![]() A really kind gesture that shows the type of commitment some people feel for Casa.” He needed to collect points for his studies, but also saw it as way of helping others. ![]() La Porte: “During the pandemic a former student, who lived here a few years ago and had subsequently started studying psychology, offered to provide our student residents with special mentoring. These days we also donate things students leave behind to charities so that they get a second lease on life. We also completed a major overhaul of the restaurant last year and were very pleased to realise our ambition of applying circular building principles aimed at reducing waste and recycling all kinds of materials. The plans had already been approved and after consultation we decided to go ahead with this. Another factor we had to consider was the soft refurbishment scheduled for the student rooms. We immediately contacted Bouwinvest, among others, to agree on protocols so everybody could live and work safely in the building. But the general restrictions still had a huge impact. The hotel section remained open for most of the time and the students stayed on, so we were able to avoid our own lockdown. We kept things buzzing with numerous online events.”ĭiepeveen: “Our first priority of course was the health and safety of our guests and workers. It was ‘all-hands-on-deck’ and also a very special time as so many of the students stayed on. We put a lot of effort into communicating more frequently with the students and behind the scenes I was working more with the Student Housing Team. La Porte: “The entire events calendar was cancelled and all kinds of activities fell away. How did the lockdown impact the day-to-day running of Casa? That is the most challenging, but also most rewarding part of my job.” I am the first person to hold the community liaison officer role and connect daily with students. This was my third year working here and every year has been very different, including 2020. In the end, we were able to find a room for everybody. La Porte: “We sent out an e-mail with a reply link and we were overwhelmed by the positive response to our offer of staying at Casa during the summer. In our long history, this is only the second time this has happened.” Demand for hotel rooms plummeted when the pandemic broke out and many students started asking themselves: what should they do now? We were asked a lot whether they could stay and we decided to let those who wanted to stay to keep their rooms over the summer. And now social distancing restrictions have been eased in Amsterdam, it would appear that the worst is over.ĭiepeveen: “Very. But what happened when a global pandemic struck the Dutch capital, at the same time that a major refurbishment of the hotel was taking place? We spoke to community manager Fé la Porte and general manager Jeroen Diepeveen who said that 2020 produced numerous creative ideas despite being a very difficult year. Part of the Casa building is always in use as a hotel, and the additional income from the summer guests allows the operator to keep the student rooms at an affordable rental level during the academic year. That strategy to maximise occupancy is still in place. In response to the huge demand for student housing at the time – which persists to this day - they developed what was then called Casa400, a mixed accommodation format where students who lived in the complex during the academic year made way in the summer for regular hotel guests. ![]() The idea four students had back in the 1950s to create Hotel Casa still stands out as brilliant today.
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