NH Hotel Group presents VIP Level in NH Collection Eurobuilding

4-6-2015

NH Collection Eurobuilding in Madrid officially launched the VIP Level service concept

VIP level in the hotel

The VIP Level offers guests a range of services and privileges at the hotel itself, including a private reception and guest relations desk, a VIP Breakfast Room with high-quality a la carte offerings, early check-in from 12:00, late check-out until 14:00, unlimited access to the luxurious Metropolitan Fitness & Wellness Centre, access to the Executive Lounge on the fifteenth floor and priority if you want to reserve a table at the 3 * Michelin Restaurant Diverxo, also located in the building.

Privileges outside the hotel

Outside the hotel the VIP level offers more privileges, such as a Personal Shopper, premium shopping services at El Corte Ingles and Las Rozas Village, the Europcar Prestige Service (where premium cars are delivered to the hotel), quick access to the Prado Museum and the Thyssen museum and the option to reserve a VIP box at the nearby stadium of Real Madrid.

For guests who expect something more

According to Hugo Rovira, Managing Director of NH Hotel Group Spain, Portugal and Andorra, the VIP Level fits seamlessly into the existing services of the hotel: “Since the reopening, the NH Collection flagship in Spain NH Collection Eurobuilding has become one of the best business and leisure hotel in Europe. It offers the guests that expect ‘something more’ from their journey everything they need to make their stay a memorable experience.”

Fresh fish at the Boterlap ‘Fish Market’

26-5-2015

Bar, Brasserie and Terrace De Boterlap in Harderwijk daily serves fresh fish. To promote it, they recorded a short film about their fishing adventures in the style of “Deadliest Catch”. It is a nice and humorous way to bring their daily ‘Fish Market’ to the attention and another great example of storytelling.

The Boterlap was awarded for having the best terrace of The Netherlands in 2013, according to the Terrace Top 100 by Misset Horeca.

Give your guests the choice of the cordial syrups by Agroposta

22-5-2015

Great to serve this summer, a lemonade box with the sachets of Agroposta, like a tea box. 1 sachet + 200 ml of ice water = 1 glass of refreshing lemonade, add some mint leaves … and done!

The cordial syrups

Agroposta cordials are offered in small secure sachets and filled with 32 ml of concentrated syrup with the following flavors:

Refreshing Lemon – created from the lemons grown and handpicked in the Croatian Islands of the Mediterranean.

Sage – a mild, subtle and distinct flavour. It’s made from handpicked sage flowers from the Adriatic coast.

Elderflower – The elderflower lemonade tastes just sweet enough. The aromatic elderberry blossoms is also picked by hand.

Raspberry – this lemonade tastes sweet with a subtle sour undertone. The raspberries are also handpicked in the many forests and mountains in the Balkan region.

Lavender (natural tranquilizer) – The lavender syrup is not too sweet and slightly different. The syrup is made from the ecologically cultivated Lavandula angustifolia plant that is also handpicked.

About Agroposta

Agroposta is a Croatian company founded in 2004 and with a lot of experience in organic farming. The company started in 2011 with the production of the cordials. Agroposta has its own factory in Zagreb, completely designed according to EU standards in terms of food and provisions. The requirements of HACCP are also strictly maintained. Agroposta stands for sustainability, love for the environment and fair trade in all processes and in all products.

New disposable packaging for wine: the Flex Keg

15-5-2015

The new disposable packaging Flex Keg for wine casks is a durable solution for any caterer. The Zeddams Wijnhuis in the Netherlands has developed a disposable container that is fully recyclable and lightweight.

The market for wine on tap is growing fast in the Netherlands. Until today the draft wines were always delivered in steel casks. According to Eddie Kempers, creator of the new packaging, it is about time for a disposable container that is completely recyclable and lightweight. “Compared to the new Flex Keg, steel casks have the disadvantages of weight, returning for deposit, risk of theft and high CO2 emissions in transport”, he says. “The new Flex Keg was born after two years of intensive research.”

The Flex Keg

The Keg Flex consists of a sturdy cardboard box that contains a plastic vacuum bag of 20 liters. The packaging is entirely made of recycled materials. The Flex Keg weighs only 800 grams and can be folded completely flat after use. The PET upper and lower lid and the plastic bag are recyclable plastic waste and the cardboard is recyclable paper waste. Sales Director Erik Zwart sees tremendous opportunities for the hospitality industry; “The savings on waste is huge, 27 bottles of wine aren’t used instead of the Flex Keg. This has an equivalent of 8 to 10 kilograms of glass waste!”

