After a renovation of 18 months at a cost of Euro 35,000,000 for just 92 rooms, Hotel “Des Indes” of The Hague (as it is known locally) reopened this month.
Its present name is Le Meridien Hotel Des Indes, but I expect it soon to be renamed “Starwoods Des Indes” or “Sheraton Des Indes” because recently the letter of intent has been signed that Starwoods acquires Groupe Le Meridien.
note added in 2006: It kept its name Le Meridien Hotel Des Indes under the Starwood label.
A friendly lady of the staff gave me a private guided tour, as everybody who wants to have a look gets a private tour during three moths after opening between 9.00 AM to 9.00 PM by a member of staff, especially made available for this job on rotation basis. That’s fantastic service and PR.
Another pleasant feature of Des Indes is that it wants to attract as many locals as possible by having lounge, bar and restaurant which are interconnected, open to the public from 07.00 hr AM to 01.00 hr AM while you can eat and drink whatever you want. Fantastic…finally a place of international standing in The Hague, where you can enjoy breakfast at 3.00 hr PM after your flight from Los Angeles to forget your jet lag, or book a supper after concert or theater at 11.00 hr PM, while Dutch kitchens normally tend to close at 10.30 hr PM. Perfect!
It is also very clear that all personnel that returned is very proud of the result of the renovation that for the interior part was led by French designer Jacques Carcia, known of many hotel renovations as for instance Hotel Costes, and L’Hotel, both in Paris. Personally I find the design not so flashy as in those two French Hotels, probably because Des Indes is not an Indy (independent hotel)…