AMSTERDAM — May 22 was a momentous date for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants: it marked the opening of Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam, the company’s first luxury property in Europe.

Set in the Palace Quarter neighbourhood, the highly anticipated hotel pays tribute to Amsterdam’s local heritage by marrying the old grandeur of the Dutch Golden Age with new buildings from the late 20th century. Offering 274 guestrooms including 15 signature rooms and suites, its most inventive feature is the three-storey ‘Little House’, which was once the childhood home of the famous Dutch playwright P.C. Hooft. Dating back to the 1600s, Little House now offers two king-sized rooms and a first floor living room and can be rented by groups in search of ultimate luxury.

Other hotel features including a ‘living wall’ of florals and botanicals at the hotel entrance, custom-crafted desks in rooms, a flower shop, open-air courtyard, complimentary VanMoof bikes, a hosted ‘Social Hour’ each day starting at 5 p.m., art-filled meeting spaces that total 602 square metres, and award-winning bars and restaurants.

“Amsterdam is in many ways a perfect fit for Kimpton’s first European hotel,” said Mike DeFrino, CEO of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. “The city is effortless in design, highly diverse, light-hearted and known to be a hotbed of creativity, all of which are pillars of the Kimpton brand. We’ll be bringing Kimpton to Paris next and have big plans for other cities across the continent.”

Acquired by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in January 2015, the acclaimed U.S. hotel group was founded by Bill Kimpton following inspiration from his European travels as an investment banker. Kimpton De Witt is the first Kimpton hotel to open in Europe with a second hotel scheduled to open in Paris in 2020. There are currently over 60 Kimpton hotels and more than 70 restaurants across Europe and the Americas. This is IHG’s 20th hotel in The Netherlands and is an exciting addition to the 675 IHG hotels across Europe.