While luxury five-star business hotels are currently voluntarily forfeiting their 5th star and lowering their prices in order to retain their list of business guests, there is a relatively small boutique hotel on Keizersgracht in Amsterdam that expects to close the year 2009 with more than acceptable results. The Toren, a hotel with 38 rooms, is currently enjoying the same occupancy rate (93%) as in previous years, and the average price for a room is essentially identical to the price before the crisis. It is therefore for good reason that the hotel was named number 1 by the hotel reviewer site TripAdvisor.

It has emerged from various (trade) media that companies are increasingly unlikely to book large, often impersonal, luxury five-star hotels for their business partners and employees. The success of The Toren, a small luxury design/boutique hotel, demonstrates that this is not solely attributable to tighter budgets but rather to the experience and the feeling that they want their business guests to enjoy.

 

The Toren: number 1 business hotel on the TripAdvisor site

Although The Toren was not specifically designed as a business hotel, it nevertheless has now received the highest average guest rating from business guests on the TripAdvisor site, the largest international hotel reviewer site. The Toren was previously rated best 4/5-star hotel in Amsterdam by guests, and now it has also been awarded first place as best hotel for business guests.

 

Positive trend

Checking out other travellers’ opinions and submitting our own online evaluation has become a veritable trend. Anyone booking a hotel today is right to first have a look at other people’s evaluations and experiences. www.tripadvisor.com.