Hotels, restaurants & catering

Since the Netherlands is the gateway to Europe, countless international business contacts visit Holland. Our country is also world famous as a tourist destination. This demands that the hospitality market in the Netherlands be varied and cater to a wide range of visitors. In the Netherlands you will find some 4500 hotels in all available categories. About 40 billion euros is spent yearly by guests and this generates an important source of national income.

Dutch hotel, restaurant, catering and tourism education trains students at every level. And our hotel schools are world famous. A lot of attention is paid to traineeships abroad so that students become familiar working in international settings. Most of our experts worked for hotel chains and restaurants all over the world. Since the Dutch hotel market is on the forefront of trends, PUM experts are familiar with current developments in this sector. Within the scope of this ‘hospitality landscape’, our PUM experts can offer to hotel owners valuable hands-on advice regarding practical problems, management related issues, staff training, and modern marketing techniques.

Together with a PUM expert you will take a close look at how to harness all of your hotel’s potential to improve the quality and profitability of your business. Whether you need individual advise for a specific issue or want a general ‘make-over’ of your company, PUM can assist!

Areas of expertise

• General management
• Human resource
• Housekeeping
• Front office
• Food & beverage
• Kitchen management (HACCP menu engineering)
• Menu calculation, menu engineering, mise en place
• Facility management
• Maintenance
• Hospitality training/coaching
• Booking and reservation systems
• Marketing and e-marketing for Hotels and Restaurants
• Efficiency and effectivity (SOP’s, Task descriptions, checklists, etc)
• Eco/sustainability
• Finance (liquidity, solvability, control, ROI)
• MICE : Meetings, Incentives, Congresses and Events

This sector concerns all types of accommodation used for commercial overnight lodging (hotels, resorts, lodges, ecocamps) and for all activities conducted within (bars, restaurants, spa, wellness, banquets, MICE, etc.).

Support offered:

• Complete hotel assessment and management services
• Business plan development
• Solutions to inefficiencies in cost control of hospitality management systems
• Training services and human resources
• Establishment of effective marketing & sales programmes

Support in more specific areas is also available, such as in:

• Front-office operations
• Catering, kitchen and restaurant management, HACCP (hygiene)
• Food production
• Food & beverages services and management
• Housekeeping
• Control (stock, cash, purchase, finance, quality, efficiency)

The sector also assists local governments and non-governmental related branch organizations which provide services to sector companies, for example:

• Local chambers of commerce
• Hotel & catering associations
• Vocational institutes
• Hotel Classification Institutes
• Waste Management in Hotels and Restaurants
• Sustainability in Hotels and Restaurants

In several countries we helped National Hotel and Restaurant Associations with giving added value to their members by giving courses on several subjects our sector is working on. By doing this for groups of 15-20 entrepreneurs we reach more goals:

• The associations delivers added value to their members
• PUM gains more impact with one project
• Entrepreneurs meet each other and learn from each other
• Relationships are built and more projects are possible
• Quality of service is growing and connection with schools are growing
• Eco-systems in the way PUM means “develop by doing”

Client examples

Special workshops for hotels

Two PUM experts travelled abroad to provide workshops for the staff from different hotels. They were surprised by the large number of participants, approximately 40 Hotel- and Restaurant managers! The experts divided the group in two. One group for Restaurants and one group for Hotels. In each group the attention fields differ and after a two days seminar both experts visited all participants and helped them to implement the learned subjects.

One of the participants said: “We have worked hard to both improve hygiene as well as food preparation & presentation. We also addressed questions regarding how to deal with food-how to responsibly store food, inspecting packaging, freezing, cutting techniques, how to make broths and the staff also learned about proper attitudes when interacting with guests”.

Pearly white sheets

All the white bed sheets in a hotel had to be replaced yearly. From bright white they would discolour to brownish grey. Guests complained that the sheets were not clean. The hotel management didn’t know what to do, as it costs a lot of money to be buying new sheets throughout the course of a year. A PUM expert investigated the problem. The discolouration was due to excess iron in the groundwater, a problem easily fixed by buying and installing a water filtering machine for the laundry, the cost of which was recovered within six months.

Quality scan for a four star hotel

A four star hotel was inspected for strengths and for areas in need of improvement. One weak spot, for example, was that the hotel only offered buffet meals which was inconsistent with the overall level of hotel service. Our PUM expert commented: “I worked for three weeks and slowly improved everything from presentation and quality, to garnish. There was a great lack of basic knowledge. Cutting boards were used for everything-fish, meat, and vegetables. That’s a no-no. We have worked hard to both improve hygiene as well as food preparation & presentation. We also addressed questions regarding how to deal with food-how to responsibly store food, inspecting packaging, freezing, cutting techniques, how to make broths.” The staff also learned about proper attitudes when interacting with guests.

Professional people for positive impact

Looking to grow your business or organisation sustainably and build a brighter future for your community? Contact one of our representatives in your country for criteria, more information and guidance on the application process.