Paul van de camp's glass tunnel - Hotelschool The Hague

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Paul van de camp’s glass tunnel

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Philipp Weghmann tells us about
the Preferred Hotel Group
Philipp Weghmann (2002) joined Preferred Hotel Group (http://www.preferredhotelgroup.com) in
October 2006 to open the company’s barcelona office and recently he transferred to PHG’s miami
office in june 2011 as Area managing Director for Latin America & caribbean.
philipp: “phG represents about 800 independent hotels, most of them 5* rated deluxe hotels, in more than
65 countries however is generally less known in europe in particular due to its American roots.
preferred hotels & resorts, one of the our brands, is arguably the only serious competitor to Leading
hotels of the World and given hDh’s close relationship with Leading hotels i thought it would be interesting
for the alumni to learn more about preferred.
A little bit of context: For many years hDh has had very close relationships with some of the world’s
most important hotel chains. i recall companies such as marriott (ritz-Carlton), hyatt and hilton coming
to our campus in search of the most talented and motivated about-to-graduate students (systematically
overlooking me…) to offer them management trainings and even full time positions after their traineeships.
these groups continue to grow at a very healthy pace
and many hDh alumni have made their careers in
starwood, intercontinental, marriott and the likes.
Apart from the above mentioned hard brands the
luxury segment of the hotel industry is dominated
by independently managed properties and smaller
regional brands. practically all of these hotels are
affiliated to international ¨soft brands¨, i.e. hotel
consortia that group together hundreds of independent
hotels under their brand to give them credibility in
the international market place and a range of sales,
marketing and technology tools to better compete with
the strong hard brands. Leading hotels and relais
& Chateaux are probably the most famous ones in
europe and several of you have done one or both of
your internships in one of their hotels. both are so well
known in europe because they were founded here,
LhW in 1928 and r&C in 1954.
the third oldest brand out there is preferred hotels
& resorts which was founded in 1968 in the us.
Philipp Weghmann
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preferred only started
its global expansion in
2003 when the ueberroth
family bought the brand,
and at the same time
also acquired the brands
summit hotels & resorts
and sterling hotels.
shortly after, preferred
boutique a sister brand to
preferred hotels focusing
on hotels with less then 100
rooms was launched and
together these four brands
today form preferred hotel
Group.
The College Hotel in Amsterdam, a member of Preferred Hotel Group
historic hotels of America
was added through
acquisition in 2009. in terms of hotel room inventory phG is clearly the most powerful soft brand out there
with more than 150 000 hotel rooms belonging to its portfolio.
When i joined phG in 2006 the company had about 500 member hotels, 20 global sales offices and
approximately 100 employees.
since then growth has been spectacular and we now have
more than 800 hotels, 31 sales offices in 20 countries and
220 employees. Chicago, newport beach and London
are our key corporate offices and our latest openings
include moscow, shanghai and buenos Aires. i opened
the barcelona office in 2006 to look after spain, portugal,
morocco, Greece, Cyprus and turkey and will soon oversee
our development in Latin America out of our miami office.
phG is family owned and managed and a great company
work for. All our hotels are independent and therefore
unique and i have had many wonderful stays in many
of them. if you have worked or are working in any of our
member hotels i would love to hear about it.
perhaps we can explore the possibility of hDh students
doing internships at these properties. Drop me a note at
pweghmann@preferredhotelgroup.com”.
The College Hotel Lounge
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FebruArY June 2011 2008
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Where there is nothing,
anything is possible
paul van de Camp (1990) started his career as manager of ‘De hoefslag’ a relais & Chateaux hotel in
bosch en Duin (the netherlands) an, at that time, famous restaurant with 1 michelin star.
After that he moved to belgium and became an entrepreneur ending up owning several restaurants and
hotels.
one of the hotels was at the waterfront and because of the high occupancy rates he wanted to build
some extra floors on top.
(un)fortunately… the municipality did not grant permission.
After this negative response the idea came into his mind to build the needed extra space on the water,
floating, like thousands of houseboats in the netherlands already do. he started investigating it at
the moment that an international discussion was going on about sea level rise, climate change and
sustainable environment.
new innovative ideas were needed to adapt to these changed circumstances.
the worldwide potential for environmentally friendly, floating islands with the same comfort levels as on
land, made him decide to create a business to make this become reality.
in 2004 he teamed up with Koen olthuis, a Dutch architect and together they started Dutch Docklands.
today his company is the world leader in floating developments and master development on the water,
based on hundreds of years of Dutch know-how.
the netherlands (‘the Low Countries’ is the correct translation of the name of the country) are known for
their centuries long fight “against” the water.
this knowledge is renowned all over the world and Dutch engineers have been called in as specialists in
many countries with complicated water related problems.
