BOUTIQUE, C'EST CHIC! - Hotel V

Nobody knows this better than Jean van
Gysel. As owner of the five-start hotel luxe Le
Plaza in the centre of Brussels; owner, restorer
and designer of the 16th Century Spanish palacio
hotel ‘V…’ Vejer; and now originator of a brand
new deluxe boutique hotel brand for the Middle
East, he has his finger on the international
luxury-travel pulse in a way that many others in
the hospitality industry do not.
Van Gysel’s Le Plaza Brussels is set in the most
traditional, top-end segment of the European
hotel market possible. Built in the Art Deco
style for which Belgium is so famous, it took its
inspiration from the world renowned Georges
V in Paris when originally built between 1928
and 1932.
“The hotel in Brussels was bought by my
grandfather. Before the war, that area just to
the south of Le Grande Place was a supremely
elegant place. But it slowly went down hill.
Ten years ago, it started to return to its former
glory and in 1996 my father and I decided
to renovate the building. Having travelled
“The percentage of
younger customers going
to the more traditional
hotel is decreasing
compared to beautifully
crafted boutique hotels.”
extensively around the world we knew exactly
what was right for the traditional, five star
European market.” (see the end of this article
for contact details).
Van Gysel used internationally renowned
architect Pierre-Yves Rochon to do the interior
designs. The relationship between Le Plaza and
the Georges V came full circle when one year
after Le Plaza re-opened, Rochon began to
refurbish the Georges V too.
But while van Gysel had created a stunning
new addition to the Belgian accommodation
market – now used by politicians like Madeleine
Albright and celebrities like Johnny Depp – van
Gysel had also begun to notice the limitations
of this approach to hospitality, both in terms
of design and function.
“Claridges, the Georges V, the Ritz; they all
have expensive copies of 18th Century furniture
and very heavy design, even when refurbished,”
he says. “The Georges V went through a total
remodel and while it went towards the design
destination market, it stopped short because there
was so much gold.
“I think that market is changing,” he
continues. “The younger, yahoo-generation
travel a lot more and their communications are
much faster. They are looking for something
much better; where the services are infinite;
where the architecture, design and materials
are all on-trend but created with warmth.
“That is why I decided to move to a more
dynamic, smaller product with much more
attention to detail. The percentage of younger
customers going to the more traditional hotel
is decreasing compared to beautifully crafted
boutique hotels.”
Van Gysel’s first foray into boutique came
when he began to renovate a stunning Spanish
property in the tiny Andalusian village of Vejer
de le Frontera.
“It is a charmingly small product,” he
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