History
Ambition, knowledge, expertise and a hotel in Amsterdam
When we (Sarah and Peter Hobbs) were considering going into business together in September 2008 we quickly established that we shared the same values and had the same ambition to offer something distinctive to both our clients and our associates. We also realised that there were obvious advantages to merging Sarah's financial expertise with Peter's specialist knowledge of project management.
So with the important stuff in place all that remained was to decide on a name...
Deep and meaningful? Too dull !
Snappy and Clever? Too glib !
... Deep and Snappy?! Too incomprehensible !
Momentarily defeated, we decided to take a break and have a cup of coffee.
Our order was taken immediately, arrived on time with a polite smile and really hit the spot.
For some reason this small but perfectly orchestrated act of service opened our minds to our surroundings: elegant and functional, the place looked special - but because of the way the staff treated us and one another, it felt like home; it was inspiring and relaxing at the same time.
Quite who said it we cannot remember but we both realised that this was precisely what we wanted our company to be like: respectful of one another, attentive to the needs of our clients, inspiring, friendly, polite and professional.
Hotel Vondel is not the biggest hotel in Amsterdam, in fact it may be one of the smallest, but it has confidence born of knowing its market and treats every client as if he or she is the most important person there – naturally, with no fawning friendliness
or that intrusive ‘Is everything alright with your…..?’ question that too often passes for good customer service elsewhere.
We hope that your experience of Vondel Professional Development will be similarly satisfying and that if you are ever in Amsterdam you will have an opportunity to find out what our company would look like if it were a hotel!
