Accessibility is in the name
Iris Meinema is the International Sales Manager MICE for Postillion Hotels & Convention Centres and was born and raised in Brabant, in the southern part of the Netherlands. Now she lives in Utrecht and she feels right at home with the city's small-town charm that reminds her of where she grew up.
Bring yourself, Iris will do the same
Iris Meinema is the International Sales Manager MICE for Postillion Hotels & Convention Centres and was born and raised in Brabant. Now she lives in Utrecht.
Iris Meinema
Travelling to exciting destinations to meet with international clients is a big part of Iris' job. When she comes home afterwards, she likes nothing more than to relax and watch nature documentaries. “I love to spend rainy Sunday afternoons watching the beautiful scenery and the grace of wild animals.”
Skylines, gum balls & marble floors
Iris also travels quite a bit within the Netherlands to visit the Postillion convention centres in the 4 major cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. All of the centres are near public transport making it easy for delegates and organizers to travel to and from conferences. “Before working for Postillion I wasn’t very familiar with Rotterdam but now I love the city’s metropolitan feel and beautiful skyline. I get why they call it ‘Manhattan on the Maas’.”
The name Postillion stems from the Dutch word for ‘coachman', which is why all hotels are conveniently located near highways. “In 1959, we were the first hotel along the highway in the Netherlands. Not only are all of our conference centres near the highway, we’re also only 30 minutes from Schiphol Airport. On top of that, our centres are in historical locations, each with exclusive architecture like an old gum ball factory in Amsterdam or a heritage landmark with its original marble floor in Rotterdam.“
If the shoe fits
“What I love about our team is that everyone is always willing to put in the extra effort for success. Once we had a site visit from a shoe brand for a product launch and we went all out by displaying their brand throughout the entire hotel. We all wore shoes from the brand including housekeeping and F&B, which generated lots of enthusiasm. Our client complimented us and really appreciated everyone’s effort and teamwork.”
As a Dutch hotel group we are smaller than the big international hotel chains so we can do more ourselves.
Proud to be Dutch
Postillion has been a household name in the Netherlands for more than half a century. “As a Dutch hotel group we are smaller than the big international hotel chains so we can do more ourselves. I like that we have a lot of autonomy which means we are the direct architects of projects with our clients. It’s important for me to really understand what our customer is looking for and then help them decide which location best fits their needs.”
The Dutch love to celebrate birthdays and often do so in creative ways. “My birthday is coming up and we have a fun company tradition where I will give a gift to the person who has the next birthday following my own and so on. It’s a little different but I love how it brings us together and how we celebrate each other.”