“I always loved to draw as a child, and I really relish the five minutes or so it takes to draw, and then paint, unique welcome cards for guests just before they arrive,” says Roy Tomassen, general manager of The Conservatorium in Amsterdam.
Fortunately Amsterdam, his hometown, can quickly be identified by its rows of side-by-side merchants’ houses, invariably with a canal in front, so he has ideal subject matter. (He moved to The Conservatorium in April 2011 before its opening in December that year, from The Grove country house hotel in England, which must have been more difficult to sketch quickly.)
Now he could, indeed, be called artist-in-residence of what is a pretty unusual hotel, which was the city’s main Sweelinck music conservatory from 1983 to 2008. The 1901-vintage, eight-floor brick building has seen the historic paired with the new, in the form of a sensational five-floor clear and black glass extension by Milanese architect Piero Lissoni who also has done the interiors. What was originally a C-shaped courtyard is now glassed over to form the main lobby, which has permanent and changing displays of plants and art, including sculptures.
This 129-room property, part of the Alrov Group’s The Set hotels, is meant for the arts. It is within a few minutes’ walk of both the Rijksmuseum, one of the most famous in Europe, and the Van Gogh Museum, and it is easy to understand why 65% of all guests are leisure, led by the USA. Average stay is three nights, and the repeat factor is 27%.
“Locals use the hotel too,” Tomassen explained. “They network and do afternoon tea in the lobby, and they really support the Netherlands’ best-known chef, Schilo van Coevorden, and his boundless creativity in Taiko restaurant.”
Van Coevorden is close to completing a year-long celebration of wasabi (the promotion ends this September). The hotel’s menus feature wasabi yogurt, and there is also a locally distilled house gin, wasabi-flavored of course. Nearing the end of the first batch of 500 bottles, only available in Taiko restaurant, Tomassen is considering a second order.
“We launched the gin at our fifth birthday party, last December 19, when we also announced the winner of our monthly jazz concerts, which are held on the last Sunday in every month at 11:30 a.m. in the lobby – these really bring in locals,” he declared. Party guests included the hotel’s 16 influencer ambassadors. “These are best-in-class, say artist Jasper Krabbé, photographer Jimmy Nelson, plus the director of the Van Gogh Museum, and so on. Everyone benefits from our twice a year meetings. They spread the word, give us ideas, and in return they are invited to stay over for family birthdays.”
Undoubtedly born with a creative streak, Roy Tomassen graduated in 1995 from the Hotel Management School in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, and he always has been coming up with ideas. The Conservatorium has its own specially bred tulip, a bright orange blossom genetically developed and registered in the National Gardening Association’s Tulip Database by its creator, Dirk de Haan. As well as blooming around the hotel, over a thousand bulbs have been given as souvenirs.
This is also a boss who actually encourages his 285 staff to carry smartphones and use them whenever necessary. “Apart from helping guests, say offering at a mealtime to use WhatsApp to locate a nearby destination, and encouraging guests to make contact any time for further details, I am sure it helps reduce staff turnover, now down to 40%, in what is a really challenging labor market,” he shared – and then he had to finish a couple more welcome cards.