RAI Amsterdam partners with HotelMap to shape the next fifty years of event hotel booking

PR Newswire

AMSTERDAM, May 20, 2026

As RAI Hotel Services marks its fiftieth anniversary, Europe's most established convention centre chooses the world's largest event hotel platform to take its accommodation operation into its next half century.

AMSTERDAM, May 20, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Fifty years after RAI Amsterdam first set out to coordinate hotel rooms across the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam for international visitors, the venue has announced its partner for the next half century. RAI Amsterdam has entered a long-term partnership with HotelMap, the world's largest event hotel booking platform, to power how delegates, exhibitors and organisers book accommodation near Europe's most established convention centre.

Fifty years ago, we set out to make it easy to host Europe's largest events in Amsterdam. The principle has not changed. What has changed is what is now possible. With HotelMap, we can position Amsterdam at the cutting edge of hotel ecosystem management. Lennart Maas, Director of RAI Hotel Services

The partnership comes as RAI Hotel Services, the in-house team that has handled accommodation for major events at the RAI since January 1976, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. Over that period, the service has grown into the largest venue accommodation operation in the world and the central hub of Amsterdam's hotel ecosystem.

The new arrangement gives RAI Hotel Services access to HotelMap's technology and global distribution network, while maintaining the team's direct relationships with Amsterdam's hotels and the event organisers it serves.

A city built for business events

Amsterdam has become one of the most considered destinations for international business events in Europe. The RAI complex sits eight minutes by train from Schiphol Airport, one of the most connected airports in the world, and six minutes by metro from Amsterdam's central station. RAI Amsterdam hosts around fifty major international conferences and seventy trade shows each year, welcoming approximately one and a half million visitors annually to its 120,000 square metre exhibition centre.

What HotelMap brings

HotelMap, founded in London, works with the largest event owners, event management companies, travel management companies and venues around the world, including Google, Cisco, AWS, BCD, GPJ, Informa, RX, DMG and Emerald. The company operates across a global market for event and group hotel booking valued at around 140 billion euros a year.

"RAI Amsterdam is, by some distance, the most committed venue we work with on the question of housing. Fifty years ago, they decided that hotel management was part of what a leading convention centre was responsible for." — Steve Potter, CEO of HotelMap

Sustainability and the wider city

Around thirty per cent of the hotels offered through RAI Hotel Services hold Green Key certification, and the service is a member of the Green Hotel Club, which works with the City of Amsterdam to lower the carbon footprint of every overnight stay. The partnership with HotelMap preserves these standards while giving organisers and attendees better information and simpler booking for individuals and groups. The arrangement also continues RAI Hotel Services' long-standing work with I Amsterdam, the city's convention bureau.

About HotelMap

HotelMap is the world's largest event hotel booking platform. Founded in London, the company builds technology dedicated to the event and group hotel booking sector. HotelMap is used by thousands of major conferences and trade shows around the world, working with organisations including Google, Cisco, AWS, Atlassian, BCD, GPJ, Informa, RX, DMG, Emerald, Helms Briscoe and RAI Amsterdam. www.HotelMap.com

About RAI Amsterdam

RAI Amsterdam is one of Europe's leading exhibition and convention centres, offering 120,000 square metres of space across twelve halls, seventy meeting rooms, two auditoriums and a grand ballroom. The complex hosts around fifty major international conferences and seventy trade shows each year and welcomes approximately one and a half million visitors annually. RAI Hotel Services is the official accommodation department for all events at the RAI and the largest and longest-running venue accommodation team in the world.

Press contacts

HotelMap

RAI Amsterdam

Media Contact

Vicki Forde, HotelMap, 44 207 494 2020, press@hotelmap.com, www.HotelMap.com

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SOURCE HotelMap