Work-life balance

Meet in style at the new Kimpton De Witt hotel in Amsterdam

Kimpton De Witt believes the personal touch creates a more productive environment

Kimpton invented boutique hotels in the US and with the opening of the Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam, its first European property, it’s ready to redefine the way meetings are held.

Boutique is not a concept usually associated with business meetings, but Kimpton De Witt believes the personal touch creates a more productive environment. It starts with the hotel itself, with 274 rooms, nine of which are suites, including some in three original Dutch Golden Age buildings situated within the hotel – ideal for bringing a more relaxed ambience to a professional event.

That’s only part of the package, there’s also a service level defined by General Manager Mike Robinson as “Want for nothing, personalised luxury without the attitude”. It begins even before check-in, when Kimpton De Witt staff do their homework, profiling the type of business and the needs of its employees, to work out a tailored experience for them. This means more than sharpened pencils and jugs of water in meeting spaces; it can be personalised gifts in rooms, a foodie experience or a health and wellbeing package with yoga. There is even the option of a cycling tour or 5km run (led by Robinson himself) before business begins.

There is plenty of space to work and play. Boutique tends to mean small, but Kimpton De Witt has eight meeting rooms whose combined 600 sqm accommodate reception space for 20 to 200 guests or 18 to 120 classroom-style. Five of these rooms are on ground level and naturally lit – a world away from the usual corporate workspace – while the sixth-floor Penthouse De Witt’s 30 sqm balcony is the natural place for cocktails overlooking the city.

At the end of each day, Kimpton’s signature complimentary Wine Hour beckons, while the craft cocktail bar, House Bar, located in a former family home dating from 1645, has a variety genevers (traditional Dutch gin) on offer.

In the main Wyers restaurant, American Chef “SammyD” DeMarco gives a Dutch spin to American comfort food, but delegates will equally remember Miss Louisa’s Coffee + Beignets, whose drinks and sugar-dusted beignets are a feature of meetings packages.

Corporate events don’t have to mean bland spaces, mass catering and a dull, generic experience. Kimpton De Witt is about to change all that.