Studies & Career:
1972-1978: studied Latin & Greek & modern languages, during 6 years of high school.

1978-1980: started studying Law at the University of Leuven (Louvain), but did not finish; I had to work during my studies to be able to pay for them…

1980-1984: worked for a large Insurance Broker, moving on to working directly for AXA Insurance (then Royale Belge Insurance), Life Insurance and Home Loans.

 

1984-1987: started working in the hotel business (Alfa Hotels Antwerp: the De Keyser Hotel & the Empire Hotel), first as night receptionist, then as day receptionist.

 

1987-1999: was asked to assist with the pre-opening and opening of the 4**** Carlton Hotel in October 1987, training most of the reception staff, growing through to Assistant Front Office Manager, then replacement Front Office Manager.
I also co-ran the 4**** Carlton Flats which opened in 1991.
I continued on to become Sales Manager at the same hotel group in 1992, becoming Director of Sales & Marketing in 1995, coordinating the pre-opening and opening of the 3*** Hotel Astoria Hotel in Antwerp in April 1995, with great success. I also made great deals with Tour-operators, leading this hotel to get 90% occupancy in the first 6 months.

From 1993 onwards I also organized events outside the hotel to get business into the hotel, so I was offering full-service packages to our corporate clients.

I left the hotel business to co-start up Flanders B2B, Incentives & Events, with various other stakeholders and investors. During the next 12 years we organized over 1100 corporate events and group programs, all over Belgium, for nearly 60.000 people, until august 2011, when the main (non-active) shareholder decided to retire at 75 and sold off or closed all the companies where he was a major shareholder in.
This was the end of Flanders B2B; a shame, because we did some great events…

 

Directly following this situation, I started my own company (J.-P.’s Projects gcv) so I could offer my existing client base a continued service.

 

As from September 2011, I made a deal with Borealis bvba (DMC & Incentives) in Bruges to offer my clients a secure base (this agency has a Tourism Flanders Travel Agency License and is insured by Garantiefonds Reizen), starting and running its Antwerp Branch.
All our previous clients followed me and gave us their business, which was all executed under the ‘Borealis bvba’ name. This added value made all my former clients stay and even got us extra business.
During my time here I also brought in outgoing business and assisted on files in Istanbul (5-day Corporate Worldwide event), Oman (Incentive for a Belgian company), Paris (Incentive for a Dutch company), etc…
This cooperative deal ended in June 2013 due to a reorientation within Borealis bvba.

 

In between I was also hired by other event agencies and corporates to coordinate events on an irregular basis, when they did not have the expertise of the staff to get things done…

This has led to a steady stream of other types of events I can coordinate or execute, which has led to a great appreciation from those clients too.

As of end of June 2013, I am again completely available as a free-lance event organizer, whether it be as a consultant for corporate clients, and/or for one or more events agencies, as well as offering my services to a hotel (group) for sales & marketing purposes…

 

As I have a wide experience of 14 years in the hotel business followed by 14 years in the incentives & events business, having seen all sides of the hospitality business, as a seller and as a buyer, I think my past 28 years are still worth something… to the right client or employer.