1,380 Hotel Rooms, Hundreds of Suitcases, Smart Event Tech, and Personal Service 

From the outside, a large corporate event with a multi-day program can look surprisingly simple. Guests arrive, scan their badge, head to their sessions, and somehow their suitcase magically appears in their hotel room later that day. Behind the scenes, of course, quite a bit is happening. ATPI supported a corporate event with a full range of event services, logistics, and digital solutions. The team coordinated accommodation, luggage management, onsite support, and the full digital guest journey for more than a thousand participants. And yes, that also meant dealing with a lot of suitcases. 

1,380 hotel rooms across the city 

One of the biggest parts of the project was accommodation management. For this event, ATPI arranged around 1,380 hotel rooms across nine hotels in Amsterdam and the Zaandam region. Coordinating these many rooms means managing room allocations, guest lists, last-minute changes, and arrival schedules across multiple hotels. “People sometimes think hotel bookings are just sending over a room list,” says Gaby Smits, Project Manager at ATPI. “But when you’re working with more than a thousand guests across different hotels, it quickly becomes a giant puzzle. Luckily, we like puzzles.” The goal, of course, is that guests never notice any of that complexity. They simply arrive at their hotel and check in. 

The suitcase operation 

One of the services guests appreciated most during the event was the luggage management. When participants arrived at the event location, they could hand over their suitcase to the onsite hosts and head straight into the event program. ATPI then organized the distribution of all luggage to the different hotels, ensuring every suitcase ended up directly in the correct room. The result was a 100% correct delivery rate, something the team was particularly proud of. “There’s always a moment when you look at hundreds of suitcases lined up and think, alright team… let’s make sure every single one ends up in the right room,” Gaby laughs. “When it all works perfectly, it feels a bit like event logistics magic.” 

Teams on the ground 

During the event week, ATPI had teams present across both the event location and the hotels. At the event venue, the onsite team supported with scanning participants, coordinating luggage logistics, answering guest questions, and helping attendees with the event app. Meanwhile, tour leaders were present in all nine hotels to assist guests during check-in and act as a local point of contact. “It’s often the small questions that make the biggest difference,” Gaby explains. “Someone wondering where their next session is, someone arriving later than expected, or someone just asking where to find the best coffee nearby. Having people available makes the whole experience feel smoother.” 

The event app in everyone’s pocket 

Alongside the logistics, ATPI also managed the complete digital guest experience. This included the full guest registration process, the personalized guest app, and the live reporting dashboards used by the organizing team. For all attendees, the app quickly became the central hub for the event. Guests could find their personal program, hotel information, transport details, and their personal QR code in one place. With more than 80 different sessions included in the program, the app made it easy for attendees to navigate their own schedule. “We always say that the app becomes the unofficial event assistant,” Gaby says. “If someone asks where they need to be next, the answer is usually: check the app.” Throughout the week, the team also used push notifications to stay in touch with all attendees and update information whenever needed. 

Real-time insight for organizers 

Behind the scenes, the digital tool also helped the organizing team stay on top of guest movements and event logistics. Through live reporting, the client had continuous insight into guest numbers and participant flows during the event. Transport suppliers were also able to see real-time updates to guest data, which avoided the familiar challenge of multiple email chains and outdated transport lists. “Events are always dynamic,” Gaby says. “People switch sessions, arrive earlier or later than planned, and sometimes buses leave a little sooner than expected. When everyone works with the same real-time information, it makes things much easier.” 

A smooth start to the event 

Another small but important part of the experience was the onsite scanning system, which allowed the team to print badges and luggage labels on arrival. This helped create a fast and welcoming check-in process. “It’s one of those first moments that really sets the tone,” Gaby explains. “If guests arrive and everything works smoothly straight away, they instantly feel taken care of.” 

The real secret behind a smooth event 

While logistics and digital tools play an important role, Gaby believes the real success of an event of this scale always comes down to people. “There’s a moment during every event where you look around and realize how many teams are working together behind the scenes,” she says. “Hotels, transport partners, organizers, our onsite team. Everyone contributes to making the experience work.” And when everything comes together? “That’s when guests say: ‘This event is so well organized.’ And that’s exactly what you hope to hear.”