TULIP Hotels & Residences Zwolle opens after thorough repositioning

Deliberately three-star rating but with four-star experience

With the official opening of TULIP Hotels & Residences - Zwolle, Louvre Hotels Group has not simply hung a new nameplate on the facade. On Schuttevaerkade, the former Campanile hotel has been redeveloped into a fresh mid-segment hotel where stay, work and meet merge. Deputy mayor Anja Roelfs did the official opening. She cut the ribbon and pithily summed up the transformation: “This place has reinvented itself.”

The 69 rooms, lobby, bar, restaurant, meeting rooms and gym have been revamped according to the new brand identity of TULIP Hotels & Residences. The hotel will also feature one flat. This makes Zwolle the first hotel in the Netherlands to fully present this concept. It is about more than styling alone. New beds, mattresses, linen and showers form the basis, but the biggest change is in the positioning: from a functional Campanile profile to a hotel that combines comfort, design and multifunctional use.

Broader course

According to Roger Kruft, Director Marketing International at Louvre Hotels Group, this choice is part of a broader direction. The group launched a five-year plan in 2023 in which at least eighty per cent of its hotel portfolio is to be renovated or repositioned. Campanile was successful for many years, but the rebranding, he said, “facilitates a fresh start with an entirely new product.”

Whereas Campanile was traditionally strong with project-based business travellers, TULIP Hotels & Residences focuses on a broader, hybrid target group: business travellers who combine work and private life, leisure guests, families and guests who visit Zwolle but don't want to move straight into the luxury segment. Kruft: “Today's hotel guest is no longer looking for a bed, but a place that suits his day. Work, relaxation and meeting intermingle.” The hotel - because of the profiling of the other brands in the group - deliberately opts for a three-star rating but... the guest will certainly experience a four-star experience. 

Living room function

This idea takes shape especially in the lobby and the new TULIP Café. The café is not a classic hotel lounge, but an accessible place for coffee, lunch, dinner, an informal meeting or a few hours of work. A living room function, in other words. The public areas are therefore designed not as separate parts, but as flexible zones that can move with you throughout the day. The atmosphere? It feels intimate. From the green ceiling elements, the warm wood tones, many round shapes, a long work table and the open connection between reception, café and lounge. 

Operationally, the renovation has also been thought through. Multifunctional spaces, smart design and a clear price/quality ratio should make the concept future-proof in a market with rising costs and higher guest expectations. “No hotel concept is sustainable forever,” says Kruft. “But the need for flexibility, comfort, atmosphere and multifunctional spaces remains.”

For Annelie Breukers, owner and hotel manager, the opening especially marks the moment when all parts come together. Guests have already responded positively to the revamped rooms in recent months. Andreas Tscherning, Deputy COO of Louvre Hotels Group, expressed his confidence during the opening: “I have a lot of faith in the market.” With Breda and Gouda as the next Dutch repositionings, Zwolle takes on the role of forerunner.