Add a splash of color to your bath
2-10-2014
A floating, battery-powered, water drop that spreads a soothing light. Instead of candles, you can use this saver alternative in bath: the Rainbow Drop Bath Light of Firebox. It turns on automatically when touching water and floats calmly in the water. The luminous bulb spreads different colors, which has a soothing effect.
Small hospitable gesture
These Rainbow Drops could be a small hospitable gesture that your guest will remember: a soothing light that enables you (especially if you have jetlag) to relax while bathing.
A Bicycle friendly hotel…
24-9-2014
Don’t leave your bike outside but take it with you to your room; In Japan, the Hotel Cycle is established as part of the Onomichi U2 building. The Onomichi U2 is a former storage place that has been turned into a hospitality venue with a hotel, restaurant, café and bakery. The hotel is situated on the coast of Hiroshima what is a popular place for bicycle tourists with its beautiful landscape and city. Each room has a bike rack so guests can store their bike when they’re not using it. The whole building of Onomichi U2 is designed for bicycle users: it even has a Giant bike service shop.
Pop-up coffee bar Black Box in Ghent
12-9-2014
Pop-up coffee bar
A work-out followed by an artisanal cup of coffee. This is possible in the pop-up coffee shop Black Box in the Belgian city of Ghent. The specialty coffee bar is located in a garage box of CrossFit Gent, a gym focused on the new form of fitness, CrossFit. As from 4 September Barista Yf Feller serves freshly made coffees, for a month.
Bullet proof coffee
A special coffee on the menu is the ‘bullet proof coffee’. This is a creamy coffee made from butter from grass-fed cows, coconut oil and French coffee, what gives a boost, both physically and mentally.
For people who don’t like coffee, various activities are organized on location as well. For examples, a second-hand clothing market and an indoor picnic.
Pay-as-you-wish
A special aspect of Black Box is that there’s no pricelist available. Guests give a contribution and are allowed to choose what they think is fair to pay. Black Box is an example of a ‘pay as you wish’ concept which we may years ago in Vienna, Der Wiener Deewan. The system from ‘Pay as you wish’ is used for charity as well, like we spotted in 2007 at restaurant Trien in Herpen. Trust is a more recent example that opened in Amsterdam last year.
Food bloggers at restaurant Karakter
12-9-2014
Hand picked oysters from Zeeland in the south of the Netherlands, mussels, scallops, parsnip, mackerel, ‘gortepap’ (kind of porridge) and wines from Dutch wineries. The chefs of restaurant Karakter in Rotterdam, Pety Breugem and Nathan Vermunt, prove that Dutch cuisine taste great with their menu that consists entirely of products from Dutch soil, both the wines and the dishes. Horecatrends was invited to taste the menu, along with a number of food bloggers. Inviting food bloggers for the release of a new menu, is a great idea to generate more attention. If you are reading this and you own a restaurant; have you ever give this idea a thought, instead of or next to your standard advertising? Especially with food bloggers with many local followers, this might be an addition to your marketing strategy.
Bram Kosterink consultant at Van Spronsen & Partners hospitality consultancy
Accor opens Suite Novotel in the Netherlands
8-9-2014
Suite Novotel opens its doors in the Haagsche Passage in The Hague on 1 Oktober. The long stay concept of Suite Novotel Den Haag City Centre will exist out of 118 suites and will be located in the city center of The Hague nearby the Parliament, numerous embassies, government offices, museums and shops. The suites are suitable as bedroom, living room and as reception area and are equipped with numerous modern facilities.
How do you apply trends as entrepreneur in the hospitality industry?
1-9-2014
First of all, when talking about trends you need to realize that many different concepts are being named trends these days. However, there is a big difference between trends, hypes and inspiration. For example, we call our website hospitalitytrends.eu but mostly offer inspiration based on red threads in international trends. Real trends take their time in the adoption curve. If you look at the adoption curve of for example sustainability, you’ll see that it has been coming up for 15 to 20 years already and now it is mainstream, thus this is a trend. Hypes however usually stick around with the innovators and early adopters.
The usual development of a trend is that it begins with a very small portion of the population. Logically entrepreneurs are drawn to new trends since they are always looking for new success. They are constantly scared to miss out and fail in their business endeavours, yet specifically as an entrepreneur it is important that you keep on living your own dream and take care that you do not jump on every trend or hype that comes along.
New culinary products of R&D Food Revolution
29-8-2014
Three creative minds, Albert Adrià, Rudi Van Beylen and Dirk Peeters, joined forces in their search for new culinary products. R&D Food Revolution was created with the basic thought ‘revolutionary innovation for the culinary world’. Their main purpose is to become a supplier of creativity by offering innovative top products.
Topchef Albert Adrià, known from the world-famous Catalan restaurant elBulli, launched a new line of products with typical Adrià-delicacies. Examples are Spanish octopus- and algae delicatessen, heavenly meringue, sophisticated and fluffy mousses and sauces from the siphon and fragrant breads especially designed for a specific types of cheese. Albert Adrià: ‘all products contain ingredients that we use in my kitchens as well. In this way I bring elBulli, Tickets, 41°, Pakta and Bodega 1900 literally to every caterer or restaurant owner”.
R&D Food Revolution will launch their new product, Crispy Foam, at ‘Rotterdam Gastvrij’ at the end of September.
Hunting down Pokémon figures in the Peninsula Hotel
29-7-2014
Exclusively designed to give their guests unique and unprecedented access to historical, cultural and local lifestyle experiences, The Peninsula Tokyo Academy offers a collection of bespoke programmes for both adults and children. Kids staying at the hotel as from 1 October, will get the chance to live out an episode of Pokémon with characters like Pikachu, Lucario and friends in an interactive game designed exclusively for the hotel. Kids as from five years old are invited to hunt down Pokémon characters, armed with a Poké Ball. A game that is a bit like hide and seek. Great way to entertain the kids of your guests and an inspiration for hotels in Belgium to introduce a meeting with Tintin! Or for the hotels in The Netherlands with Miffy.
A coffeebar that repels wireless signals
22-7-2014
The owners of the Faraday Café in Vancouver hope to restore non-digital, social interaction between people by creating a place without any digital connection. They went a step further than just not offering WiFi; social artist Julien Thomas and Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA) have designed the first coffee shop that repels wireless signals. In the Faraday Café, you get disconnected the moment you step into the coffee bar. The café derives its name from the Faraday Cage, the material shield that has been used to block all signals. The Faraday Café offers artisanal coffees and will be the home of several events such as ‘drinks and discussions’ and meditation sessions.
Small hospitality gestures June
21-7-2014
Perfect service throughout the whole staff is the most hospitable gesture you can make to your guest. No grand gestures but simply a team like a well-oiled machine.
In this edition of “small hospitable gestures” we focus on gestures in hotels, where we separate gestures to the business guest and leisure guest. Download the full version here.
