Stepping East: Living in China - Hotelschool The Hague

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BOOK OF THE MONTH
TRUMP CHICAGO
REVENUE MANAGEMENT
THINGS yOU wANT TO KNOw
Annual Alumni
Evening:
Friday 4
November 2011:
Be there and
spread the word!
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Stepping East: Living in China

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“Stepping East – About living
and working in China”
By Johannes Ader, Student Hotelschool The Hague
Johannes Ader is a student of Hotelschool The Hague, now in his thírd year. He went to China for his internship
and immediately fell in love with the country and the language. This summer, he went to China again for seven
weeks, in order to study the Chinese language at Beiijng University. For the Alma, he met with several alumni
living and working in China.
Without a doubt, the spotlight is on China right now as a leading nation in the world of international hospitality.
With its enormous growth and limitless-seeming potential, hospitality in China stands for a dream-like environment
where the boldest business-ideas become successful reality.
Patrick Ford, President of Lodging Econometrics, describes China as “the most attractive place in the world right now
for hotels”.
Ever thought of becoming part of this exciting ”new world”? The idea of living and working in China keeps growing
more and more popular amongst Western hoteliers.
Shaken by recession and intrigued by an adventurous idea of China,
many decide to take the step to the Far East.
What does it take to be successful there? How do jobs differ from
their Western equivalent? Should I be fluent in Mandarin upon
arrival?...Countless questions one encounters, thinking about
moving to China.
For the Alma, I spoke to several Hotelschool graduates, all working
and living in China today. Experienced with customs and culture,
they share their take on the exciting world of Chinese hospitality, as
intermediaries between the cultures.
What made you decide to work in China?
Paul Hu (Assistant F&B Outlet Manager, The Ritz Carlton Shanghai
Pudong) and Jasper van Baal (Revenue Department Regis Shanghai)
both went for the booming hotel market in China, for the many
opportunities and the place to be to figure out new (creative)
hotel trends. They foresaw that China would offer them a promising Paul Hu (2010)
hotel industry and lot’s of pre-openings.
Mirian Keuning (Director/Owner Sure Exposure Tourism and Events
Consultantsi) and Victor de Vries (Director of Business Development Hilton Shanghai) thought of China as a country
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where especially hospitality-related possibilities were limitless.
And Ingrid Kamphuis (General Manager Shama Luxe) felt a
fascination for the “unknown”.
Did you all prepare in some way beforehand and what would
you recommend to other students or recently graduates who
plan to go there?
Paul:’I would recommend to read about Chinese culture (like
business manners do’s and don’ts) and study the language.
Especially language skills will help to speed up the process of
acceptance and understanding with Chinese co-workers’.
Rola Suzanne Heng (Guest Relations Manager Hna’s
Restaurant):’I didn’t study Mandarin before coming to China,
but picked up a lot of it during the first 6 months in China, by
listening and interacting with the inhabitants’.
From your point of view, what personal qualities does it take
Ingrid Kamphuis (2000)
to be successful in China?
Unanimously, they believe that the key is to adapt to the
Chinese culture and not to try to change the Chinese, it is all
about the ability to accept other cultures into your life.
Ingrid adds that a personal focus on details is of great importance and Jasper thinks Westerners often try to “apply”
Western models in their work which culturally doesn’t work here.
How do the daily responsibilities in their current position differ from their Western equivalent?
Rola thinks this is about the so called Guanxi (“hidden agendas”):
‘ The unwritten part of social relationships between you and your
associates, superiors and subordinates’. Paul agrees and adds:
‘ In China everyone belongs to groups and as a leader you need to
earn acceptance of people before they will actually work for you’.
Mirian: ‘As I now have my own company, daily responsibilities
include every part of a business. Sales, administration,
operations, managing my employees, CRM, etc.’
In what ways do you observe a difference between working in
China compared to working in “the West”?
Ingrid: ‘Work consists far more of micromanagement,
including close supervising and controlling’.
