The Hague to gain more than 1,000 new hotel rooms
The Hague is aiming to meet an increasing demand for visitor accommodation by opening more than 1,000 extra hotel rooms in the near future.
In the last three years, the Dutch city has steadily increased its recognition as a destination for international events and multi-day congresses and is now ready to facilitate the growth.
The timing is right, given development of the multi-purpose Education and Culture Centre (Onderwijs- en Cultuurcomplex (OCC)), the city’s latest world-class visitor attraction, which is set to create even more opportunities for event and leisure activities.
Over the past five years, the occupancy rate of hotel rooms in The Hague has increased by 19 per cent. The average of revenue per available room has risen by 11 per cent, which is the strongest increase among the four large Dutch cities The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht. These figures can be traced back to the growing numbers of recreational and business travellers visiting The Hague.
Nienke van der Malen, director of The Hague Convention Bureau, said: “We’re increasingly bringing in large-scale events and international congresses that often last several days. This is fantastic news of course, but we need to make sure that delegates can be accommodated and that we can live up to our visitors’ expectations.”
The new rooms are a result of new or expanded hotels across the city. The new Asian Business Court with 120 rooms will open in 2019. The building process of a new Intel Hotel at the harbour (Noorderlijk-Havenhoofd) has started and will add another 200 new rooms. The renovation of the Best Western Plaza Den Haag City-hotel (Grote Marktstraat – 78 additional rooms) and the Mövenpick hotel (Paleisstraat 5 – 70 additional rooms) will be completed in 2019. Aloft (Starwood/Marriott) which is located right across The Hague central station will be remodelled to offer 177 additional rooms.
How the Education and Culture Centre will look
At least five other hotels are already being rebuilt or have received permission to expand. Approximately two-thirds of the new rooms will be placed in the mid-end segment.
Richard de Mos, The Hague’s deputy Mayor said: “In recent years The Hague’s popularity as an event and congress destination has grown significantly. In fact, around half of the overnight stays in the city are booked by business travellers.
“We are excited about the latest developments in the hospitality sector and are looking forward to meeting the demands of our international visitors even better in the future.”
After eight years of deliberation and planning, the construction of the new OCC has begun last summer. Once finished, the centre will be home to the Dutch Dance Theatre, the Royal Conservatory and The Hague’s Residentie Orchestra. The OCC will consist of an auditorium with 1,300 seats, a concert hall with 1,500 seats, eight halls with 50 to 200 seats and eight foyers with 50 to 300 seats.
The OCC – the building of which is due to be completed by 2022 – will be located at the Spuiplein and within walking distance of main train station Den Haag Centraal, and will be surrounded by a variety of shops, restaurants and cafés.
