Christmas gestures
2-12-2013
Recently the Dutch paper ‘NRC Handelsblad’ published an article about what makes people happy. The writer, psychologist Sonja Lyumbomirsky gives as point number 1 that money can make happy sometimes, but focus on buying experiences (vacations, food and courses) rather than things. Things will get old quicker and are easier to compare to things of others or newer versions that come out later, this leads to more disappointments. This gives precisely the importance of hospitality, a good experience in a restaurant, bar or hotel contributes to the happiness of guests. As restaurant owner, you and your team contribute to creating a memory, especially with the holidays! The season makes it simples to create lasting experiences because your guests will already be in a merry mood and this can only be strengthened by dishes, decorations and hospitable gestures. This booklet will contain more photos than you are used to, but the images speak for themselves. Beautiful, simple examples of easily usable Christmas gestures. Download ‘Christmas gestures’ here.
Hotel offers Bike Butler service
2-12-2013
The Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver offers their members of the Fairmont Presindent’s Bluc an exclusive Bike Butler service. With this service, hotel guests can explore the environment in an ecofriendly way. The hotel rents out 20 bikes, for free, and the bike concierge Marc Henley prepares the bikes and fixes accessories such as helmets, locks, water bottles and maps. Marc Henley has 20 years experience of cycling in Canada and can provide the best cycling routes and tips.
Found Food Restaurant
29-11-2013
Four students of the University of Amsterdam are organizing a dinner at restaurant Baut Amsterdam on Wednesday December 4 to raise money for student scholarships in South Africa. Organizers Ismael Fofana, Tania Wells, Sarah Aly and Saro Campisano have convinced restaurant Baut chef Michel van der Eerde, Baaf Vonk (Varkensroosteren.nl) and a mystery chef to cook. Visitors can donate € 25,- via the website to reserve a seat at a communal table at Restaurant Baut. 100% of the money raised will go to student scholarships in South Africa. The collaboration sprouted during the Socionext classes, a course that’s part of university curricula in South Africa and Copenhagen as well.
Nhow recruits staff in an accessible way
29-11-2013
Nhow Rotterdam hotel will open its doors on January 10, 2014. This is the third nhow hotel in the world after Milan and Berlin. The hotel has 278 rooms, conference- and meeting facilities, a skyline bar, food lounge and a rooftop terrace. To recruit staff for the hotel, nhow has organized a Pioneer Fest on November 18. The hotel sent three local scouts on the road to search for candidates and to invite them for the Pioneer Fest. While enjoying a drink and a snack, the hotel met the candidates. An accessible way to get to know the potential staff outside of a professional environment.
Five-star hotel educates local youth
27-11-2013
The Ritz-Carlton is the first five-star hotel at Aruba. Next to the 320 rooms and 450 local jobs the hotel brings education to the island as well. Together with maritime biologist Dr. Richard Murphy from the Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society, the hotel developed an innovative environmental curriculum for primary school students. The education modules will be available on the Green Aruba website to learn about the island’s unique environmental assets and how to protect them. The youth is introduced to the ‘Ritz-Calton Succeed Through Service Program’ to enhance their leadership qualities. Though these and other collaborations Prime Minister Mike Eman and Bill Marriott agreed to a long-standing commitment to enriching education on the island and a Green Aruba.
KLM shows current response time
25-11-2013
Nowadays you get quicker response to a question/problem by sending a message via Twitter or Facebook than using customers service by phone. KLM will show how long it will take before you get a response to your question. The airline introduced the current response time in the header of Twitter, on the customer support page of KLM.com and soon on Facebook. KLM receives approximately 30,000 messages per week and promises customers to respond within one hour. By showing the current response time, KLM will show if they really stick to the promise to respond within one hour.
NIX18
21-11-2013
The age limit for buying alcohol and tobacco in the Netherlands will increase to 18 years on January 1, 2014. The Ministry of Health has launched the campaign NIX18 in collaboration with a number of partners. The campaign was kicked of on November 18 in the Feyenoord Stadium by Ronald Koeman and the secretary of Healthy Martin van Rijn. NIX18 draws attention that young people under the age of eighteen should not smoke or drink. Some famous Dutchies tell their story about not drinking or smoking under the age of eighteen on the website of NIX18. Partners of the campaign also organize some one-on-one activities for children and their parents to encourage to explain that they are not allowed to buy alcohol and tobacco.
Baileys Chocolat Luxe cocktails
19-11-2013
The dark days before Chrismas deserve special winter cocktails. Baileys Chocolat Luxe inspired us with three different cocktails. The Rococo serve is created by Bompas & Parr from the U.K. and served in a high glass with ice and raspberry. Liqueur expert Missy Flynn from London came up with the Chocolate Black Forrest (with cherry liqueur) and Chocolate mint (with mint frozen into ice cubes).
New Year’s Eve dinner at the Waldorf Astoria
15-11-2013
Since 1931 the Waldorf Astoria NY has been a legendary destination for elegant New Year’s Eve celebrations. They now want to see how many Waldorf Astoria NY New Year’s Eve photos they can collect! They ask their fans at Facebook and their Twitter followers to find and post photos, everybody can vote and the person who did make or found the winning photo will receive a dinner for 2 at the Waldorf on New Year’s Eve! A great promotional campaign, simple to execute and who knows they might even run into some great photo’s from private albums.
Lidl pop-up restaurant at Michelin-star level
14-11-2013
Restaurant Dill opened on September 13 in Stockholm. London-based chef Michael Wignall** made the menu and organized the kitchen. A 9-course menu was prized at an astonishing € 55,-, and the restaurant was fully booked from day one on. Too good to be true? Yes it was! It appeared to be a marketing stunt for Lidl. Only four ingredients (including liquid nitrogen) that were used for the preparation of the courses weren’t part of the supermarkets assortment.