Hotel des Indes (The Hague)

This building was originally constructed as a city palace in 1858 for William Thierry, baron Van Brienen van de Groote Lindt, a personal advisor of king William III who often stayed in The Hague. The baron purchased three houses located at the Lange Voorhout and the Vos in Tuinstraat and had them demolished. One of these buildings, which was towards the back of the current building, was home to the museum dedicated to King William II. On this newly combined lot, he commission the construction of a new palace by architect Arend Roodenburg for a total sum of 150.000 guilders. The baron wanted a palace in the political capitol of The Netherlands for throwing parties and receptions. The mansion featured a spacious inner court, stables, residences for private guests and servants, and a ballroom. Originally one could enter with a horse-drawn carriage through the main entrance and have the carriage turn around, ready for departure, in the still-existing rotunda, which is now used as a tea room.

After the passing of the baron in 1863 the palace was inherited by his son Arnold, who found it too big for his needs and sold it a few years later. The palace became the property of hotelier François Paulez, who gifted it to his daughter Alegonda. Together with her husband Friedrich Wirtz she converted it into a hotel. Wirtz would become the first General Manager of the hotel.

The palace underwent four years of renovations and conversions to be opened on May 1, 1881 by prince Frederik, uncle of the king William III. It was named after then-famous Hotel des Indes (des Indes meaning Of the Indies) in Batavia hoping to attract travellers from the Dutch East Indies. On the facade of the building, the family coat of arms was replaced by the coat of arms of Batavia.

The hotel started off with 120 rooms and only one bathroom per floor, which was a luxury for its time. The hotel soon was reputed for its fine elegance. The start-up years saw many extravagant parties and exclusive banquets, but also a few harsh years. However, when in 1899 tsar Nicholas II of Russia initiated the first International Peace Conference of The Hague, the attendance of the many international leaders of governments and diplomats caused quite the upswing.

In 1894, manager Wirtz took over the Oranjehotel in the Scheveningen district of The Hague. The Hotel des Indes was placed under a newly created public company, Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Hotel des Indes nv, and Christian Haller, who used to work at London's famous Savoy Hotel, became the new General Manager. It was him who managed to get Hotel des Indes to become the official hotel for the 1899 Hague Peace Conference after a long battle with other hotels in the city, which caused the hotel to become a famous "home away from home" for many international diplomats, royals, artists and scholars. Haller also invested heavily in innovation: by 1900 he had telephones, an intercom system connected to the front desk, bath tubs and washing stands featuring both hot and cold water installed in all rooms. In 1902, a hydraulic elevator was installed that ran on the pressure from the city's waterworks and architect Foek Kuipers was contracted to transform the inner court into a hall with a formal staircase and a large glass dome to cover the rotunda.

The First World War was disastrous for business. By 1918, the hotel was in so much financial trouble that Haller decided to sell all the assets of the company. These were bought at the price of 1,25M guilders by the Nederlandsche Uitvoer Maatschappij, who planned to convert the hotel into an office building. This caused an outrage among citizens that wanted to keep the prestigious hotel. Notably due to pressure of mayor Patijn, the Dutch government was persuaded to take over the hotel. The transaction took place on May 2, 1919, for the then-spectacular price of 1.335.071 guilders and 19½ cents. The government wanted a large building on stand by that could instantly be used as crisis offices. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs liked the idea of having a large luxury hotel at their disposal. Despite that the government would own this building for decades to come, it continued to be operated as a hotel and Haller's wife, Mrs. Haller-Rey, and her brother, Mr. Henry Rey, both Monégasque. Mr. Rey was also Consul General of Monaco to The Hague and becomes sole director of the hotel in 1922.

In 1925 the hotel innovates once more by offering a gigolo. In that time, it was simply a male dancer who would entertain unmarried female guests; only later the image of the gigolo changed to the more extreme version of entertainment.

The 1930s started with some negative events. On January 23, 1931, ballerina Anna Pavlova died in her room (where now the reception area stands) from pneumonia.[1][2] A salon on the ground floor was later renamed after her.