Victor: ‘it’s like thinking for everyone in your department’
Rola: ‘Clear job division amongst staff members. Due to the high
amount of staff, specific job descriptions are followed in contrast
to the required flexibility at Western restaurants with less staff ‘.
Rola Heng (2004)
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How do Chinese staff members differ from Western staff members?
They all think that individualisation amongst staff members is not common, in order to maintain face.
Empowerment etc. is challenging to implement.
Rola: ‘Rules are the essential. rewards and punishments must be clearly established and known’.
Victor adds: ‘Reasons to work are ranked differently. It’s all about the money and about peoples’
relationships within an organization.
How do Chinese guests differ from Western guests?
Rola: ‘Considering our extensive menu, it takes around 15minutes to decide, whereas Chinese guests start to order
immediately, without even discussing their choice’.
Mirian: ‘Experiencing hospitality is different for Chinese. Most important is the food quality, whereas service is
secondary, so a hotel is chosen also very much based on the F&B facilities. Chinese guests must be entertained
(they don’t like relaxing and “having nothing to do”)…
What are the main challenges when it comes to Hospitality in China?
Mirian: ‘Being the owner of a hotel building can be a great challenge. Most of the hotels are owned by local realestate
or developing companies and are franchised by a Western chain. As the owning company is the investor, it
Rola’s restaurant
sometimes means that they have to invest in things they are
not familiar with, causing difficulties.
Jasper and Victor think that high staff turnover is a major
challenge as skilled employees are often rare and strongly
competed for.
Ingrid believes that many aspects can “only” be taught to staff
members, as Chinese often have not travelled abroad, concepts
must be made familiar by a large amount of training.
Victor: ‘Implementing changes is very challenging as employees
focus highly on maintaining face’.
How would you describe the future of Hospitality in China?
‘Nowadays, it gets more and more essential to provide certain
authenticity, uniqueness and value as a restaurant in order to
be successful’ says Rola.
Victor: ‘At this moment mainly Western GM’s and managers can
still be found in International hotels, but this will change.
Victor de Vries (2001)
Chinese are learning about Western approaches and styles
and will be able to do it themselves eventually’.
Jasper agrees and adds: ‘Niche-markets and concepts will develop more, e.g. boutique hotels’. Ingrid and Victor
both think that “standing out” amongst colleagues as well as empowerment is becoming more popular.
What can Westerners learn from the Chinese when it comes to Hospitality?
Rosa and Victor simultaneously react: ‘Great commitment to work!’. And Mirian
says: ‘We should learn how to do business with Chinese people and companies’.
What can the Chinese learn from Westerners when it comes to Hospitality?
‘How to smile more �’ says Rosa.
‘Quality guarantee!’ Mirian reacts.
Victor: ‘how to think “out of the box”’ more.
And Paul and Jasper both think that the Chinese and Westerns should observe
each other more and try to understand each other and try to see what drives
business.
Johannes Ader
Mirian Keuning (2006)

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The Future Development of Revenue
Management in the Industry and in
Education
the marketing manager in a marketing-driven company in the manufacturing industry is responsible
for generating revenue, and the marketing department is the only revenue-generating
department in the company. All other departments are cost centers. in addition, marketing, along
with production and finance are considered to be the “line managers”.
the line management decisions are critical to the company’s business and affect the survival of
the organization. the rest of the departments are supporting staff.
because marketing performance fundamentally affects the success or failure of a company,
the marketing manager, who possesses customer knowledge and marketing expertise, is
given a high status to pull the company resources and support together, focusing on satisfying
customer needs and generating revenue. Consequently, in addition to planning and determining
distribution, promotion and pricing strategies, the marketing manager is either heavily involved
in or has considerable influence on new product development, from concept development stage
to production stage to finished products. in addition, marketing also takes the lead on customer
product improvement. this is because product value is one of the major determinants on
product price and demands.
in essence, to ensure a company’s competitiveness in generating revenue, the marketing
department drives the company’s offer, reflected in the marketing four ps (product, place,
promotion and price).
in the hotel industry, although sales and marketing are responsible for generating sales, its
managers are not responsible for generating total revenue.
the difference is fundamental: Generating sales is more concerned with increasing occupancy
rate to fill the rooms. Generating total revenue involves considerations in gaining a healthy room
rate in combination with a good occupancy rate.
this can be demonstrated in the following example:
Let us assume hotel blue has 100 rooms. it could sell 100 rooms at €50 per room night or 50
rooms at €100 per room night. Which would be a better solution?
