Sleeping above the railway track

Ibis Amsterdam Centre has undergone total renovation and it has doubled in size. The hotel now has 363 rooms. How should we draw the extension and the unique location – right next to Amsterdam Centraal Station – to the attention of people making hotel reservations in the capital? And how could we reach the press?

Ibis Amsterdam Centre is the only hotel in the Netherlands built above a railway track.

We develop a mailing for people making hotel room reservations, with the envelope resembling a train. Behind the windows you can see guests who, as the flyer is removed from the envelope, are revealed seated in the hotel restaurant.

The bookers are urged to visit a special action web site. There they see an image of the hotel and they are invited to enter an online competition.

In the press invitation for the opening of the hotel, we draw attention to the fact that ibis Amsterdam Centre “is the only hotel with its own station”. Alderman Lodewijk Asscher opens the hotel. In his hotel plan for Amsterdam, Asscher aspires to an increase in the number of hotel rooms by 9,000 in 2012. The extra rooms at ibis Amsterdam Centre are therefore close to his heart.

In the ten days following the mailing on November 14th, the action web site attracts 2,895 unique visitors. In the same period 421 people enter the competition.

A variety of media features the opening of ibis Amsterdam Centre. This event is the main story on het Parool ’s economy page, accompanied by a splendid photograph.