How Conservatorium Hotel uses MENDO’s B2B service for their guests, and themselves
Fully Booked
Whether it’s a grand hotel, a cozy office, or a premium goods store—with our B2B services we provide quality books for every company. In our series Fully Booked we visit some of our favorite B2B contacts. In this episode: Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam.
It’s one of the most impressive lobbies in Amsterdam, with an equally impressive book collection. The Conservatorium Hotel welcomes guests from all over the world with the highest form of modern luxury. MENDO and the hotel have been working together for nearly seven years already, with books in the impressive lobby, as furnishing for the rooms, and as gifts for special guests.
Interested in our B2B options? Contact Noumy.
Spot the books on display in the lobby of Conservatorium Hotel, Amsterdam.
The Conservatorium Hotel is a relatively new hotel. The building was originally built as a bank, and later functioned as a conservatory school—hence its name. In 2008, Italian architect Piero Lissoni was commissioned to combine the century-old building with his signature modern style. In 2011 the hotel opened, and it has won numerous international prizes.
“For the rooms we always look for books that have a connection with Amsterdam and our neighborhood,” says Beatrijs Aghina, Creative Director of The Set hotels. “As for now, every room is furnished with a book on Vincent van Gogh and a book on Rembrandt van Rijn, since we’re located in the Museum Quarter. Our premier suites, like the I Love Amsterdam Suite have a more personalized curation, with Martin Garrix’ LIFE = CRAZY and a book from Anton Corbijn—it gives the guest an ultimate feeling of Amsterdam creativity.”
Beatrijs Aghina
The collaboration between MENDO and the Conservatorium Hotel has been going on since 2012. It started with a gift for guests at first, but over the years it has developed into a full fledged book service with a regularly updated selection and curation for the hotel’s lobby and its rooms. “At first we just bought a book at the store,” says Beatrijs. “Now, we update our collection a few times a year to make sure we have the most recent titles and to keep it in good condition. Our guests make very good use of the books, leafing through them while enjoying our Lounge. Sometimes a book gets “lost” but luckily for us, most of the time we find them back in one of the rooms.”
Books on display in the lobby of the Conservatorium Hotel
‘ We update our collection a few times a year to make sure we have the most recent titles. ’
For a luxurious hotel like this, the guests are often people with larger budgets looking for a next level cultural experience. According to Beatrijs, the books are part of that experience: “We receive many guests from the US, UK, Latin America, Germany, France, Asia and the local market. For those guests, it’s great to have a home-like feeling, and learn something about their favorite artists or about Amsterdam. There’s always a copy of MENDO’s Amsterdam book opened at the reception table. Not only is there a beautiful photo of our hotel in it, but it also covers plenty of other beautiful spots in Amsterdam which is a great conversation starter for our guests with our Host team. Many guests buy the book as a reminder of their stay here or as a perfect gift for their friends and family back home.”
"Our guests make very good use of the books, leafing through them while enjoying our Lounge. Sometimes a book gets "lost" but luckily for us, most of the time we find them back in one of the rooms."
—Beatrijs Aghina
The Conservatorium Hotel is part of the international chain of The Set, which has another hotel in London, and one in Paris. Together with Amsterdam, these are three of the four cities in our Streets of… series. “A perfect match for us,” says Beatrijs. We have them in all The Set hotels, and we’re looking for possibilities to offer it as a package as a nice literary addition to our signature suites or as a gift to our guests.” Those gifts for guests are called “VIP gifts” here, and are offered to the hotel’s most esteemed guests. In the past, we’ve made personalized editions for Conservatorium’s celebrity guests, to give them a memory of their visit in Amsterdam. “We’re in the hospitality business, and that’s all about making your guests or sales partner as comfortable as possible. Whenever we go on a sales trip, or have a special guest, we like to pamper them a little extra.”
MENDO's B2B services
![]([{"width":300,"height":300,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/streets-of-collection-pink-cover-300x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":500,"height":500,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/streets-of-collection-pink-cover-500x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":700,"height":700,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/streets-of-collection-pink-cover.jpg"},{"width":900,"height":900,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/streets-of-collection-pink-cover.jpg"}])
The Conservatorium Hotel is part of the international chain of The Set, which has another hotel in London, and one in Paris - three of the four cities in our Streets of… series.
The hotel has 129 rooms, ranging from large guest rooms to super luxurious suites. These rooms and their guests are being taken care of by a large and enthusiastic team, and of course, we like to pamper our employees as well. “We have a great relationship with MENDO, so we are always consulting about great thank you gifts for leaving interns. And for employee birthdays or events, we don’t mind paying MENDO a visit in the Berenstraat either.”
The building plays with old and new. Many historical details are left in tact, but combined with modern state of the art architecture and equipment. According to Beatrijs, MENDO is a great fit for that interplay: “The books at MENDO—the books we have here—are a modern play on a traditional product, and the books we choose have a link to our hotel and its environment. Add that to several years of smooth collaboration, and you have a perfect fit.”
Old and new
The design of the Conservatorium Hotel plays with old and new. The books at MENDO are a modern play on a traditional product.
About MENDO’s B2B service
—For businesses, gifts, conferences, lobbies, shops and hotel rooms
We offer a range of services that are fully personalised to suit your needs, including:
– Subscriptions
– Gift service
– Books to finish (hotel) rooms
– Building a library
– Reselling MENDO books
Find out more about what we can do for your company.
Continue reading
Challenging your professional life
Interview
In March, MENDO and Rebel launched a book called Challenge Your Professional Life—a book that is more relevant now than ever. We talked with Rebels Lenny van Klink and Wout…
#SENDNUDES–An uncensored celebration
Location: Extreme Wow Suite of W Hotel Amsterdam
On Monday night, our latest publication #SENDNUDES got the celebration it deserved: a playful and sexy evening in the Extreme Wow Suite at W Hotel Amsterdam.
The ultimate starter kit
Fashion = big business, and to get you started, we compiled a short and simple guide with books to help you achieve fashion career success.
MENDO eCommerce Site Of The Year!
An award-winning webshop
We try to stay humble at all times, but with news of this magnitude we simply can’t: MENDO.nl is eCommerce Site Of The Year at Awwwards. And that's massive!
Meet MENDO
At MENDO we're often asked about our favorite books. This is Mikel’s most recent selection.
Who the f*ck is Adam Katz Sinding?
A WhatsApp conversation with the photographer of This Is Not A F*cking Street Style Book
"I wasn't born with much of a filter. So when I see bullshit, I call "bullshit". A WhatsApp conversation with the photographer of This Is Not A F*cking Street Style…
ZENOLOGY’s path to creating MENDO ‘Libri’
Interview with ZENOLOGY Founder Jeroen Oude Sogtoen and In-House Perfumer Fredrik Dalman
ZENOLOGY developed ‘Libri’: a unique Ambiance Trigger fragrance made together with MENDO. ZENOLOGY Founder Jeroen Oude Sogtoen and In-house Perfumer Fredrik Dalman elaborate on what it takes to create a…
Meet the maker: Ed van der Elsken
Arguably the most notorious Dutch photographer ever
With an expo in Amsterdam, his name is on the tip of everyone’s tongue again.
Shelf Sessions: Emilia Terragni
Phaidon Press
In our series Shelf Sessions we climb the shelves of MENDO’s friends. In this episode Mikel van den Boogaard travels to Lake Como, Italy to meet Emilia Terragni; Publisher at…