A few months later, while hosting the celebrations for the 73rd birthday of Queen Mother Emma, the wiring for some of the lighting installed for the event had a short circuit and caused a fire that gutted the third floor and damaged the roof. Rey seized the opportunity during the reconstruction to add a fourth floor that was once planned but, up until then, never realized.

The Great Depression eventually also affects the hotel and the government needs to chip in once more to keep the doors open.

When World War II breaks out, Henry Rey and his wife try to flee to England. Rey and his two children succeed, but his wife was killed by Dutch forces that mistakenly opened fire on the car near the harbour of Hoek van Holland. On May 1, 1940, the German ambassador, Julius von Zech-Burkersroda, and his staff were brought to the hotel as prisoners of war and were guarded for a full two weeks. On May 15, Henri Winkelman brought the news that The Netherlands had capitulated.

During the rest of the war, the Hotel Des Indes was a popular meeting place for the German occupiers in The Hague and is the Dutch headquarters for the Wehrmacht High Command. Deputy Manager Van der Wert, who was working at the hotel from 1923 until 1968, ran the place in Rey's absence.

Although Henri Rey died in England in 1945, his pigeon house on the roof of the hotel survives. Here the hotel management brought a small group of Jews to hide from prosecution during the Holocaust; they all survived the war.

After the war, Jean Jacques Rey, the son of Henri Rey, moved to The Netherlands after leaving the RAF as a pilot and took over management of Hotel Des Indes in 1946. He also followed in his father's footsteps as Consul General of Monaco. He transformed the pigeon house in a room for his model trains which also figured a large flag of Monaco.

The fifties and sixties see a lot of changes for the tourism industry. Travellers are looking for more modern accommodations and Hotel Des Indes sees their number of guests diminish. Rey did manage to re-establish a stable clientele with some innovative changes to the hotel, but it would not be enough. In 1971 the hotel announces that they would have to close their doors. Prime minister Biesheuvel, who was a regular dining guest, alongside other politicians, such as Norbert Schmelzer and Arnold Tilanus, would have a last official dinner with his ministers on October 27, 1971. The three gentlemen decided to contact their private networks to save the hotel. They convinced entrepreneur Julius Verwoerdt to take over the management.

Verwoerdt buys the building back from the Dutch government for 1.380.000 guilders and contracts construction coordinator Altkemper for an intense renovation. Some notable changes are the old coal-burning stove that got removed from the kitchen, the replacement of the hardly-working central (steam) heating system, the replacement of all electric infrastructure, include wiring, the iconic central hall got rejuvenated and all rooms were renewed.

In 1979 Verwoerdt sells all of his actions of his company (which has grown to be a small hotel empire, counting 13 hotels) to the hotel subsidiary of UK-based Bass Breweries, Crest Hotels.

In the 70's and 80's, the hotel is the theatre of a series of tripartisan meetings to discuss then-controversial topics such as gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia, which were a taboo to discuss in parliament at the time. These meetings were later nicknamed The Des-Indes Deliberations and eventually led to the first "Purple" cabinet of the Netherlands.

In 1990, the Inter-Continental Group, which had already been entrusted with the management of the hotel since 1975, buys the all the assets of the hotel for 37,5M guilders, only to put it back up for sale a year later. A chairman of the company explains that the company worries it can't earn back the money they need to invest in the property, as the main clientele is made up of diplomats that are bound by strict budgets and so the company prefers to invest in the Amstel Hotel in Amsterdam, where the more-corporate clientele has less issues with higher room rates.[3] The chain will continue to manage the hotel until 2000.

In late 2002, Le Méridien assumed management for the hotel.[4] In 2004–2005 the hotel received a new major renovation worth €28M. The new interior was designed by the French interior architect Jacques Garcia. Another floor was added, a few meters set back from the facade, and the white facade is painted yellow. After Le Méridien was acquired by Starwood, the hotel re-opened in November 2005 under the banner of The Luxury Collection.

In 2015, the hotel was sold to the Canadian Westmont Hospitality Group, which also owns the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague.

In December 2018, the management contract with Starwood, which had merged with Marriott International, was terminated. The hotel has become part of the smaller The Leading Hotels of the World chain of luxury hotels.[5]