Dutch Docklands took a different approach and invented innovative floating solutions with which the “fight
against “the water is transformed into “living with” the water. by combining specific knowledge from the
specialist leading Dutch companies they patented ‘floating land’ and created a whole new global market.
At the end of 2004, Dutch Docklands received a phone call out of Dubai asking for the ‘export
department’.
Some of the 43 floating private islands in the ocean of the Maldives
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they had heard about the company and were looking for companies to construct the largest floating
development ever been made . sheikh mohamed bin rashid al maktoum, ruler of Dubai, had a vision of a
floating proverb around palm Jebel Ali.
this proverb consisted of 4 different poems like: ‘not every man who rides a horse is a jockey’.
the Dutch consortium
headed by Dutch Docklands
won the tender.
A mix of 89 floating islands
with over 220.000 m2 of
floating land with multiple
functions such as hotels,
restaurants, shops and
various leisure, resulted in
a wonderful plan. For that
reason Dutch Docklands
started an office in Dubai.
While only a few years
earlier, a floating restaurant
A floating golf course
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Paul van de Camp and the President of the Maldives
was seen as the maximum achievable, there
was now a demand for floating objects that were
not just much larger, but also provided new
answers to genuine requirements and problems.
At that time the president of the maldives was
looking for alternative ways in order to prevent
his country from sinking.
paul picked up the phone and called him, telling
him about the innovative and environmentally
friendly way of making floating land.
this resulted in a partnership with the
Government of the maldives and in 2010 Dutch
Docklands signed a joint-venture contract
to develop, manage and operate floating
developments in 5 lagoons with a total area
of more than 800 hectares/ 80 million sq.ft of
water.
the developments will consist of world’s first 18-hole Floating Golf Course with 200 palatial water
villas and two hotels, a Floating star-shaped 800-rooms conference hotel, the biggest in the maldives,
various floating private islands each with a private pool and private berthing facilities, a Yacht-club and 4
individual ring-shaped floating islands each with 72 water villas connected to it. Construction will start end
of this year and will be
ready by 2015.
these developments
will create a whole new
target market for the
maldives.
together with Wouter
Lap and marijke heyer
(both also ex hotel
school the hague
students, 1985) another
new product has
been developed, the
“Floating restaurant
islands”. Centralizing
Four circles of each 72 Watervillas, 288 villas in total, an impression (Maldives)
One circle with 72 Watervillas in the Maldives
The Greenstar, a floeating hotel & Conference centre, 800 rooms in the lagoon

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restaurants, bars and clubs on one huge floating island that creates new opportunities as well as solutions
for crowded waterfronts. it will attract many people and will relieve the pressure of city centers.
the first one of course being developed in the maldives.
in order to train the local maldivian people for a future career in hospitality, a dedicated training institute
will be founded, with help of hotelschool the hague? Who knows, maybe hotelschool the hague might
be able to help realise this?
next to the tourism related activities, the president has asked Dutch Docklands to use their technology
to cover other needs for the local population of the maldives as well. male, the capital city, has one of the
highest densities in the world. Dutch Docklands is now working on a master-plan to create a new Floating
City with more than 20.000 affordable homes next to the capital.
in the meantime this Floating vision is more and more recognized by several international media sources
such as Cnn, Forbes and many others and at the moment negotiations are going on with Discovery
Channel and national Geographic in order to make a documentary about these latest evelopments.
We will surely hear more about this in a later Alma edition!
Floating golf courses in the middle of the sea
books of the month:
For a thrilling vacation!
You are in the hotel industry and cannot do without for three weeks of relaxation in marbella?
You left the hotel business but are a bit homesick for it?
help is on its way! Canadian Daniel edward Craig made
a career as a five-star General manager.
then started writing on the side.
since a year or so (having written some bestselling
thrillers) he works as a writer and consultant (especially
revenue management) in vancouver.
(more on www.danieledwardcraig.com)
three thrilling hotel thrillers are waiting for you to be
devoured poolside in Chersonissos!
Chaos in the Universe:
the Gm of the universe hotel in manhattan (think
Grand-hyatt-like) owned and managed by Willard
Godfrey who is subsequently found dead by trevor
Lambert, the rooms Director.
of course, trevor finally identifies the killer.

FebruArY June 2011 2008
Murder at Hotel Cinema:
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Drama in hollywood! trevor, now Gm in a five-star in hollywood, is preparing the opening party when a
famous movie star takes a fatal dive from the penthouse balcony.
is it suicide?
And again after a long struggle he manages to
expose the real killer.