The wine from the Flex Keg

Zeddams Wijnhuis offers the Flex Keg with a choice of 6 accessible, recognizable wines which they import from Italy and Spain themselves. “In these countries the transport costs are low, which you can see back in the price per liter. The reseller will notice this directly.”, Erik Zwart says. The wine will have the same constant quality in the Flex Keg, there is no chance of oxidation because of the special packaging. The wine will stay perfect for 12 weeks after opening. With the method used you will never taste cork or find other impurities in the wine. In most cases is it possible to connect the Flex Keg to existing beer and wine tap installations, and no CO2 or nitrogen is needed! Zeddams Wijnhuis also supplies dispensing systems that can be tested for a trial period of two weeks.

Shadow Wi-Fi system

13-5-2015

The premier Shadow Wi-Fi System, developed by Happiness Brussels, launched with the support of the Peruvian League Against Cancer. The president of the Liga Contra el Cáncer, Adolfo Dammert Ludowieg about the system: “Shadow Wi-Fi has changed sun-worshipers’ behavior and educated them about the value of becoming shadow-worshipers at the most harmful hours of the day, between 12 and 4pm.”

We want the Shadow Wi-Fi system at the Dutch beaches as well this summer

With the summer ahead we could use some inspirational warnings against the harmful sun at the beaches in the Netherlands as well. It’s a new call for being extra careful while sunbathing especially directed at our youngsters. Check the video to see how it works, a little bit more info: a directional antenna ensures that the Wi-Fi is only delivered to the shadow area. A sensor tracks the movements of the sun throughout the day, changing the rotation of the Wi-Fi antenna. The system allows for more than 250 users to connect to the network at once. Once users log on to the network, they also received an email from the Peruvian Leage Against Cancer. According to our source the towers have been wildly successful in Lima (Peru) and will be scheduled to be rolled out in San Francisco and New Zealand as well.

Shadow Wi-Fi’s developer, Happiness, has released access to the software for non-profit use. Cancer foundations around the world can set up the system, without ICT knowledge.

Kromkommer straight to the top

30-4-2015

Exactly a year after the introduction of the Kromkommer soups, a pop-up store opens its doors in Utrecht Hoog Catharijne (the Netherlands). The shop is open from 18 until 31 May. Kromkommer is the first store in the Netherlands with weird shaped vegetables.

Straight to the top

Kromkommer makes sure that products aren’t wasted because of their looks. According to the estimates 5 to 10% of all the vegetables and fruits in the Netherlands are wasted because of their looks. That’s why Kromkommer makes sure the crooked vegetables and fruits that don’t fit the perfect picture come back to the plate in different ways. The founders Jente de Vries and Lisanne van Zwol started their quest in 2012 and soon after Chantal Engelen joined in the waste battle.

See our earlier article about Kromkommer and their crowdfunding campaign.

Pop-Op Shop

The Kromkommer Pop-Op Shop is a place where the story of weird shaped vegetables can be experienced in real life. You can find Kromkommer soups, weird shaped vegetable juices and green gadgets. Nearly all the products that can be found in the store, are recycled.

The Kromkommer Pop-Op Shop is besides a point of sale for weird shaped vegetables, a place for meetings. Growers tell stories about their product, retailers share their opinion about the waste of food and the Krommunity organizes workshops and lectures for the visitors. The Krommunity forms the backbone of the activities by Kromkommer.

On the birthday of the Kromkommer soup (25 May), the newest weird shaped vegetable soup ‘Koele Soep’ (Cool Soup) will be launched. They’re going straight to the top!

The opening of INK Hotel Amsterdam

24-4-2015

INK Hotel Amsterdam opened its doors at the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal early April. INK Hotel Amsterdam is an innovative lifestyle hotel ‘where stories are yet to be written…’. The hotel owes its name to the history of the building. And also the interior can be traced back to the former owner, newspaper ‘De Tijd’. The themes ‘Stories, Ink & The Time’ played a role in the determination of the interior.

The hotel has 149 rooms, a garden room, standard business facilities, the ‘PRESSROOM’, patio’s, room service, breakfast-to-go, a gym, free Wi-Fi and a fast check in & out service. The facilities meet today’s expectations, from both local Amsterdam citizens and international guests.

