About Pillows CEO Loes Dingemans

At 21 years old, Loes Dingemans started as an intern at Unique Uitzendbureau. What was supposed to be an internship for only the summer, eventually turned out to define her entire career path. How did Loes became CEO of Pillows Hotels and what makes her the driving force behind the beloved hotel collection?

No standard education

After high school and a gap year, she consciously chose not to study. "I loved working and didn't want to start another education without really knowing what I wanted to do with it. Personally, I am more of the practical approach. If I need knowledge of something, I commit to learning by reading numerous books and attending multiple courses.”

Similarly, she went full steam ahead for her first job at Forfex as a sales consultant. Despite having a stable job with perks like a car and a nice position, she decided to leave after 1.5 years to seek more variety. A risk at the time, but in hindsight the right choice and the key for her future career.

“My sister worked at an employment agency and it felt so rewarding to me to connect the right people with the right company. At 21, however, I was still too young, so I started with a summer internship at Unique Uitzendbureau. I had the audacious belief that once I was in, I could work my way up.”

From intern to CEO

That thought was proven correct. By the age of 23, she already became a branch manager, and followed up as district manager and eventually director of operations. After 16 years at Unique, she spread her wings and settled down at Perpetuum, as a consultant and partner in organisational development. "After six years, the executive board of Unique asked if I wanted to come back as managing director. It was absolutely wonderful to be able to give something back to the company where I grew up.”

“As CEO, I am not that important at all. Above all, I have to ensure that the path is clear and everything comes to flourish creating the right conditions.”

Connect

From matching companies and coworkers, to making organisations and people perform better: connecting is a recurring element of Loes' work and her great strength. In the workplace, she knows how to unite colleagues to achieve a common goal. “As CEO, I am not that important at all. Above all, I have to ensure that the path is clear and everything comes to flourish creating the right conditions.”

From business to family woman

In her private life too, she is seen as a connector: a real people’s person. Her demanding work week does not stop her from also running an all-male family with four sons. That doesn’t always go smoothly: “the downfall can be that I want too much. If I do too much at once, the attention gets fragmented. And fragmented attention means no attention. I absolutely don't do everything perfectly and can be quite chaotic at times: I am regularly laughed at by colleagues when I have once again forgotten my laptop charger.”

Mascha Ligthart (COO) & Loes Dingemans (CEO)

That colleagues feel the freedom to do so, is a result of the informal and motivating working environment Dingemans creates. A place where talent emerges and where colleagues can be or become the best version of themselves.

Loyalty

Loes has been leading Pillows Hotels for more than five years: besides connecting, loyalty is also a core concept that defines Dingemans. Alex Mulder, founder of Unique and owner of Pillows Hotels, is a common thread in her career. She has also worked with Mascha Ligthart for years, currently director of operations at Pillows Hotels, and previously at Unique in the same role.

“I don't necessarily have to become the biggest.
I want to be the best.”

Under Loes' leadership, Pillows Hotels opened locations in Zwolle, Ghent, Brussels, Deventer and the five-star Pillows Hotel Maurits at the Park in Amsterdam, among others. Most recently, the iconic Michelin restaurant Inter Scaldes in Zeeland was added to their portfolio.

“Over the next five years, we want to expand to more hotels in monumental buildings on prime locations. In the Netherlands and in European cities where the Pillows DNA with its pillars of food, fashion art and design, flows through the streets.” Typically for Loes, this expansion does not have to be fast, but rather careful and thoughtful. “Every week we get five to ten locations offered, but we are selective. I don't necessarily have to become the biggest. I want to be the best.”