De Plesman Hotel The Hague

De Plesman Hotel The Hague

De Plesman Hotel occupies the former Hague headquarters of KLM, and the airline's founder Albert Plesman once ran the company from what is now the hotel's signature suite, complete with a green marble kitchen island and a table built for the kind of meetings that shaped Dutch aviation history. That sense of a working building repurposed rather than dressed up runs through the rest of the 102 rooms across six floors: original artworks by contemporary photographers and painters sit alongside retro Bluetooth radios and Nespresso machines, and the collection extends to an exhibition by an artist who lived and worked inside the hotel for two months, plus loaned sculptures from the Beelden aan Zee museum in the nearby dunes. The hotel has been awarded a Michelin Key, a newer and more selective distinction than most guides hand out, and one that sets it apart from other design hotels in the city trading on atmosphere alone. Location helps too: Den Haag Centraal station, the Offem neighbourhood and Noordwijk aan Zee beach are all within reach, and the hotel itself sits where, as the property puts it, dunes meet forest and city meets sea. There's a gym, a spa, a restaurant and bar, and enough meeting and conference space to make this a fair choice for business travellers, and pets are welcome for a modest fee. It won't suit anyone chasing anonymity or minimalism; the art and the history are part of the deal, not a backdrop. But for a traveller who likes a hotel with an actual story attached to it, one that keeps adding to that story rather than resting on it, De Plesman earns the attention. De Plesman occupies KLM's former Hague headquarters, where Albert Plesman's old office is now its signature suite, and the hotel holds a Michelin Key. It suits travellers who want history and design together, not those seeking a blank slate.