ZAELIG Hotel: hip, robust and ready for the future

In 2024, Dries Quintens (32) and Florence Depauw (30) plan to transform ZAELIG Hotel - formerly Hotel Ter Zaele - in Westkapelle, borough of Knokke-Heist, into a new, contemporary style as the third-generation owners. "Everything will be renewed, except the outer walls," says the passionate duo. With ZAELIG Hotel, Florence and Dries show that young entrepreneurship is alive and kicking and that they want to conquer the (hospitality) world with their own stamp. 

The new interior came about in close cooperation with Bruges-based interior design agency Inside. Carlo Toye, Inside project consultant: "We usually approach each project in a unique way. We always create an appropriate concept, in consultation with the customer. That's also how it happened here. This young couple comes from a family of entrepreneurs and the hotel is now in its third generation of managers. A real family business, in other words. But with an entirely new approach." 

Family-friendly, child-friendly and 'long-stay' guests 

"Dries and Florence wanted to maintain and further expand their target group - cyclists, families with children, workers working in the neighbourhood, ... - plus operate in a sustainable and low-threshold way," Carlo continues. "That's why a thorough renovation was needed. Moreover, they wanted an ecological approach in terms of material choice. For the floors, we used redocrete, which gives the whole place a clean and industrial look-and-feel. We also implemented a lot of wood, because this creates extra cosiness and highlights the family feeling. Especially since we used pale pine, which evokes a kind of homely, warm atmosphere. Then again, for the 'long-stay' hotel guests, we provided rooms with a small kitchen." 

Ready for summer 2024 

Florence Depauw, manager of ZAELIG Hotel, explains how they ended up at Inside: "It's actually a nice story. My mother went to eat something at Schildia in Heist-aan-Zee. She was so impressed by the interior that she asked them who was responsible for it. That's also how I got to know Inside. From then on, we sat together a lot and looked at mood boards. It clicked well. They also work with 3D models, to know in advance exactly how something will look. Because we wanted to hurry with the renovations, we flew in halfway through the 3D phase. After all, we really do want to be ready before the summer of 2024. So we already started the demolition work and Inside is selecting contractors in the meantime. They like to work with tradesmen they trust 100 per cent." 

Hip and robust 

The approach, according to Florence and her husband Dries Quintens, had to be hip and robust. "Hip, because we know our target group likes that, and robust, because our hotel has to be able to take a beating," says the manager. "After all, we want to attract families with children and then you know something can happen sometimes. We put special panels in front of most of our walls. So something may fly against them or be drawn on them. We will then wash that off. We will also have a playhouse made so the children can crawl from one room to the dining room. No doubt they will love that. For some family rooms, we work with split-levels. This allows parents to still enjoy a bit of privacy while their children are nearby. Other rooms are equipped with children's bunk beds. In short, there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are looking forward to next summer. We will be all set for it in advance."