ice cream, made of local sustainable products. Instead of using electricity to make an ice cream, the motor is connected to the bicycle device that uses the energy to churn the ice cream. Customers can contribute to the production of their own ice cream. The focus at Peddlers Creamery is on sustainability, environmental friendly and local products.
The authentic Dutch gin brand KETEL1 presents ‘The story of Willem de Bruin’, one of the singers of the Dutch hip-hop formation ‘The Opposites’. With the online video campaign, KETEL1 brings stories, history and ambition of Dutch artists in the picture. Recognizable elements are: craftsmanship, character and pure authenticity. In the video of Willem de Bruin you will see the story of the successful rapper. The reason for this campaign were the personal stories of people sent to the gin brand.
The authentic Dutch gin brand KETEL1 presents ‘The story of Willem de Bruin’, one of the singers of the Dutch hip-hop formation ‘The Opposites’. With the online video campaign, KETEL1 brings stories, history and ambition of Dutch artists in the picture. Recognizable elements are: craftsmanship, character and pure authenticity. In the video of Willem de Bruin you will see the story of the successful rapper. The reason for this campaign was the personal stories of people sent to the gin brand.
McDonald’s is testing a mobile order app. Customers can use the app to place an order and pay through their phone. The order can be picked up at the drive through or in the shop. The app provides special offers and a loyalty program. With the app McDonald’s wants to offer more convenience to place an order. At this moment the application is tested in Salt Lake City.
The Kapellerput conference hotel has redesigned its six meeting rooms. The rooms have massive brainstorm walls, interactive projectors combined with glass whiteboards and the curtains have a print of abstracted tree trunk pattern. The carpet of the lobby is replaced by a specially developed design inspired by art and nature. The carpet looks like a cross section of a tree trunk with a length of 75 meters.
The ‘Waldorf Astoria New York’ and the ‘Grand Wailea’ in Maui, both members of the Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand, held a ‘Battle of the Bees’ to celebrate the National Honey Month. Both hotels have a set of beehives and use the produced honey in culinary dishes, cocktails and spa treatments. During the ‘Battle of the Bees’, at September 4, a panel of judges elected the honey of both hotels, processed in dishes. The Waldorf Astoria New York won the judges’ approval by a vote of 3-2, the Grand Wailea got the popular vote as the media attendees awarded its honey as the best. Actually a bit of a tie. Guests are able to taste the honey-exchanged dishes throughout the month of September.
BP Netherlands (gas station) teamed up with Marks & Spencer to open the first Marks & Spencer Food pilot at the new BP gas station along the A12 in the Netherlands. The assortment of Marks & Spencer Food consists of 700 products, characterized by their freshness and high quality. The coffee and tea are Fairtrade, they only use free-range eggs in their products and the products do not contain saturated fats and artificial colors. The products of Marks & Spencer are an addition to the current assortment of BP. This pilot is the first of the in total six renovated gas station where the Marks & Spencer Food pilot will be introduced.
Google has launched the latest version of the Android mobile operating system in collaboration with Nestlé, named the ‘Android KitKat’. In 2009 Google started to give their new releases of mobile platforms names of sweet treats in alphabetical order. Like the ‘Android Cupcake’ in 2009 to the latest version ‘Android Jelly Bean’. Recently they introduced the ‘Android KitKat’. To celebrate the launch of the new ‘Android KitKat’ there will be a special KitKat bar in a Android package sold in 19 markets over the world. This package will bring the consumer to the android.com/kitkat website where they can win prizes. Watch the video about the Android KitKat here.
Crooked cucumbers, tomatoes in weird shapes or roots with two legs… Research shows that about 5 to 10% of the vegetables in the Netherlands are wasted, because of their shape, color or size. The wholesale Zegro and ‘Kromkommer’ launched a pilot project where they sell four types of imperfect vegetables this month. The vegetables tastes as good as normal, despite of the weird shapes. During the pilot the current assortment of Zegro will be complemented with imperfect cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and red peppers.
Next month the Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort in Zhejiang (at China’s eastern coast) will open. The building already has a number of nicknames, ‘The horseshoe hotel’ and ‘The Donut’. Besides the great design of the building, the interior must be spectacular as well. With a lobby, full of Swarovski crystal, panorama restaurants and lounges, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools. So if you’re going to Zhejiang, we know a nice hotel for you! Many more photos of Sheraton on the link below.
Pommes Frites, a small restaurant where they serve only authentic Belgian Fries, topped with a variety of extraordinary sauces. We thought that ‘a fries warsauce’ is a typical Dutch/Belgian combination was but it’s being served in NYC as well! Leonie van Spronsen, who spotted Pommes Frites, did enjoy her fries!
The Hampshire Hotel Fitland will open its doors on Monday 16 September. The hotel is located on the tenth and eleventh floor of the Level building, next to Leiden train station. The hotel has 120 luxurious rooms and two restaurants with view of the city. There is also a sport center and a complete wellness resort in the building. There are six multi-functional meeting rooms for eight to a thousand people and because of its central location near to the train station it is a great meeting venue.