Murder at Graverly Manor:
trevor Lambert tries to buy his own luxury bedand-breakfast,
a victorian mansion in vancouver
called Graverly manor.
however, the old lady-owner won’t sell before
trevor has worked there for at least a month.
And of course, during the night ghosts seem to
rule, and a chambermaid disappears!
have fun reading (i for sure had lots of fun) and
make sure you throroughly recharge yourself.
For all three books see amazon.com; about $ 16
each plus postage.
PLEAsE jOIN THE ONE AND ONLy ALUmNI HOTELscHOOL
LINKEDIN GROUP:
ALUmNI HOTELscHOOL THE HAGUE
AND READ ALL AbOUT jOb vAcANcIEs, EvENTs AND EvERy-
THING THAT mIGHT bE OF INTEREsT !
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A team of private butlers, bidding farewell
to one single v.I.P. guest, in a luxurious
hotel somewhere in the world........
sorry, we can not give you any details....
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June 2011
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Tuscany, Napoli and the pizza margherita
For us, and just about everybody else, the summer holiday is almost there. Last thing at the school
will be the traditional, enjoyable yearly bbQ-buffet for the staff and then it is off to distant shores for a
few lazy weeks. As you know, half of the Dutch middle-class population spends part of their holidays in
tuscany where they meet up again with most of their friends from the Dutch suburbs. As for myself, i’ve
seen Florence, sienna and pisa – but not much else. very scary the Leaning tower was – at least, the
open top floor, thirty years ago - but recommended! For an even stronger shot of culture, travel north to
verona (at Lake Garda) afterwards, and enjoy an incredible evening at the opera in the old roman Arena.
it is breathtaking , fantastic, majestic, romantic and a lot of other things: this year, choose from Aida, il
barbiere di siviglia, La boheme, La traviata, nabucco and romeo and Juliette, until late August
(arena-verona.veronaticket.com).
speaking about italy, my wife and i enjoy a pizza about every other week and until recently we did not
really know much about the history of the most widely known dish in the world. of course we knoew the
country of origin and also the famous Queen margharita story, but that was it. so earlier this year we
flew south to napoli for the weekend, to the home of the pizza. After checking in in a charming hotel in a
restored ‘palazzo’ in old naples, the search for the real history of the pizza began. First stop was brandi,
probably the most famous and historical pizzeria in town.
it was here that ‘pizzaiolo’ raffaele esposito created, in 1889, the mother of all pizza’s, the margherita.
it was invented in honor of Queen margherita of italy, who was on an official visit to naples, and it shows
the colors red, white and green, like the flag of the republica italiana. the colors of course come from
tomatoes (preferably from san marzano or similar), fresh basil and mozzarella di buffalo (top quality
only). the only other thing you need is a spoonful of extra vergine olive oil and of course the dough. the
margherita is obviously called the Queen of pizzas and a good pizzaiolo (or pizza chef) makes sixty per
hour (yes, even the young generation can figure that out without a calculator: one per minute)
After an excellent meal at upmarket brandi, we had a completely different, but also great experience the
next evening.
‘sorbillo’ is another historic pizzeria, founded in dictator mussolini’s time, in 1934. it is extremely busy
each evening with lots of hungry people outside, waiting for a table. only four items are served: pizza,
wine (one, red), coke (in a bottle), water (in a bottle, one kind) and beer (one, German brand in a halflitre
can), and the place is crammed every evening. the founder and his wife had 21 kids together – the
Catholic church and mussolini united could be quite convincing…. All of them (and
later the grandchildren) went into the pizza trade! Keep napoli in mind for a long
weekend in the fall or so, it is a superb experience.
For now, we wish you a great summer – and a relaxed ‘comeback’ afterwards! And
finally, if you really don’t know where to go: go to Greece, and spend your money
there! the hard working majority of the Greek deserves to keep their job!
A.C. van Delft, LL.m
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Rowing Ladies Hotello 8
on a cold January morning, eight ambitious, yet ignorant students from hotel school the hague came
together in the hangar of rowing club pelargos in the center of the hague.
brought together by Fleur stoffelen, who came up with a very special extracurricular activity: taking
part in the longest rowing marathon in the world and row one hundred km on 11 may 2011. We never
rowed one meter before! We found sponsors like our hotelschool, another sponsor for the sportswear
and some suppliers for food. During the cold, yet sunny winter months the first steps were taken. three
enthusiastic coaches (once crazy enough to row hundred km themselves), improved our rowing skills and
strengthened our physical fitness.
