Otium Hotel - Combination of hotel and leisure ensure perfect synergy

Luxury hotel benefits from presence of versatile leisure area

With his wellness boat decorated as a luxury hotel and a real naval plane in Mill, Brabant, he created a national furore. When it comes to distinctive concepts, hotel operator Maarten van Kempen is never short of ideas. According to the creative entrepreneur, his latest project - Otium Wellness Resort in Roosendaal - is also one of a kind. "The combination of hotel and leisure facilities in De Stok recreation area is unique for the Netherlands."

Recreational area De Stok in Roosendaal is a hotspot of sports, entertainment, shopping, wellness and catering facilities. Including an indoor skydive, an 18-hole golf course, the world's largest pumptrack circuit for cyclists and skaters and a Designer Outlet, this versatile recreation area attracts some four million visitors every year. On 22 December, Otium Wellness Resort will open its doors to hotel guests here. This 127 luxury flats hotel, equipped with a wellness resort and casino, is Maarten van Kempen's latest showpiece.

Cruise ship experience

In the 1980s, the Brabant-based entrepreneur began his career by founding fitness chain Fitland. "But at some point I foresaw that large fitness chains from abroad would also blow over to the Netherlands," he says. "To arm myself against that and be a little less vulnerable as a company, I then broadened my business by combining a gym with a hotel. At later Fitland branches, I started combining wellness with public components, such as municipal sports halls or a CIOS course. So to ensure a good business case, I will never build a stand-alone hotel, but always opt for a synergy of different business forms." 

According to Maarten, that synergy is almost nowhere as strong as in recreational area De Stok. "The combination of shopping and leisure facilities found there is unique for the Netherlands. Guest experience does not start or end in your hotel, everything around it creates the total experience. In February next year, for instance, our new hotel will open a 1,800 sq m wellness centre and a beautiful wellness garden of around 3,000 sq m. Some two months later, the Jack's casino will also be ready. In combination with the many leisure facilities in the immediate vicinity, we will soon be offering our guests a cruise ship experience, so to speak. All the entertainment you can think of, but on land."

Corporate market

Otium Wellness Resort is responding to the growing demand for luxury leisure. Besides leisure visitors, business guests are also part of the target group, Maarten emphasises. "Participants of a multi-day conference, for example, really appreciate it if they can alternate meeting with a relaxing activity. Recreational area De Stok has plenty of opportunities for this. You only have to walk out the door of our hotel to be able to combine the useful with the pleasant."

Investment concept

A leisure entrepreneur at heart, Maarten leads the way with distinctive, creative concepts. The best-known feat being the wellness boat and accompanying naval plane in Mill in which guests could enjoy a luxury hotel suite, complete with jacuzzi. He also likes to surprise in other areas with innovative concepts. For instance, for his latest projects he devised a construction where interested parties can invest in his hotels by buying a hotel flat and renting it back to the operator. "We offer this possibility in Roosendaal, but also at our other hotel Waterstate in Goes, which will open next summer," Maarten says. 

Day and night schedule

"It is a nice and secure form of property ownership. It is also catching on well, as in Roosendaal, 75 of the 127 hotel flats have already been sold. In Goes, of the 89 flats, only nine are even still for sale." The great interest is also because everything in his hotels exudes class, the entrepreneur clarifies. "Comfort has been thought of in every detail. In Roosendaal, a number of flats even have a flexible day-and-night layout with adjustable beds. Thanks to this clever construction, these rooms accommodate at least four people day and night. At the touch of a button, you can turn your room into a small flat, ideal for long-stayers!" 

Maarten tells it all with a twinkle in his eye. "In our industry, you deal daily with people looking for fun and experience. I find this such a fun industry to be in that you can't even consider it work!"