Industry | Hotel Booking |
---|---|
Founded | Groningen, Netherlands, November 2001 |
Founders | Kees Eldering and Henriëtte IJzelenberg. |
Headquarters | , The Netherlands |
Number of locations | Groningen |
Area served | The Netherlands and Belgium |
Number of employees | 30 |
Website | http://www.hotels.nl/ |
Hotels.nl, founded in 2001, is a hotel booking site for the Netherlands and Belgium.[1][2][3][4][5] It was founded by Kees Eldering and Henriette IJzelenberg.[4][5][6]
In April 2006, Hotels.nl launched their sheep advertising campaign.[1][7] Although they were not the first to utilize sheep for advertisement, they were the first to do so in the Netherlands.[1] The sheep were equipped with royal blue waterproof blankets with the company’s logo printed on them.[1][3][8][9] The insulation on the blankets is washed in citronella, to repel parasites.[2] Though it brought a smile, the Mayor of Skarsterlân, Bert Kuiper, fined the company 1,000 euros a day for violating the town’s ban of highway advertisement.[1][10] Thanks to the sheep, in 2007, AMMA awarded Hotels.nl for having the best media stunt of the year for 2006.[11]
In 2012, Hotels.nl partnered with Noordlease for customers to lease the VW Up, equipped with Hotels.nl’s logo on the side.[12][13]
As of 2018, the website is available in Dutch, English, and German. It is affiliated with over 2000 different hotels.[14][15]
Owner Kees Eldering was short member of the Dutch alt-right political party Forum for Democracy, but left the party because he found the party not democratic enough.[16]