citizenM, tech at the desk and people in the lobby
It let technology handle what guests don't need a person for, and put its people and spaces where guests feel them. In 2025 it had 37 open hotels, and Marriott bought the brand.⁴
Hospitality, travel & leisure
More free time is coming. Where will it go?
As AI takes over more work, people get more time and money to spend. Part of the sector will win on lowest price, with AI at the front desk. The other part wins on outstanding experience, where human interaction might become an even greater value driver.
Brief us on your challenge
Hospitality, travel & leisure in numbers
22.3 million
foreign guests stayed in Dutch hotels, campsites and holiday parks in 2025, up 5%.
Out of 52.2 million guests in total.¹
More people are coming to spend their free time here. Some want the easiest, cheapest stay, others come for something they'll remember, so firms pick which of those guests they're built for.
+4.8%
turnover growth for Dutch restaurants, cafés and other food and drink venues in 2025.
Against +1.7% for lodging (hospitality as a whole: +3.9%).²
People are spending more on going out. That money goes to the cheapest and fastest option, or to the evening worth having, and rarely to what sits in between.
16%
of Dutch hospitality firms (10+ staff) used AI in 2025.
Against 33% across the business sectors CBS surveys.³
Most of the sector has yet to start using AI. That leaves room to run lean on price, or to free your people for the hosting.
What's changing
AI and robots take over more of the economy, so people have more time and money, and hospitality, travel and leisure grow fast. The market splits two ways. On lowest price, AI runs the front desk, the booking and the help desk, and self-driving delivery makes takeout cheaper than cooking at home. On outstanding experience, human interaction is the value driver.
Where firms win
They pick their side and build all their choices around it. Either lowest price, with AI at the front desk, or outstanding experience: staff who know the guest, a kitchen team people travel for, a host who makes the evening.
Seen in the market
How we help
We work with leadership on the choices that get the firm there: which way to compete as free time grows, which guests and occasions to grow around, and which services to drop. Then we build the AI into how the firm runs, and keep improving it.
- Which way will your firm compete as free time grows: on price or on experience?
Which services should your firm drop to invest in the ones guests choose you for?
Two ways in
Growth Into the Netherlands
Entering the Dutch market starts with knowing how guests here spend their time, and that's rarely what it looks like from abroad. We find out, then help firms make the set of choices that wins them the right guests first.
Which guests and occasions should your firm grow around next?
Explore GrowthAI
In hospitality, AI can run the front desk, the booking and the help desk. We build it into how your firm books, prices and serves, so your people spend their time on the hosting. Each time the frontier moves, we move the firm with it.
What would your venues look like if AI ran everything except the hosting?
Explore AINext step
Bring a problem. We'll share what we'd look at first.
- First call45 minutes on the choice in front of you.