2020 will forever be remembered as the year in which lockdowns, social distancing and self-isolation became part of our daily vocabulary. Now that the novelty of working in your pyjama’s is starting to wear off and you’ve seen every meme pass by at least twice, you might find yourself starting to feel slightly less enamoured with your new place of work. Because chances are your home office comprises a chair at the dining table, or perhaps a small desk jammed into a corner of the living room.
This spring the first ASAP network event took place at an amazing location on the Brussels Grand Place. This was hosted by BBF, leader in the rental of serviced apartments, and sponsored by KBC Brussels. BBF Serviced Apartments, or previously Brussels Business Flats, has been an important player in providing temporary accommodation to expats and employees of international companies and organisations since 1992. BBF currently operates more than 1700 apartments in Brussels and Budapest, and recently it has also set foot in Antwerp.
Our two largest cities, Brussels and Antwerp, are the only two Belgian cities to feature among Europe’s top 50 economic centres. Brussels is our major gateway for international finance, investment and institutions, while Antwerp is our major port city with specialisms in logistics, manufacturing, diamonds, retail and business services. Each has its own unique strengths, but how do they compete on a global scale? And what exactly is it that is it that makes a city competitive?
ANTWERPEN, BELGIUM – June 02, 2017: Night view on the illuminated Port House building designed by Zaha Hadid architect in 2009 in Antwerpen city, Belgium
Home is where the heart is, the cliché tells us. But what is it that makes a residence a home? Each move presents us with the same challenge: turning this new place into a home. A place that is truly yours, somewhere you can really be yourself. We recognize our home immediately, but find it hard to express in words.
Article by Leen Creve (first published in ReLocate Winter 2014)
Since February 1st, 2017 anyone renting out their spare room or other property must pay the same taxes as those that are applied to hotels in the region. From that date onwards, the responsibility for hotel tax shifted from the 19 individual municipalities to the region. For the likes of AirBnB, the taxation system surrounding privately managed short stay rooms, apartments and houses used to be quite the grey area, and to be honest, with the new regulations it’s not necessarily become that much clearer.
2016 was without doubt a difficult year for the hotel industry, with Brussels most definitely taking the biggest knock and occupancy rates plummeting by more than 20%. This was largely attributed to terrorist actions and in a smaller part due to the rise of the likes of homestay networks such as AirBnB. Not being one to dwell on the past, ReLocate looks toward a bright and shiny second half of 2017 which by all accounts will be an upturn kind of year for the hotel industry. We bring you all the wonderful concepts of the future of hotels, how the hotel industry is going to reshape itself to keep up with the competition, and what we can expect in the year to come.