A sales-oriented approach would prefer the first solution with high occupancy rate, whereas a
revenue-oriented approach would prefer the second solution. While both scenarios promise to
generate €5,000 revenue, the second solution offers potential to generate more than €5000
revenue because it still has 50 more rooms which the hotel could sell.
nevertheless, historically speaking, hotels were and some still are more concerned with filling
the rooms rather than maximizing revenue.
in addition, traditionally, the sales and marketing department in the hotel industry is considered
to be a cost center, although it is the department that is responsible for bringing in the guests
who spend their dollars. the operations departments such as rooms, F&b and banqueting
are seen as the revenue-generating departments --- despite the fact that their expertise is in
producing goods and services. Furthermore, while operations departments have line managers
and rightly so, sales and marketing has a staff function.
on the other hand, the G.m., who does not necessarily have the marketing and sales expertise
or the time, is seen as being responsible for generating revenue, whereas he should delegate
the revenue-generating responsibility. this fragmented and conflicting approach reflects a
fundamental and industry-wide organizational design flaw.
the hotel industry desperately needed a job role that possesses the necessary expertise and
at the same time has the clout to pull the company resources together focusing on generating
revenue. in addition, rapid information technological development and wide use of internet
by travelers have made the contemporary hotel business increasingly complicated, not to
mention businesses opportunity windows are becoming smaller and require speedy and timely
responses. the need to compensate the organizational design flaw became inevitable and ever
more urgent. Consequently, the revenue management position was born out of necessity.
today, the development of advanced revenue management software with the ability to
accommodate vast amounts of data and real time information as well as seamless connectivity
with other systems makes it possible to derive effective revenue management decisions and
boosts the credibility and influence of the revenue management role.
still, the revenue management function is far from being ideal and the position will most likely
continue to evolve. For example, currently, rm is primarily responsible for distribution and
pricing issues, whereas sales and marketing is responsible for
promotion. neither rm nor sales and marketing are concerned
with or responsible for product and service development and
improvements. in fact, rm sees rooms as inventory instead of
a potential source for increasing revenue via design changes
and room improvements. Consequently, further integration and
alignment in rm function and responsibility will be necessary.
this, of course, will lead to more hotel management structure
changes.
nevertheless, the concept of revenue management has already
brought on one of the most important organizational changes
in the hotel industry. indeed, it is foreseeable that, over the
Dr. Lily Lin

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next 10 years, rm and its functions or whatever the new job title the hotel industry decides
to bestow upon it, will become more central to the hotel operations and one of the most
influential management positions in hotel organizations, from local properties to headquarters.
At the same time, the more technology advances, the more it will require revenue managers
to possess sophisticated knowledge and skills in order to deal with vast amount of real time
information and increasing responsibility in an evermore complicated business environment.
What will rm looks like five years from now? in october 2010 Cornell university published a
research report regarding the future development of revenue management. here are some of
the key findings:
what will RM Look like Five years from Now?
technology will continue to play an important role. As technology advances, the role of revenue
management will become increasingly strategic instead of tactical.
rm will encompass all revenue streams within the hotel.
organization-wise, rm will become a separate department reporting directly to the Gm. it may
even become more centralized or more regionalized.
top Four Challenges Facing rm in the next Five Year are a shortage of qualified revenue
managers, changes in the global economy, increasing competition and pressure from owners
to cut costs.
RM Applications in the Future
not only the concept of rm will be widely adopted in generating room revenue, it is oreseeable
that the concept can also be utilized in the following areas: Function space, restaurant, spa,
retail, Golf and parking
what Courses should Universities and Colleges Teach?
on a 5-point scale with 5 being the most important, Cornell’s research shows the most
important courses are: Data analysis (4.61), pricing (4.56), Distribution (4.43), economics
(4.18), Web site optimization (4.15), social media (4.03).
