Park Plaza Hotels announce the signing of a key covenant with the City of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), paving the way for developing an art’otel in one of Amsterdam’s most iconic city centre buildings.

Amsterdam | Park Plaza Hotels has today reached an agreement with the City of Amsterdam to develop an art’otel in the city’s iconic former ‘Kadaster’ office.

Plans for the company’s 10th art’otel were announced during an exclusive press and partner event at the former Kadaster office, at 4pm today.

Such plans for art’otel amsterdam include some 100 guest rooms, an art café and a ground-floor and basement public space dedicated to showcasing cultural and social activities.

The signing of the covenant enables Park Plaza Hotels to apply for all necessary planning permissions, with the hotel scheduled to open early 2011, in tandem with a huge city regeneration project that includes the local area surrounding the famous Kadaster building.

The iconic building, situated in prime position opposite the city’s Central Station, first opened its doors in 1920 and served initially as the head office of the Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd (shipping company). For the past several decades the city’s land registry office (‘Kadaster’) was the sole tenant of the building, until they relocated in 2004.

Boris Ivesha, President & CEO of Park Plaza Hotels comments: “To develop our first art’otel in Amsterdam, where we have a strong performance record in our two Park Plaza branded properties is an exciting evolution and we are confident of its appeal. With art’otel amsterdam, we bring a modern, contemporary and edgy hotel addition to the city’s accommodation offering, presenting guests who have a passion for art and travel the unique opportunity to literally sleep in an art gallery.”

This milestone development is announced at a time of aggressive expansion for Park Plaza Hotels’ lifestyle art’otel brand, with developments confirmed in cosmopolitan destinations such as Cologne and Marrakech (both opening late 2009), and London in 2012, since full ownership of the brand was granted in 2007.

art’otel sits within US hospitality giant Carlson Hotels Worldwide’s global Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand, linked to the powerful reservation portal Curtis-C, strong partner network and award-winning marketing programmes.

Each unique art'otel exhibits the work of a contemporary artist and offers, just as a museum, an insight into their creative activity. The exhibits, which are carefully placed within an environment created by well-known architects and designers, make each art'otel a piece of art in its own right. With this artistic concept, art'otel has created a niche for itself in the hotel world, differentiating it from traditional hotels. The charm of art'otel appeals to the intelligence and artistic interests of its guests and unlocks an extraordinary experience both for residents, visitors and staff.

art'otel is a contemporary collection of hotels that fuse exceptional architectural style with art-inspired interiors, located in cosmopolitan centres across Europe. Though high quality design features and contemporary fittings play a pivotal role in the brand's DNA, at the brand's very core is the art itself. Each hotel displays a collection of original works consisting of either paintings, sculptures and photographs designed or acquired specifically for each art'otel, rendering each a unique art gallery in their own right.

In Berlin, art'otel berlin mitte boasts a collection of artworks from famous local artist Georg Baselitz, art'otel berlin kudamm displays the iconic work of Wolf Vostell- most admired for his famous 'Cement Cadillacs' located at Rathenauplatz at the end of Kurfürstendamm - art'otel berlin city center west is an overall dedication to the work of 'pop art' phenomenon Andy Warhol, boasting a collection of over 200 photographs taken by his lifelong friend Christopher Makos and just 20 minutes away, the work of Katharina Sierverding is enjoyed at art'otel potsdam in its beautiful setting on the river. At art'otel dresden, the somewhat controversial yet dynamic artworks of A. R. Penck are displayed throughout the hotel, and the sculptures and paintings of American artist Donald Sultan adorn almost every room, wall and corridor at art'otel budapest. A young Korean artist named only as SEO has been appointed as the signature artist for art'otel cologne (opening in 2009) and plans to engage an artist for the brand's most exciting project to date, art'otel london hoxton, (opening in 2012), are already underway.

Robert Henke
Executive Vice President of Commercial & Corporate Affairs
+31 20 717 8608
PPHE Hotel Group