Hosted by Rotterdam Marketing and The Hague Convention Bureau, 12 high profile buyers have just returned from a fam trip to experience both cities as event destinations.
Buyers included representatives from companies such as Grass Roots, Rede2, Springer Healthcare, Venues Event Management, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, Yellow Fish Event Management, and many others.
During the event, hosted buyers were given the chance to not only see each city’s main hotels and event venues, but to also get a feel and sense of the unique atmosphere of Rotterdam & The Hague.
Delegates were also treated to a variety of transport, from high speed RIB powerboats on the river Maas, to a horse drawn carriage in the royal city of The Hague.
Buyers also got hands-on experience of the unique Sand Academy sand sculpting workshops, which took place by one of The Hague’s two beach resorts.
Two other highlights of the trip were the hotels used to overnight the guests. In Rotterdam, buyers slept onboard the new De Rotterdam cruise ship, a former Holland-America cruise liner from the 1950’s, which has been lovingly restored to those glory-days of cruising.
The ship is permanently docked, and offers 250 bedrooms, as well as a wide variety of meeting and event space.
In The Hague, guests stayed at the brand new Hilton property, that had only just opened the week before, and is located right in the city centre. With 195 spacious and contemporary guest bedrooms, and 11 meeting rooms, including a magnificent ballroom for up to 320 delegates, Hilton’s newest property is a fitting addition to The Hague’s line up.
Feedback from buyers following the trip has been extremely positive and encouraging. For example Sandra Fontaine of Sanofi Pastuer MSD commented: “What a BRIILLANT fam trip!! This was by far the best, and this is all down to the excellent programme and organisation. I was genuinely surprised by both cities, and the diversity and uniqueness of the venues they offered.”
The Hague Convention Bureau and Rotterdam Marketing believe their cities are uniquely positioned to give organisers somewhere new, different and refreshing for their delegates to explore and discover, but without having to compromise on a hub airport or transfer time.
Both cities can be quickly reached from Amsterdam Schiphol, and Rotterdam/The Hague boasts its own regional airport too.
Destination marketing for the UK market is carried out by Paul Swain, their UK Account Manager, based in the UK: “Reaction and feedback to this years fam trip has been incredibly positive” says Paul Swain.
“Overnighting our guests in two very new hotels was definitely an advantage, and we always try to balance our trips so that buyers can experience the ‘look and feel’ of each city, as well as see a variety of hotels and venues."
"And this year, we were able to take advantage of the new high speed rail link that has opened up between Rotterdam and Brussels – two of our guests came to Rotterdam by train from Manchester, making use of the Eurostar from London to Brussels, and the very fast onward connection to Rotterdam.”
Image: UK Fam trip group before dinner at the private Het Spaansche Hof venue in The Hague