Characteristics of Future Revenue Managers
on a 5-point scale with 5 being the most important, the top five most important characteristics
for future revenue managers are: Analytical skills (4.57), Leadership skills (4.32),
Communication skills (4.24), A formal rm education (4.13), negotiation skills (4.06).
*A formal rm education means a university degree with a rm specialization.
Lily Lin, Lecturer marketing at hotelschool the hague
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Annual Alumni Evening
Traditionally, the Alumni Evening
will take place on Friday evening
4 November at the Brusselselaan.
All alumni are invited to join this
event, doors open at 18.30.
For everyone who paid a contribution
last year (25 euro), this time
participation is free! All non-members
pay 15 euro entrance fee.
For this small amount of money you may enjoy free drinks and snacks all evening! Don’t miss this and please:
spread the word to all alumni you know. And of course do not forget to bring your business cards!
Research at Hotelschool The Hague: Silver Award for the
best Paper
Hotelschool the Hague Research Centre is proud to announce that Dr. D. Tromp, Dr. A.van Rheede and
Dr. R.J. Blomme’s paper “Negative Work Home Interference and the role of Leadership Style“ won a
Silver Award for the best Paper at the I-CHLAR 2011 conference in Lyon (7,8 July 2011)!
The paper aims to investigate the role of leadership with regard to the experience of negative work-home
interference. Two leadership styles were investigated: poor leadership style, characterized by bossy and
punitive behaviour of the leader and rich leadership style, characterized by focusing on agreements,
rewards and vision.
A distinction has been made between mental preoccupation with work, so called strain-based
interference, and time-based interference.
The paper concerns highly educated employees who have graduated from a business university.
Employees who work in the hospitality industry are compared to employees working in other industries
with regard to experienced work family conflict and their antecedents.
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Pre-opening Trump Chicago
From our former student Kervin van den Meijdenberg (2004)
In February 2008, I started my first job in the United
States at TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION’s second
property, Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago.
TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION is the “Next Generation
of Luxury Hospitality” and is being led by Donald J.
A living room in the Trump Chicago
Trump’s three grown children – Don Jr, Ivanka and
Eric. The hotel was a major milestone for TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION as it was
the first new hotel in a line of seven to open since the AAA Five-Diamond, Forbes Five-Star Trump International Hotel & Tower New York
opened in 1997. While at Trump Chicago, I served in various capacities, including housekeeping manager, guest services manager, front
office manager and assistant director of housekeeping.
In November 2010, I was asked by Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto General Manager Mickael Damelincourt, formerly the
assistant general manager at Trump Chicago, to join his pre-opening team as the director of front office. Having worked with Mickael
while we were both at Trump Chicago, I was honored to be a part of his team. Relocating to a new city – and a new country – was very
exciting. I have quickly fallen in love with this city – it is absolutely vibrant. Toronto has incredible diversity with a variety of distinct
neighborhoods, including Chinatown, Greektown, Little Italy and Little Portugal. There are endless places to explore!
The pre-opening phase is an extraordinarily exciting time – admittedly, one of my favourite stages in the life of a hotel. You get to
watch everything take shape – literally. Each of Trump Toronto’s
261 guestrooms and suites are immaculately designed with the
most discerning traveler in mind, in a contrasting colour palette
inspired by champagne and caviar. Every detail of our luxury
accommodations, from the striking custom furnishings, enhances
the experience, encouraging guests to unwind and enjoy the city
views from their guest rooms and suites.
