The story of Htel (10 years in the making)

Every organization has it’s story, this is no different with us. The only thing at Htel is that our story is build up out of 300 smaller stories, one story per apartment. Now this would make quite the fairy tale, so how about we will tell you the story in a nutshell.

It all started on the 12th of June 2003 in the city of Amstelveen with one client. After putting there employees in hotels for months at a time, it was time for a cost-efficient and more comfortable alternative. We saw the opportunity and we ceased it, starting with 10 business suites (as we called our apartments back then) in which they placed there employees.

The solution for this client’s housing issue was found and in the process Htel Serviced Apartments was born. Not only did the client manage to reduce there corporate housing cost immensely, they also saw an increase in the overall happiness and health of there employees as they were able to offer them an increased comfort level. All of the sudden there employees went from 20m2 hotel rooms with nothing more then a bed, a tv and a bathroom to a 45m2 fully furnished/equipped apartment with the possibility to cook for them selves.

Shortly after the successful start Htel started expanding and in ten years time we grew from 10 apartments to 300 apartments, from 1 location to 2 locations and from 1 client to 50+ preferred (contracted) clients. The CEO of Htel Serviced Apartments, Luigi Prins, was present and held a speech quoting how glad he was with the 10 years anniversary.

With the rise of social media came the opportunity to develop the product in a fast pace, and keeping close contact with the client. We could now pro-actively look for feedback and respond quicker and more adequate. Opinions matter in our eyes and so we strive to do as much as we can with them.

The stories we hear at Htel are countless, ranging from: • Guest who put there 3-piece suits in the washing machine and dryer. Leading us to introduce our dry-cleaning service. • Guest who used there water cooker for boiling their rice, ruining there meal as well as the water cooker. Leading us to equip every apartment with a rice cooker. • Guest who weren’t aware of the internet cost that their provider charges them with when being abroad. Giving them immense phone bills, leading us to introduce our free wi-fi. • Guest who were looking for our type of temporary accommodation for shorter stays as well, leaduing us to introduce our short-stay packages • Guest who rented bikes from bike rental companies in the city center and were unaware that they had to bring them back to the city center as well. Leading us to introduce our own bicycle rental. • Guest who realized that upon arrival they had no time to do there shopping, leading us to introducing our grocery service.

As you can read each apartment has it’s story and each story provides us with the tools to further develop the concept. With over 300 tools to develop we are being kept busy for the next 10 years.

With that being said who knows were Htel will be in 10 years time. Dreaming and doing big makes us believe that we might have Serviced Apartments on the moon one day. Until that time we will intent to provide organizations of all levels with the best temporary housing solution they can get. And we hope that we can count on you to help us do that for the coming 10 years.

Let’s celebrate,

In name of our CEO, Luigi Prins

Nayton Craig & the Htel team

Fun fact: Htel Serviced Apartments has housed employees of well over 2000 companies from more then 50 different countries. Pretty global for a country the size of Holland.