GOSTELOW REPORT – “I never thought I would return to the Netherlands, but I stood on a bridge in the center of Amsterdam and looked at the hotel, a castle surrounded by canals and narrow streets, and saw potential to make a contribution,” said Edward Leenders, who, after working 20 years across Europe became managing director of Hotel de L’Europe, Amsterdam, in May 2018.
“I also liked the idea of standalone, and being able to make decisions, with no central office to report to. I could be entrepreneurial,” he continued.
The 111-room hotel, a Leading member on one bank of the Amstel river, is a conversion of adjoining 1896-vintage buildings that the Heineken family had owned since the 1960s. Heineken’s prominent headquarters are less than 500 yards away and senior management and members of the board – to whom Leenders reports – are in and out of the hotel almost daily.
“As soon as I arrived I knew I wanted to add value and I had full ownership support (there are over 300 companies in the Heineken portfolio but this is their only hotel and it is something of a showcase),” Leenders said. “I considered big design names in London and Paris but someone suggested a local couple, Dax and Joyce Roll, who run Nicemakers.” It was quickly determined that there was an opportunity to utilize some of the many public rooms to bring more locals into the hotel. One important criterion was that every possible association should be luxury.
Nicemakers was already in contact with Roy Rietstap, one of three booksellers who had started Mendo, described as a candy store for book lovers, in 2002. That discussion began to center on the fact that retail in general had to evolve, and what was the next era of bookselling? How could the customer experience go beyond buying a book? Leenders was brought into the conversation.
“The result was that this May Mendo moved its main operation into a spacious hotel reception room, previously the hotel’s Johannes van Dam library. We completely refurnished it, with, obviously, plenty of shelves and lots of comfortable seating,” explained Leenders, adding that the hotel is now also the main working studio of The Wunderkammer, a boutique led by two extravagant-display floral designers, Florian Seyd and Ueli Signer. In both cases, partners staff the facilities, which are open long hours, seven days a week. Customers can order food and drink, which the hotel services (hotel guests can sign books and flowers to their room). Ongoing loyal local customers of Mendo and The Wunderkammer are brought into the hotel, and use its other facilities.
It’s a win-win for everyone and Leenders stresses firmly he is not finished yet. Watch more partnerships being announced shortly. Having such inhouse facilities has other advantages. Partners’ own communication channels substantially help the hotel’s marketing and it is noticeable there is a rise in younger-generation guests (with current border restrictions throughout Europe, 70% of today’s rooms business, nearly all leisure, and drive, is domestic, with two-night average stay).
Another part of the Hotel de L’Europe enhancement jigsaw is the addition of a fourth restaurant. Leenders, who had spent five years working for Rocco Forte Hotels in Italy, has always been entranced by the business of food – he started his career as a teenager dishwashing after school in a restaurant deep in a Dutch forest. Now, get antipasti, primo, what you feel like, in Graziella, the seemingly standalone trattoria named, oh so suitably in the city so world-famous for its bikes, for a stylish Italian folding model which soared to popularity after its launch in 1964. “Our tagline, Original Amsterdam Luxury, is no longer just three words but a reality,” he smiled.