how we have cursed those rowing machines! but: no pain, no gain! We lost three girls due to injuries,
but we found new motivated ones as well. sundays were something to look forward; training in the actual
boat, out on the water. We learned to row technically correct, since only technique can take you to that
finish line. soon we realized it was all about balance; balance in the boat and balance in our lives.
scepsis and doubts about the feasibility surrounded us while testing our limits and going beyond. We
experienced the importance of team dynamics and spirit. training intensified to four sessions per week.
emotions intensified too. A sixty km trip tested us three weeks before the great day. our confidence grew
strongly, because we managed!
then, only two weeks in advance; one of us broke her leg! end of story? no, we found a trained rower
and although we only trained once as a complete team in the right boat, we had good faith.
the regatta on 11 may 2011 was like a dream. the perfect weather, over a hundred students and parents
cheering for us, one hundred and
thirty seven competitors, the pain,
the feeling we were invincible.
sometimes we fought and struggled,
sometimes we flew over the water,
overtaking other teams. in the end,
we surprised everybody, including
ourselves, by being the fastest
female boat of the ringvaart regatta
2011 in 8 hours, 10 minutes and
47 seconds! it took eight amazing
girls, one indispensable coxswain
(steering the boat), three fully
committed coaches and hours of
practice, but it was worth every part
of it.
Josje van der Wielen, bowman
Nicole Wigman, Chrlotte van Solinge, Susan de Vries, Jacobine van der Klooster,
Fleur Stoffelen, Josje van der Wielen, Bo van Strijland and Sanne Platen, together
with a proud Mr Dooge
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FebruArY June
June
september 2011
2011
2008 2007 home previous / next
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Richold bakker’s
(1992) DjaDjan
restaurant selected
In the artists’ village of bergen in the northern
netherlands, restaurant DjaDjan has been selected
to become a member of the premier league of
indonesian restaurants, the sir (‘selected indonesian
restaurants’).
in bergen, richold was already owner of a popular
bar-restaurant. the premises where DjaDjan is now,
became vacant. “i wanted something different, not
another bistro”, richold told us.
richold, nor his cook is of indonesian origin. but
the cook (a Greek called Jani Gritzalis), has learned
to cook from a famous indonesian cook: Lonny
Gerungan.
Worth a visit!
restaurant DjaDjan
Kleine Dorpsstraat 1
bergen, tel. 072-5813482
www.djadjan.nl
Richold Bakker (in the middle) receives his SIR certificate
Tiger Award 2010 for
claudia Pronk
recently, the minor hotel Group, a hospitality company with 33
hotels and 1.000 restaurants in Asia, presented the annual ‘minor
Awards’ to Claudia pronk (1991), former General manager of hotel
Des indes and nowadays General manager of three resorts.
she was awarded with the ‘tiger Award’.
Claudia is General manager of the resorts Anantara Dhigu,
Anantara veli and naladhu maldives.
she was praised for her professionality, dedication and leadership
that formed the basis of the company’s success.
Congratulations, we are proud of you, Claudia!
Claudia Pronk and her son at the Anantara beach
From Amsterdam to
Guangzhou
my name is Clemens berendsen. For the last six years i have been
a member of the board of Directors at hotelschool the hague.
these are exciting times for hotelschool the hague. After many
years it looks like we finally found a new place for our Amsterdam
campus. recently, i signed the lease contract for the new building,
altogether about 13,000 m2 for both school and skotel. if all
goes well, we will move in the summer of 2012 from the prinses
irenestraat (school) and De Klencke (skotel), to the new premises,
by then fully renovated, where both school and skotel will be
accommodated together.
it is going to be a huge challenge to be ready in time, but we are
surely looking forward to opening the new school in Amsterdam.
in may, invited by Florida international university and the
south China university of technology, i visited a conference in
Guangzhou. it was really worthwhile to meet other international
hotel schools and international and Chinese hotel chains and
discuss what the regional developments are and what the hotels
expect from the hotel management courses.
During the trip to Guangzhou i also visited some trainees in beijing.
two of them work at the Westin Chaoyang, one at the hilton Airport.
it was very interesting to hear about their challenges working and
living in a city like beijing.
Finally, an annual research by the hbo raad among hbo
graduates shows that our school scores far better on almost all
subjects evaluated by alumni , than all colleague hotel schools in
the netherlands. And this is extremely good
news for everyone who is well disposed
towards hotelschool the hague.
