The Independent Hotel Show team met with Robbert van Rijsbergen, Director of Sales & Marketing at The Dylan Amsterdam, a five star hotel located along the Keizersgracht canal in the city center. The Dylan is set in a historic building and is the perfect combination of contemporary design and historic charm.

Tell us about yourself and your experience in the hospitality industry

I've been in the hospitality industry for 13 years. I studied at the Hotel School in The Hague, and then I lived in Shanghai for a year, working with Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts during the World Expo. That was a very interesting time in Shanghai, and the city was really booming. I was there for the opening of a couple of new hotels, which was a great experience.

After a year in Shanghai, I had the opportunity to move back to Amsterdam. I got a job with Intercontinental as an Events Manager, and then they thought I would be better in a more proactive sales role. I travelled a lot to the United States in that role and was basically given a card and a blank agenda and was just asked to go and meet with their clients. I think for any hotel in Western Europe the US is the largest market so that is how I was really able to develop my networking skills and knowledge on this.

After a few years, I felt that I was still really young and wanted to travel more so I decided to move to Brazil. I had met my now-husband at a trade show in Las Vegas, and we both wanted to experience living somewhere different. Within a few weeks I got hired by Virtuoso, a luxury consortium, and I worked there for about 4 and half years. I was responsible for member engagement in Brazil and marketing and events for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 2017, I returned to Amsterdam to take the position of Director of Sales and Marketing at The Dylan, and I immediately had a click and a feeling that this was special. With the timing it was as if the stars aligned. I've been here ever since, and I'm really enjoying it. The Dylan is a unique hotel, and I'm proud to be a part of the team, being privately owned we work like a family, decisions are made very quickly as it is a really short chain.

I'm passionate about the hospitality industry because I love meeting new people and helping them have a memorable experience. I also enjoy the challenge of constantly learning and adapting to new trends.

What does a great customer experience look like at The Dylan, and what makes it unique?

We do everything we can to prevent an island forming within the hotel, the layout is perfect for us to know everything going on and to be able to help when we are needed. The office is just next to the main entrance so if I see a guest arriving with bags, I know that either me or the team will help them straight away, seat them down and offer them a drink. I think having this natural flow between the departments is really great, and it is good for us to be where the action is. Also, the fact that The Dylan is a privately owned hotel comes back as it means that we have the freedom to be creative and go above and beyond to make our guests happy. We are not bound by the same corporate rules and regulations as larger hotels, which allows us to be more flexible and responsive to our guests' needs.

In general, we are really detail orientated without being uptight, you can walk into the bar area in a t-shirt and trainers, but you could also come in in a tuxedo; the open and personal atmosphere is what we like to provide. We don’t have any signage in the hallways pointing to which rooms are where and where the gym is etc. as we like to provide that experience for the guest. As mentioned previously when arriving the guests are sat down and offered a drink and then are walked up to their rooms, so they feel at home. We like to encourage ‘name dropping’ with our staff, we have 40 rooms so the potential to have 80 guests, dropping their names into conversation and saying hello and remembering their name provides that element of surprise and delights the guest.

Are there any exciting, innovative or sustainable products that you've come across or implemented in the hotel that have really stood out to you? 

I'm very interested in the whole field of artificial intelligence (AI), and how we can use it to improve the hospitality industry. I think AI has the potential to revolutionise the way we interact with guests and make their stay more personalised and enjoyable.

I read quite a bit about this and we have been doing a lot of trials to see how AI can help us. For example, review writing, we are trying to use Chat GPT to write replies on reviews. However we do rewrite these to add more personalisation but it provides a really good baseline.

What would you say is your favourite hotel outside of The Dylan?

There is a company that comes straight to my mind, it is not in Europe but it is in Southern and Eastern Africa and is called Singita. They are a Safari based business and are excellent with their CRM. I have been lucky enough to stay there a couple of times and the first time I went, I had a very nice dinner experience including a delicious wine. Then, two years later we went to another of Singita’s lodges, and we went on an amazing safari drive with a sunset experience. When they brought over our dinner, they got out the same bottle of wine, saying they knew how much we enjoyed it last time so we made sure to get it for us again. CRM is really where the magic comes to life, supported by data I am sure, but this really impressed me.

What piece of advice would you give to someone starting out in their career in hospitality?

I think it is important to start building your foundation and grow from there. Don’t think you are going to be or are a manager in the first year and don’t underestimate all the different departments that make up the team. At selection days for Hotelschool The Hague, I speak to the students quite a bit, I always say to them if you get the chance to do a placement in housekeeping do it. This is because it makes you think in a very different way, planning and looking ahead, there are a thousand factors to think about that can be overlooked.

Always keep an open mind and be kind, talk to everybody, be friends with everyone you know. I really enjoy speaking to everyone, from the housekeepers to the owners and being able to connect and level with everybody. If you are open, you will hear and see a lot more, be on the floor and be available. This way you will be able to see with your own eyes how things are done and be able to take action immediately when necessary.