The interior

For the interior the hotel collaborated with architect office ‘concrete Amsterdam’. The history of the three former Amsterdam canal houses has inspired the interior from where INK Hotel Amsterdam is built now.

The entrance

The entrance of the hotel is a reflection of the canals of Amsterdam. You can find high bar tables at the reception along with ‘check-in- tablets’. ‘’We let the boundaries disappear between outside and inside at INK Hotel Amsterdam, with green, rough stones, glass walls and of course a lot of light’’ according to ‘concrete Amsterdam’.

PRESSROOM

The PRESSROOM is the ‘Drink & Eat’ concept of the hotel. This includes a restaurant, bar and a lounge. The floor consists of the same cement tiles print as in the pressroom. A part of the PRESSROOM is the Library Lounge with a fireplace, leather banks, wood tones and a lot of books.

Pre-order and self-checkout at Dell canteen

23-4-2015

Dell employees in Amsterdam don’t have to wait in line anymore at the cashier in the company canteen. Since a short while they order and pay their own lunch with a special “Dell Cafe” app, the package can be picked up a little later.

Order Mobile

eMove.me was commissioned by caterer ‘Van Laar Catering’ to develop the Dell Café concept. The app is designed and developed by YES.TAP.

eWallet

The app has an integrated payment service so that the employee can recharge by phone. This “e-Wallet” saves the employee time, leaving more time to enjoy his lunch. The app works ‘cashless’: customers pay a prepaid credit. The transaction capabilities are an interesting alternative to the recently disappeared chipknip. Additionally, less cahiers are needed and transaction costs are lower.

No more waiting in line

According to Martijn Lukaart CEO eMove.me there is no need to stand in a row anymore in the retail and catering industry. eMove.me is an independent and exclusive distributor of several m-commerce solutions. Earlier, we wrote about the order application at foodcourt The World in Rotterdam where recently Open Tabs is implemented.

My chef, your chef

21-4-2015

GELINAZ! Is a chef’s collective that will organize a Grand GELINAZ! Shuffle in the culinary scene. On 9 July, 37 of the world’s best chefs will, according to their website, “be swapping lives, identities… and restaurants!”

The GELINAZ! restaurant-swap concept is developed by Andrea Petrini and Alexandra Swenden in 2005. They’ve hand-selected an impressive group of chefs from 17 countries. Check the video for the line-up which includes respected names in the culinary scene like René Redzepi, Albert Adrià, and Dominique Crenn.

My chef, your chef

During the shuffle chefs will be swapping restaurants and home countries, serve their best in another chef’s kitchen and will even be living in each other’s houses, a bit like Wife Swap. We wonder if this will be used for a new television format as well! Tickets will be for sale online beginning 13 May, according to the GELINAZ! website.

About GELINAZ!

According to their website GELINAZ! is a collective of international chefs responsible for wild, collaborative cook-off stunts. Every time pushing the boundaries, performing food and taking risk as a starting point. Longing to discover new cultures and exchange knowledge. Inventing collaborations with artists, musicians, scientists, thinkers, producers. Never willing to repeat itself, always exploring the unknown. Adapting to uncertain situations, charting new territories to sharpen creativity. Zooming on the beauty of nature, its elegant chaos and unending recreation.

Crowdsourced campaign by Grolsch

17-4-2015

This May Grolsch exists 400 years. To celebrate it, Grolsch organizes a crowdsourced campaign. The beer brewery is going to make an anniversary video and asks everyone from 18 years and older to upload a video of the ‘popping’ of a Grolsch bottle.

Crowdsourced video

We have seen a similar crowdsourced campaign in a different branch. New Balance asks their customers to make videos while running and upload it to the website Together We Run.

Participate in the Grolsch campaign

To participate in the campaign, you’ll need a swingtop bottle to pop. According to Grolsch, it will sound better if the bottle is at room temperature.

A video of popping a swingtop isn’t enough for the lead role in the anniversary video. A unique location is needed as well. The more unique your location is, the better your chances are to win a role in the video.

Grolsch advises to keep your phone horizontal. This makes the image better viewable and prevents the Vertical Video Syndrome (VVS).

In the hospitality industry, you can use the camera’s on the smartphones for your benefits as well. Organize for example an event with hundreds of livestreams from the phones of your guests through Periscope.