The ‘Smart Lid’ is a special disposable lid that indicates when a drink is too hot to drink. The Smart Lid slowly changes from a red color into a dark red color when the drink cools, so it is the right temperature to drink (under 48 Celsius degrees). The lid prevents people from burning their mouth and hands to the drink. Very useful for restaurants and cafés that sell take-away beverages.
The Swiss architect Fredy Isela is planning to build a gigantic zeppelin hotel. This zeppelin hotel will be build on four piles of 30 meters high. The hotel should be 236 meters long, six floors and will have 500 suites. The hotel will also have several restaurants, a spa, conference rooms, shops and some luxury apartments. The hotel will be fully sustainable. The project will costs approximately 200 million euro, investors are still being searched.
Trivago gives an overview of ten popular hotels with waterslides all over the world. Ranging from slides with a view of the beach and sea to slides through aquariums with sharks and rays. Steep slides but also slides with many turns. The pictures above is from Artis The Palm hotel, a five-star resort located in Dubai. The 42 acre waterpark ‘Aquaventure’ is known as the best waterpark in the Middle East and Europe. The waterpark has slides where you are surrounded by sharks and rays, but also uphill water roller coasters and slides that catapult you through shark filled lagoons. A zipline circuit providing an exhilarating sky-high experience is under construction. For the other waterslide, check the article in The Huffington Post.
Through Twitter Café Valentijn (Schiedam, The Netherlands) told us about their special beer tap of InBev. The beer tap has a built-in spray tap, so the glasses can be rinsed quickly and easily. Café Valentijn is one of the first in the Netherlands that will use this installation. We wish them a lot of fun and succes with the opening on September the 12th.
Last summer we had a delicious lunch at Bistrot Chic Le 7, by Anne Sophie Pic, Valence (France). A bistrot crowded on a weekday, on a non tourist location. Formulas like a main dish with half bottle of mineral water for € 18 and a 3-course formula – Plein des sens – for € 30. Including a delicious ‘carpaccio de tomates’ with an emulsion of vanilla and old rum. At her twitteraccount /blog, I noticed a couple of great recipes, nice to follow for culinary enthusiasts. The interior of the bistrot is sleek with red accents … At the website of Anne Sophie Pic they show a video of the hotel and its three-stars restaurant and the bistrot. A nice impression and inspiration. In the toilets we found this red lamp made ??from bottles Sanbitter (of Sanpellegrino). Personally, I prefer to drink it but it’s a simple and surprising color accent … ^Marjolein
Four Seasons brings the guests journey to life with Pin.Pack.Go, a new travel planning service on Pinterest. Via Pinterest you can make your own Pin.Pack.Go board and specify the Four Seasons hotel you will be visiting during your holiday. Follow that specific hotel and the hotel will follow you back. The Four Seasons hotel will pin recommendations like tourist attractions, restaurants and shops. And through your board they have an insight in your interests. The Four Seasons thus plans your ideal travel from start to finish via Pinterest. An interesting and innovative way to inform your guests before their stay, a kind of concierge. And it increases the anticipation for your guests…
Four Seasons brings the guests journey to life with Pin.Pack.Go, a new travel planning service on Pinterest. Via Pinterest you can make your own Pin.Pack.Go board and specify the Four Seasons hotel you will be visiting during your holiday. Follow that specific hotel and the hotel will follow you back. The Four Seasons hotel will pin recommendations like tourist attractions, restaurants and shops. And through your board they have an insight in your interests. The Four Seasons thus plans your ideal travel from start to finish via Pinterest. An interesting and innovative way to inform your guests before their stay, a kind of concierge. And it increases the anticipation for your guests…
After the Twitter hotel in Majorca, the first Instagramhotel is now opened in Australia. Hotel 1888 has 90 rooms decorated with photos take by guests and is fully dedicated to Instagram. When you have more than 10.000 followers on Instagram you will get a free stay at the hotel and the guest/photographer of the Instagramphoto (of the hotel) of the month also receives a free additional stay. The hotel has a special room where you can take photos of yourself and guests are guided through the environment by an Instagram map.
Our colleague Steven van ‘t Hart celebrated his holiday in America this summer. He went out to eat the ‘Pizza-burger‘ by ‘Boston Pizza’ at the Niagara Falls location. We did mention this burger on horecatrends in April (kind of a April the 1st joke) and the burger will be on the menu in September. But Steven got to taste one! Especially the Pepperoni version was considered very tasty! He also noticed that children received a mini pizza box by entering the restaurant, containing coloring pages, games and crayons. Nice small gesture… That of course can be taken home ….
In the first version of the ‘small gestures in hospitality‘, in January 2013, we showed a ‘bedtime story’ that we found on our pillow in Hotel ‘The Palace’ in Dubai. A beautiful, simple poem about going to sleep. At the Copley Square Hotel in Boston, they wish their guest a good night with ‘bedtime stories’ by children. The stories are written by students of 826 Boston. 826 Boston is a non-profit writing center dedicated to supporting students age 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills and helping teachers inspire their students to write. Another great ‘small gesture in hospitality’.
Bezoek horecatrends op
