Belgian hotel chain continues to constantly innovate

‘The beautiful weather in recent months certainly plays to our advantage’

Belgian Coast & City Hotels (BCCH), the group above ten Accor hotels on the Belgian coast and in Brussels, has become a fixture in the tourism sector in recent years. By continuing to innovate its offering, the group is able to provide both traditional tourists and businesses with an offering that is invariably to their liking.

“The summer period is traditionally a peak time for the coastal hotel business. This is no different for us,” says co-CEO Chavalie De Lodder. “The nice weather in recent months certainly played to our advantage, as it lures people to the coast more often and makes them make holiday plans at home sooner. Because we have 10 branches and are thus represented in almost every seaside town, they then naturally come to us quickly.”  

Those who opt to stay at one of Belgian Coast & City Hotels“ hotels can then be sure of modern accommodation. ”We work with a system whereby all our establishments are renovated every eight years. That way, we avoid them becoming too outdated over time and also never have to make overly radical changes, allowing us to stay open in the meantime."

More last-minute B2B bookings too

BCCH, which opened its first branch in 2012 and since then has steadily grown to become one of the leading players in this sector, sees the current success primarily as confirmation of its own concept. “That means we also continue to offer year-round space to our b2b customers,” De Lodder clarifies. “That share is obviously lower in the summer, but from September onwards it rises back. That's when a lot of requests always come in for corporate events, ranging from team building to, say, end-of-year receptions. For this segment, we can count on interest from all corners of the business world, ranging from large corporates to smaller associations or schools.” 

In terms of b2b customers, they are also noticing a shift towards more last-minute bookings. “As with our leisure customers, decisions are being made later and later. This is why we always try to be as flexible as possible,” she explains. “Besides the highly experienced back-office team we have at our disposal, of course the fact that we are a group also plays strongly in our favour. For example, we can accommodate certain staffing needs, which is a necessity in our sector.” 

Service makes the difference

That same maturity and brand awareness are also helping BCCH in the hotel industry's much-discussed duel against Airbnb. “The fact that more and more measures are being taken to curb the proliferation of rooms offered through this platform is very positive, in our opinion. Not only for us as a company, but also for the entire society. In certain coastal cities today, too little space remains for regular guests,” De Lodder clarifies. “This support obviously does not relieve us of our duty as a hotel chain to continue to make a difference above all through our service, which is still very different from what you can obtain when booking with Airbnb,” De Lodder concludes.