Drs C. berendsen
board of Directors

FebruArY June 2011 2008
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Things you
want to know
cLImING THE sTAIRs
jori messer (2009), sales Director the
regus Group, indonesia
murat Turan (2001), business Development
manager middle east & Asia, pieterman
Chocolate works netherlands. murat is
responsible for developing sales channels
and new products. From starbucks in
shanghai to candy stores in Dubai, you can
find their chocolates.
max Wiegerinck (1991), hotel manager the
st. regis saadiyat island, pre opening office,
Abu Dhabi
Franziska jotzo (2010), training
Coordinator Learning Associates
Kervin van den meijdenberg (2004),
Director of Front office, trump international
hotel & tower, toronto Canada
maurice Albers van der Linden (1998),
Account manager/project manager best
image signing
carola boer-broeders (1990), brand
Director Global baby Care, unilever
Rogier cammaert ((2006), export Director
Chevalier international printing business
michiel de Kloet (2008), business
Development executive, business
Development, rai
Erwin de jong (2009), operations manager
european Airports at Yotel (hotels in
heathrow, Gatwick and Amsterdam)
marlies van der Hout (2004), Food &
beverage manager hilton Curacao
marlies Kromjong (2001), hr manager
research & Development vlaardingen,
rotterdam and member of site Leadership
team and hr Leadership teams, unilever
sEEN THE LIGHT OF LIFE
Daan, son of marcia van Deyl (2003) and
Niels de veij (2002)
Lieve, daughter of Ellen Holtslag (2007)
Aafke, daughter of Xander Lub (former lecturer
research and statistics)
sara, daughter of Thomas Dinkla (2004)
and caroline schilt (2006)
sarah, daughter of matthias Huitema (2000)
reinier, son of Roland coppens (1993)
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mARRIED
jorine Hueting (2006) and Rogier van der
Wurff (2008)
mireille de vries (2006) and Wouter
stevens (2006)
janine Kho (2008) and bastiaan
breukhoven (2004)
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FebruArY June 2011 2008
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selection abroad
As you might know, Hotelschool The Hague
regularly goes abroad for a selection day for
international students.
Recently, we were in Budapest and Bucharest.
Members of staff, trainees and former students
cooperate in these sessions.
Staff members Joost de Langen, Arnoud van Delft, Angela
Romijn and Hungarian student Balazs Heim in Budapest
Nir Weinstein (1997), G.M. Radisson Blu in Bucharest participated
in the selection procedure in Romania
Fusion
A message from Fusion, a group of hotelschool students who arrange Corporate social
responsibllity related events in order to raise awareness of all stakeholders: student body, faculty,
hDh, outside contacts and Fusion members and to create a platform which will enable all
stakeholders to inform themselves about Csr and on how to implement it in the industry:
“Dear alumni,
Do you feel like coming back to hotelschool the hague for a day and are you or your company
actively involved in Csr topics? then here is the opportunity to meet and greet some of your former
lecturers and instructors and pass on a message from the industry straight to the upcoming industry
leaders – namely to us - the students of hotelschool the hague!
Fusion invites You to be our guest!
Fusion endeavors to provide future managers with knowledge of Csr that they can incorporate in
their professional life. As an official, non-profit entity of hDh, Fusion strives to increase awareness
of faculty and students at hDh about Corporate social responsibility (Csr) and to provide a
stimulus to the curriculum of hotelschool the hague. Fusion endeavours to provide future
managers with knowledge of Csr that they can incorporate in their professional life.
our mission is to arrange Csr-related events in order to create awareness among all stakeholders:
student body, faculty, hDh, outside contacts and Fusion members.
We constantly strive for being a stimulus to the curriculum of hotelschool the hague.
And this is where we need Your input!
if you are interested in presenting your company’s values in terms of Csr, conducting a workshop or
just anything else – we would highly appreciate your contribution!
For any questions, ideas or suggestions: please contact us via fusion@hdh.nl and like us on
Facebook, where you can also receive more information about our past events and us!
thank you very much for your
consideration and we are looking
forward hearing from you!”
on behalf of Fusion, tanja
tönnießen, (in the picture 4th
from the right)
board of Fusion
2010 / 2011
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service centre Hotello TOP
organizes first Alliance
Weekend 2011
The initiative to get together with the Alliance
(Students’ Associations of Maastricht, Breda,
Leeuwarden, Amsterdam and The Hague hotel
schools) came from the Hotello TOP Service
Centre and Amphitryon (Maastricht Student
Association).
Hotello TOP is an organization that offers a
platform for (former) hotel school students of
international hotel schools in the Netherlands
The first gathering was in Lanaken, Belgium
and the focus was on future cooperation and
personal development. Students of all the hotel
schools present were trained and participated in
workshops in order to help them discover their
aspirations and their inner self.
Present from La Confrerie: Tamar Nijenhuis, Anne van Muijen,
Manon de Koning, Robin van Beek, Susan de Vries, Bas van
Rooij
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