Toronto has seen a huge building boom in the past few years,
including new luxury hotel developments. A new Ritz-Carlton
has opened in the city and Shangri-La, Four Seasons and Trump
Toronto are all on the horizon. How will we make Trump Toronto
really stand out? I believe our personalized and unparalleled
service – a signature of the TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION -
will be a defining factor. One of TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION’s
unique personalized services, which started at Trump New York, The entrance of the ‘porte cochere’
is the Trump Attaché. The Trump Attaché service transcends
the traditional concierge or butler, delivering uncompromising, customized service to every hotel guest. From personal shopping at
downtown boutiques to arranging a tour of museums, virtually any request can be granted, no matter how specific ensuring that your
stay exceeds your every expectation. Most importantly all our associates play a pivotal role in creating a personalized and unparalleled
guest experience for every guest, every time. I very much look forward to welcoming our associates and guests at Trump International
Hotel & Tower Toronto in the near future!
welcoming new
challenges
it does not happen every day that two of your
in August, we kicked off our new academic year with 150 students at our
Campus in the hague and 88 students at our Campus in Amsterdam for
the four years bachelor Degree Course.
Furthermore, 24 students have successfully completed the summer
preparation Course of the international Fast track (iFt) program and can
enter phase 2 directly.
Again, we are proud to welcome many different nationalities, such as
French, German, portuguese, spanish, italian, romanian, Austrian,
bulgarian and hungarian but also quite a few students from non-european
countries such as Canada, China, egypt, indonesia, mexico, and thailand.
Every six years, our school is subject to a meticulous quality check in the
form of the NVAO accreditation process. The NVAO is the organization that
is responsible for the accreditation of all higher educational programs in
the Netherlands and Flanders.
On 28 and 29 September Hotelschool The Hague was visited by the
accreditation audit panel to assess whether or not our school meets the
requirements of the NVAO.
During the visit, the panel did not only interview employees, students
and alumni, but also made use of our facilities and services provided by
students. The results will reach you soon.
The spectacular new building for our Amsterdam campus will be opened
next August 2012 and many people will be extremely busy working on this
project the coming year.
And we also welcomed the interim President Board of Directors, mr Harm
Noordhof, who will fulfill this position for the
coming year.
You may read more about him in this Alma
edition.
In short, we are all looking forward to a new
academic year, with lots of challenges!
Clemens Berendsen
Member Board of Directors

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FebruArY september 2008 2011 2007 2011
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Book of the month:
Start your Business Now
Start Your Business Now contains all the information you need to write a business plan.
This book, written by alumna Lorraine Vesterink (1999) is the right book for you if... you want to know
whether your business idea is achievable, if you’re a student and writing a business plan as part of
your education, if you want to be sure of the steps to take, if you’re looking for people to invest in your
company.
The Start Your Business Now method derives its success from its action-oriented approach.
In this book, every topic is followed
by the italicized words TAKE ACTION
and exact instructions on what you
will need to do.
You will be encouraged in a clear
and straightforward manner to work
through all the topics necessary to
create a solid final result.
The Dutch version of this book
is a bestseller, which means that
thousands of people have already
used Start Your Business Now
successfully.
Many readers have started their own
companies, and some readers have
even won prizes for the best business
plan in business-plan competitions.
ISBN Number:
9789081361231
Hotelschool students
on the road
for charity
A group of 60 students organise an unforgettable
experience for the participants, as well as the children
with a heart disease.
A rally will take the participants on an exciting journey
from the Hotelschool in Scheveningen to Rotterdam-The
Hague Airport. Our guests will drive a rally focused on
tactics and assignments, while enjoying the beautiful
views, surroundings and architectures along side of the
road.
At Rotterdam Airport the participants will be welcomed
with drinks and snacks. All this will be sponsored by
Rotterdam Airport and de Oestercompagnie.
Are you interested in participating or in sponsoring?
Please send an email to hdhontheroad@gmail.com
Food Inspiration Talent Day
‘Food Inspiration Talent Day’ is an event, partly initiated
by former student Arjan de Boer (1991), Co-Director of
Shoot My Food and Food Service Network.
On 24 and 25 October 2011, the Evoluon in Eindhoven
is full of Food Inspiration. Two days, 1.000 food service
professionals and a program with the latest trends,
newest concepts, fascinating speakers, lots of humor
and filled with culinary stimulations and the next day, 26
October, it is Food Inspiration Talent Day, a new network
inspiration event, especially for about 400 young
talented and upcoming professionals in food service. It is
an incentive for good students; the various schools select
the students that can participate. And for companies it
is a wonderful chance to get into contact with talented
young people.
