"If it goes wrong, it will be almost impossible to fix this matter on your own."

Rick and Britt Polman welcome Hospitality Management in one of the three restaurants at their hotel located along the A2 motorway. Van der Valk Eindhoven celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and has, especially over the past ten years, grown into a leading conference hotel. The strong focus on the business market has resulted in 26 different meeting rooms, the largest of which spans 1,000 square meters. In the coming years, the focus will broaden to attract more leisure guests as well. “We want to create a more well-rounded product. Right now, the split between business and leisure guests is roughly 50-50,” Britt explains. “We currently have all the facilities needed to serve the corporate and MICE market. Now we’re going to invest in other amenities, including wellness.”

Rick adds: 'There is a master plan that, in the distant future, includes a second tower. In the medium term, we’d like to expand our room offering a bit more. Sometimes we host large events and notice that our current inventory of 267 rooms is just a bit too limited. That’s something we’re keen to invest in. In the short term, our investment focus is on guest facilities. For example, we’re missing a large sauna area, which could really make a difference during holiday periods. That helps us attract more leisure guests and that automatically benefits our business market as well.'

Van der Valk Eindhoven is part of Luiten Van der Valk Beheer, one of the branches within the Van der Valk group. With 21 hotels, the Luiten branch is one of the largest entities within the chain, with locations in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Germany. The ambitions of this branch were underscored last year by the acquisition of Van der Valk Park Lane in the center of Antwerp and Van der Valk Hotel Paris CDG Airport, near Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

For a long time, the Eindhoven hotel was considered the ‘flagship’ of the branch, but with these new additions and the ongoing development of other hotels, that might change in the future. “Internally, we joke that some healthy competition is starting to arise within the group,” Britt says. “It actually started when our hotel in Amsterdam (Van der Valk Hotel Amsterdam-Amstel, ed.) was launched. About ten years ago, we bought our first hotel in Antwerp, and after a renovation, it’s now getting quite close to us in terms of revenue. And now Paris has been added with 400 rooms, it’s a large property that, once running at full speed, will certainly bring some competition. But that’s only a good thing. Internal competition means the group is doing well.”