GOSTELOW REPORT—“Everyone is waiting to see what will happen with Brexit – I do not think it will have as much effect here as in the U.K., but it is the uncertainty that is unsettling,” said Gaston Gellens, general manager of the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Brussels, Belgium.
“It could well impact Belgium’s economy but no one knows how,” Gellens said. On the goods side, Brussels-based KBC Economics, says in 2018 the value of Belgium’s exports to the U.K. stood at €16.5 billion (US$18.4 billion), with €9 billion (US$10 billion) moving in the other direction. On the tourism front, the entire country of Belgium, which has a population of 11.5 million, currently sees about 16.3 million international visitors a year, although Gellens, wearing his other hat as district director of Belgium for Radisson Hotel Group, overseeing eight managed hotels, said ruefully that many tourists merely rush through Brussels en route to Bruges and Ghent, and thence to Amsterdam or Paris.
Back to the EU: In fact, the 282-room Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, owned by I.E. Union Investment Real Estate, cannot rely on business from the EU Parliament, which is 12 minutes’ drive away.
“The 4,000-plus EU workers rent apartments,’’ Gellens explained, adding that he does fill some rooms from NATO, also headquartered in Brussels. In addition, as the location of the European Commission, it hosts many summits. Here however, is another hurdle.
“Because of our excellent location delegates tend to return home as quickly as possible and they are not really filling up the hotel supply here in Brussels – though we do pick up a few nights from, say, Lithuania.”
In fact, his overall rooms business is 45% MICE, led by pharma incentives coming from France. Weekends, when rates drop by 50%, are strong on regional mature couples, tempted by local culture and a justly renowned buffet breakfast. Year-round, average length of stay is 1.6 nights.
One rare plus point in the whole operation is that thanks to Belgium’s labor-advantage hiring laws, workers everywhere stay put to accrue unbelievable and always-growing benefits – although his labor costs are 48%, turnover is a mere 9.2% among his 118-strong team, which does not include his gastronomic offering.
Gellens has the big advantage of Brussels’ premier seafood restaurant, Sea Grill, in his hotel. Reached only via the hotel’s lobby, the long-standing Michelin 2-star gourmet icon has been leased out to culinary superstar Yves Mattagne since 2010.
“Although today expenses-paid business lunches are a thing of the past, Mattagne’s reputation is such that midday bookings pick up from visitors and dinner is fully booked every night, with food lovers from far and wide coming for special occasions and to try such Creativity And Harmony appetizers as Royal langoustine blow-flamed at table,” Gellens said. “I do believe, too, that Sea Grill offers added value when marketing to groups.”
Brussels-born Gellens was drawn into hospitality through his love of food, a Belgian characteristic. He had many years with Hilton and, coincidentally as it has turned out, he was part of a filling-in-time task force working on what was then the Radisson SAS Royal Brussels before its opening in 1990. He returned to the hotel as GM in 2011.
This December, without closing, the hotel begins a four-month renovation to become a Radisson Collection hotel. It will be co-branded Jin Jiang, with Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Holdings Company Limited, which acquired Radisson Hotel Group from China’s HNA Group in 2018. Gellens says Sea Grill will of course continue to be part of the new concept and yes, the hotel will add a Chinese restaurant, with both street and lobby entrances.
“At the moment China only accounts for 3% of room nights but that sector is growing at 11%,” said Gellens, optimistically.