Besides hotels, Van der Valk also operates the Avifauna Bird Park in Alphen aan den Rijn.

The Van der Valk hotels are: The chain was founded by Martien and Arie van der Valk [nl] in 1939 when they opened their first hotel (an expansion/upgrade of a former local restaurant in Voorschoten).

After World War II the Van der Valks and their 11 children expanded the business with a number of hotel restaurants.

In 1994 Gerrit van der Valk was arrested for tax evasion after it was found out that some workers were paid in cash, but he was released soon after.

The Van der Valk chain also received scrutiny from the authorities in the past because of bad labour conditions.