More about this initiative in the next Alma!
Arjan de Boer

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sorry, as this City marketing Conference is not purely a
hotelschool activity, the language will be in Dutch
hoteLsChooL Den hAAG presenteert in sAmenWerKinG met CitYmArKetinG Den
hAAG De eerste nAtionALe ConFerentie over het themA CitY hospitALitY. WAt
mAAKt De stAD een GAstvriJe stAD? Lessons to LeArn en FooD For thouGht!
voor iedereen die wat betekent en wil betekenen voor de gastvrije stad - beleidsmakers,
citymarketeers, dienstverleners, docenten en onderzoekers.
Wanneer: Woensdag 16 november 2011, van 12:00-18:00 uur
Kosten deelname: € 245,- exclusief b.t.w.
Waar: op en tussen twee gastvrije locaties in Den haag.
Wat: een avontuurlijke reis langs inspirerende voorbeelden voor een gastvrije stad.
voor meer informatie & inchecken: www.cityhospitality.nl
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Marcel van Aelst (1970),
celebrates Okura Amsterdam’s 40 th anniversary
The c.v. of alumnus Marcel van Aelst really spans the globe: management trainee Okura
Tokyo, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna, first GM posting at the d’Angleterre, Copenhagen,
then GM at the Mark Hopkins Inter.Continental San Francisco where Hotelschool The Hague
was first in touch with him about management trainees, Senior GM for Sheraton in Boston,
Regional Vice President and management director Sheraton Centre Toronto, and then, yes!,
in 1993 the circle came round, Vice President and GM, later President, Okura Amsterdam.
After that Board Member of the Okura Company in Japan and finally, as crown on a unique
career, Representative Director and President of JAL Hotels – a unique position for a non-
Japanese. During the glamorous celebration party, Amsterdam’s Mayor van der Laan
honoured mr van Aelst with the prestigious ‘Frans Banninck Cocq Medal’ for many years of
service to the city of Amsterdam.
Last but not least: as you know, behind every successful man stands a strong woman: in mr
van Aelst’s case it is mrs Ansje Wolterink. Guess where they first met? Yes of course: at our
Hotelschool!
Mayor Van der Laan, Marcel van Aelst, and mr Okura himself
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‘Good girls go to heaven.... Introducing
….bad girls go everywhere’, has become a famous phrase. First time i saw it was as a bumper
sticker on a student’s car when i started working here in the eighties. many of today’s students
(I asked) think it comes from Meatloaf’s album ‘Bat out of Hell’(1993) – this definitely is not true;
research found quotations from as early as the 1930’s.
basically, the idea behind it is that women who want to advance themselves should not want to
be nice all the time, but should become more assertive and sharpen their skills every day. i was
reminded of the above when reading a number of reviews of ‘Ceo me, handboek voor ambitieuze
vrouwen’ (sorry, Dutch only). Authors are former student (now reporter and author) Willemijn van
benthem (1999) and mirjam van immezeel.
Willemijn also is editor of Ceome.nl, a website for ambitious women – the top of tomorrow.
reviews for the book are good to very good to excellent and i jumped as my bike straight away to
buy one. A quick scan was promising, i’m looking forward to a few free hours.
Funny that after half a century of Women’s Lib there is still a market for such a book. maybe it is
because Dutch women still show the almost lowest labor participation in the eu – rank 25 out of 27
(yes, really!).
of course, there are also examples of the contrary. Willemijn herself has an impressive number of
books, articles, interviews and other publications to her name.
And in our industry i met (during the last year), former students monique Dekker (1996), Gm
of the Hyatt Regency Dusseldorf; Madelon Boom (1986), GM of the almost-open breathtaking
Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam; and when in Berlin a few weeks ago I could congratulate,
on her first day of work, Bettina Schutt-Everts (1985), the new GM (and regional director) of the
swissotel.
speaking of former students: don’t forget our annual reunion, 4 november in the hague!
if you are living in or around London, or you just happen to be around: Alumni Cocktail thursday
24 november – venue to be announced.
program: always the same – always successful: drinks, snacks, a chat and the usual hotelschool
urban myths (broodje Aap verhalen).
