125 is a happy birthday special. Kempinski has been celebrating for at least a year, culminating in a highly successful road show in New York – CEO Bernold Schroeder led the brigade.
Now it’s the turn of a single property, HOTEL DE L’EUROPE, AMSTERDAM, which opened in 1896. Okay, it is slightly delayed, but blame the pandemic…
In celebration of its 125th anniversary, one lucky person is offered an amazing package for €1.25 million. Offers in the million range are not of course new. When that late-and-great Dutchman Ricco de Blank was GM of THE RITZ-CARLTON OSAKA about 15 years ago, he offered a US$1 million wedding package. Fortunately no-one ‘bought’ the idea – he had no idea what it would actually consist of – but he reckoned he got over a million-dollars-worth of global publicity.
Hotel De L’Europe’s offer, by contrast, is exactly detailed. What do you get for this? A two-night buy-out of the 106-room hotel (maximum 212 people, not sure where dogs fit in). This is nearly all-inclusive when it comes to food (no mention of beverages). Food includes room service or Brasserie Marie breakfasts, and a dinner at Flore, Trattoria Graziella or Freddy’s Bar, named for Freddy Heineken – see, above, the silhouette that hangs in the lobby of the Heineken family-owned hotel. Another night is a big party, with food and entertainment performances throughout the hotel. Obviously there is free entrance for all to the wellness facility (the birthday-bod, who stumps up the €1.25 million, gets membership to the hotel’s Le Spa by Skins Institute for an entire year).
The hotel’s inhouse retail partners in the creative wing, t’ Huys, where icons of art, style and luxury blend together, are in on the act. There’s a Salle Privée fragrance to take home, a tulip ring from Bibi van der Velden, abeautiful couture look from RVDK sustainable couture, an original artwork from The Ravestijn Gallery and a ‘Ferrari’ collector’s piece sourced by MENDO. In addition, former lifestyle director of Vogue Living, Valerie ven der Werff offers an entire rebrand of a company. Add in a bottle of rare, old Single Malt Scotch Whisky from Bowmore. You, or a female companion, get five visits to the highly exclusive Harper’s Bazaar Business Club, which comes with a monthly business newsletter, access to a private LinkedIn group and reduced rate Harper’s Bazaar Business Club events.
The two-night stay at Hotel De L’Europe comes with an invitation from top fashion stylist, Danie Bles, to a workshop and lunch – up to 10 guests – and the ‘host’ gets a vintage high-end fashion item to go (and, by the way, the host’s hotel suite will have been transformed, before arrival, into a Garden of Eden paradise by The Wunderkammer. And last but not least, D/Dock will organise a seminar on the ‘Aesthetics of Uncertainty’.
The certainty is that realists will be clamouring to own this buy-out of a very special Leading Hotel of the World, right?
The Hotel De L’Europe opened its doors in 1896 and has been dedicated to representing luxury hospitality in Amsterdam ever since. With 106 beautifully appointed guest rooms, including 48 suites and a peerless six-bedroom penthouse sui
