What It Means To Be Good
Marten Dresen

Words Vidula KotianImages Marco Agüello

When Dutch entrepreneur Marten Dresen founded Good Hotel and the Niños de Guatemala foundation, he set out to prove that business could be a force for good, quite literally.

While traveling in Guatemala, he met a young girl named Mirna and bought her a pair of shoes, a small gesture that sparked a much bigger journey. That encounter grew into a mission to provide education, vocational training, and meaningful employment opportunities for local communities through hospitality.

The first property, Good Hotel Antigua, occupies a restored colonial mansion in the UNESCO-listed Guatemalan city. It combines minimalist design with local craftsmanship while serving as a training ground for the community. From there, Marten expanded the Good Group concept to Europe, opening floating Good Hotels in Amsterdam and London, a fitting evolution for someone who once worked in international shipping.

Through the Good Group, Marten has built a movement rooted in the belief that hospitality, when done right, can lift people up. We sat down with him to talk about what he learned from his time in shipping, how design and education intertwine, and what he believes makes a good human and a good hotel.

You started out in the world of shipping. What did that chapter teach you, and how has it shaped the way you work now?

I didn’t travel much as a kid, but an exchange year in Australia changed everything. Visiting my Australian friend in Mexico later led me to Guatemala, where I met a family I began helping almost by accident. That experience quickly grew in ways I couldn’t have imagined and shaped how I see the world.

I studied in Rotterdam, then the largest port in the world, so shipping felt like a natural next step. The shipping mindset is deeply pragmatic: Your boat has to stay afloat. That practicality became a guiding principle. In an age dominated by abstract value—finance, software, AI—shipping kept me grounded in how things work in the real world.

I focused on building offshore structures, big long-term projects that demand patience and vision. That experience made me ask: How can I create something tangible and beautiful that also does good? That’s what led me to build a hotel in Guatemala that truly contributes to a cause, with pragmatism and long-term thinking at its core.

Why hospitality?

I didn’t come from hospitality. My parents were teachers, so I’ve always valued education, something we often take for granted in the Global North. When I was traveling Guatemala in 2006, I ended up helping in the local community, where I encountered some of the most generous and welcoming people you’ll ever meet. I decided to create a self-sustaining model—a business rooted in service and empathy, with profits flowing back to the communities that power it.

We started with a foundation for elementary and secondary schools. Then came the question: What happens next? Many students would need practical, vocational opportunities. Early on, we commissioned a study with a leading European hotel school to see where tourism could generate the most jobs—hotels emerged as the clear winner. That led us to search for the right property, and we found an old but dilapidated mansion in the UNESCO-protected town of Antigua, where we eventually opened Good Hotel Antigua.

What made you decide to take your concept to Europe?

While developing the Antigua hotel, I was based in Amsterdam. With my shipping background, a floating hotel made sense. I found a derelict barge in Amsterdam and adapted our training and operational model from Guatemala for Europe. After some time, we moved our first floating hotel from Amsterdam to London, which has become our European base. We now have plans for Berlin and other cities. These locations allow us to train as many people as possible in hospitality, in design-driven spaces that are both inspiring and unconventional, usually on or near the water.

In your view, what makes a good human?

In the end, most people live with a spirit of service and collaboration. In business and life, what really matters is human value. Financial value is also a necessity, of course, but too often the world seems to mistake it for the end goal, rather than a means. I believe it should be the other way around: We aim to create human value, supported by generating financial value.

It’s not always easy, but if you look around—at friends, family, colleagues—it becomes quite simple and clear: You want the people around you to thrive. Distance and scale can make us forget that, at the core, we are all human.

Who are your real life heroes?

My daughters, four and one, remind me of the power of optimism and curiosity. Kids approach life with a natural sparkle—openness, naivety, and the courage to try things. Pippi Langstrøm supposedly said, “I’ve never done it before, so I think I should be able to do it.” We could all benefit from that approach. At Good Hotel, we’ve built a “Simple University,” where colleagues teach each other their craft, making even complex work accessible to anyone, regardless of background.

What is your hope for the future of the Good Group?

We’re not interested in run-of-the-mill hotels. For every project, we ask: Would another hotel company have done this? If yes, why should we? We only pursue projects that are truly special and add value to the world.

On a business level, I want to showcase the social business model, balancing profit with purpose while taking care of people and communities. Historically, most organizations operated this way, but it became less common. I hope we can help make it usual again, following examples like Patagonia.

On a human level, I want our work to change local dynamics—in Guatemala and beyond. We aim to educate future leaders who care for their communities. In places like Amsterdam and East London, smart interventions in education and social programs have made a real difference over the past 10 years. That’s the kind of impact we aim to scale at each of our locations—and around the globe.

How would your friends describe you in 3 words?

Overly optimistic. Realistic. Persistent.

Could you share a story or moment that felt especially meaningful?

Every year in Guatemala, we celebrate our school graduations. Six groups of around 25 kids each receive their diplomas in a single morning, surrounded by their families—hundreds of local relatives coming together for one of the biggest days in their children’s or sibling's lives. It always turns into a huge celebration in November.

One moment last year stood out for me: One of the first employees at Good Hotel Antigua is a mom whose child had just completed the hospitality program. During the ceremony, she was chosen to carry the flag as a top student. When she walked off the stage and embraced her mother, both of them began to cry. It was one of those full-circle moments that reminds you what life is really about.