And guess what….it never becomes boring….(well, almost never...)
All the best
Arnoud C. van Delft, LL.m.
dft@hdh.nl
to you:
Mr Harm
Noordhof
the board of trustees and
Clemens berendsen are
pleased to announce the
appointment of mr harm
noordhof, who acts as
temporary president of the
board of Directors for the
academic year 2011-2012.
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mr noordhof started on the
12th of september and will
work at hotelschool the
hague 3 days a week.
harm noordhof is an
extremely experienced
administrator in the higher
education field.
From 1989 to 2005 he was
a member of the board of
Governors of the hogeschool van utrecht, being responsible for human
resources, Quality and Foreign Affairs.
From 2005 he has been interim manager and advisor for several universities
of applied science in the netherlands.
We welcome him to our hotelschool and wish him lots of success!
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Guess whom we met....
Fernando Benitez Gonzalez (1998)
Rianne Reitsma, Joyce Kuit (2009) and Nick van Straten
Fernando benitez González has, for the last 10 years,
been enjoying the high quality of life in the Canary
islands.
presently Director of hotel beatriz playa, puerto del
Carmen, Lanzarote, he is pictured with his brand-new
balinese lounge/pool beds.
Direccion.playa@beatrizhoteles.com
even when it is too dark to play golf, you can
still make good use of a golf cart!
pictured earlier this year, this is Joyce Kuit,
Guest services manager at the hyatt regency
Curacao Golf resort, spa and marina.
she is providing a ride for (then) Curacao
management trainees rianne reitsma and
nick van straten.
Susanne van Roon (1987) and Evert Hazelhoff (1988) and their kids
Marnix and Jasmijn
Alejandro torrellas román is (cluster-)
Director General of siroco Apartotel
and Galeón playa Apartotel in Costa
teguise, Lanzarote.
he especially loves the unique
combination in this special volcanic
island of art, architecture and beach
life.
Google César manrique, the famous
artist/architect and you will know what
he means.
Alejandro is seen here at the poolside
at Club siroco, just before a major
renovation.
alejandrotorrellas@clubsiroco.com
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Alejandro torrellas Roman (1998)
in Zell am see/bruck in Austria, we
bumped into Susanne van Roon, Evert
Hazelhoff with their kids marnix (2027)
and Jasmijn (2024).
“it is a great holiday, especially if you are
into scrabble! And, we have a rust-tan
instead of a suntan…”
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Things you want
to know
CLIMING THE STAIRS
Mark Boutens (2010), Analyst Financial
operational standards, starwood Corporate
eAme office, brussels, belgium
Mark de Leeuwerk (2006), Assistant Director
Food & beverage Grand hyatt erawan bangkok,
thailand
Dirk Jan Rijks (1991), Corporate Director hr
Asia pacific singapore (and of course his wife
Aleid hoos 1991)
Kirsten Fiederling (1996), ‘Direktionassistentin’
Adagio hotel berlin, Germany
Pieter Boven (2002), business Development
manager europe, starbucks emeA, Amsterdam
Mirjam van der Linden (2003), has been
appointed Chairperson ‘midden en Kleinbedrijf’
Gelderland (sme)
Besides that, Mirjam runs her own company
‘I-Recruiting’. She once did her final project for
this company, wrote a business plan for them
and got so enthusastic about this, that she
ended up buying the company herself in 2007.
Ever since then her target is to link young entrepreneurs
to older entrepreneurs who are not so
into Internet and social media. And of course she
is now actively lobbying with the government.
Mirjam: “I will keep supporting entrepreneurs
who really need financial aid from their bank. I
believe there is a difference between ignorant
and unlucky entrepreneurs: the ones that did
everything they possibly could but could not
survive the economic crisis by themselves need
help”
Jan Paul Kroese (2008), Director Chateau st
Gerlach, maastricht
Mare wessels (2000), Director of Conference
and banqueting, the Landmark hotel, London
SEEN THE LIGHT OF LIFE
okke, son of oliver Jongma and Charlotte
Damen (2002)
maas, son of marco robbertsen (photo with
brother noud)
Julian, son of Wendy edens-de Jongh (1998)
photo with sister vera
teun, son of Fleur engels (2006) and ruben
Wanders (2006)
philiene, daughter of Fleurine mijinke (2003)
and Corneel harteveld (2003)
veerle, daughter of Zsuzsika belovics (2004)
and theo oostinjen (2004)
veerle, daughter of Karin van den berg (1997)
home previous / next
mees, son of Marlies Kromjong (2001)
and Hendrik wassenaar (1995)
boris, son of our colleague and alumna
Martine Vissers (1999)
MARRIED
Frederieke rutgers (2009) and Jorik America
(2005)
Linda bielder (2005) and mark de Leeuwerk
(2006)
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FebruArY september 2008 2011
PASSED AwAy
25 43
sanne van Drie (2009) and her son Levi
Finn and mats, twins of susanne reimering
(2000)
Sjef Beekwilder (1959), 75 years old
Henk Verweij, 77 years old, graduated from
royal military Academy but has been an industry
representative during selection days for many
years. his heart was with the hospitality industry
and he was very active in the regional board of
the voL (nowadays inCh)
Peter Baart, 57 years old, Financial
Administrator hotelschool the hague
Reunion of class IIIB (1966-1968)
After our graduation in 1968 we all focused on our careers and, sooner or later, our family
lives. We kept in touch and met occasionally until many contacts were lost or reduced to the
yearly Christmas card. A small number only kept in touch on a firm basis.
in 2006, on returning to holland from south Africa where she had lived for over 30 years,
Wies van de stadt began the search for her former classmates in order to rebuild her life back
home. she managed to trace quite a number and paid them regular visits. it was then that the
idea of a reunion was born.
the tragic death of Wim slagter in 2010 brought a fair number of us together again and
nelleke Westerhof and i accepted the challenge of organising a proper reunion. soon ruud
van ingen offered to help us out. the first hurdle was to find everyone but although this took
some time, we managed with the help of modern technology to trace those who are still alive.
sadly three of our distinguished group are no longer with us: Aartje sieswerda passed away
many years ago and so did hans Wenink, which came as a great shock to us, and in 2010 our
much loved classmate Wim slagter died.
the response to our invitation to attend our reunion was fantastic and the decision was made
to meet in utrecht on 19th June, 2011.
From the sixteen remaining students, only three did not respond and/or attend for one reason
home previous / next
or another: holger mühlenbeck (now
apparently a well known photographer in
Wuppertal, Germany), igno Duijvestijn and
rina Kleene-eijk.
thirteen plus an extra two who had married
into this select circle (bert hartog –1968-
married marion Fromberg and Angela Kluver
–1968- married erik de visser) invaded the
“Le Journal” pub/restaurant in the centre of
utrecht on a very blustery sunday morning.
they came from all over the globe: from
Winschoten to brisbane, from maastricht
to bangkok. And, it would be worth it!
the peace and calm of “Le Journal” was
thrashed by the hails of delight of 15 ex hhs
students meeting. Grey haired they might
have been, young at heart they certainly
were! 43 years felt more like 43 days and
the chatter went on from 11 a.m. until almost
past bedtime for most of us.
We talked and talked, drank coffee and
much more, had lunch and dinner (some of
us) and remembered those good old days.
it was unanimously agreed that is was
awesome to be reunited after 43 years
and we all wondered how it is possible
that such a short period of time (2 years)
at the hogere hotelschool could have
created such a strong bond for such a
long time. many of us, especially the “girls”
took up other studies like economics, Law,
Languages, only a few of us had careers in
the hospitality and related industries, but we
all acknowledge that our time spent at the
hogere hotelschool had formed a firm and
solid basis for our future.
martin Lammerts
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