GENERAL POSITIONING

The Radisson Blu Astrid Antwerp is a 4-star business hotel located in the heart of Antwerp, with a dominating position overlooking the popular Astrid Square towards the central Station. Due its central location the hotel also aligns to the leisure market.

Antwerp Central Station is 100 meters walk away with direct links to Antwerp Regional Airport in 25 minutes or Brussels International Airport in 35 minutes. From Antwerp, there is a direct high speed Thalys train that takes you to Amsterdam in just over an hour and to Paris in less than two hours. Brussels Midi and its Eurostar links to London can be reached by train in 40 minutes.

Antwerp is a port city and promotes itself as the “world’s leading diamond city”. Antwerp is also the national and regional home to many Global healthcare companies, so the hotel has strong experience of holding many meetings for the healthcare sector which include internal and HCP focused healthcare professional meetings.

The hotel has 15 meeting rooms of various sizes split across the first and second floors with the largest room, Esperanza 1-4, able to accommodate 300 in a classroom setting or 240 cabaret, ideal for larger conferences and investigator meetings as the opposite Aurora room can accommodate 240 for lunch or dinner, naturally allowing for the privacy and confidentiality required.

This aligns well for residential meetings as they have 253 rooms across four categories although any rooms considered as upgrades would not be offered to external HCPs.

To meet the needs of the typical business traveller, there is a fitness centre on the first floor, which has a separate access, and would pose a distraction to meeting guests. Free weights and machines are provided. There is a modest sized pool, sauna and Jacuzzi, however, there is no spa and facilities are presented in a way that would not be considered as luxurious.

SALES & MARKETING

The Radisson Blu Astrid Antwerp uses its excellent location and meeting facilities to attract business clients and leisure guests who wish to use the hotel as a base from which to visit the city.

The hotels own website homepage uses cropped pictures of the exterior roof of the building, a bedroom suite and one of the modest sized pool but in our opinion, these do not reflect a luxury level product. The overview provides a mix of descriptions on the city’s historic buildings and the hotels location to them. The hotel has extensive meeting facilities and it is only when you use the meeting and events tab that you get a better sense of its ability and suitability to hold various sized meetings for the healthcare sector.

The hotels website carries videos and a picture gallery that offer an insight into the hotel. Stylishly presented, they represent a realistic reflection of the hotels business and meetings décor and facilities.

There are references to spa services in the web pages but there is no spa and any treatments are provided by an external company who utilise the hotel’s two treatment rooms that require pre-booking.

To align itself with the Healthcare Sector, the website carries a dedicated page that promotes the hotel staffs’ understanding of the sector which is backed up by a logistics package that supports the need for confidentiality.

Sales and marketing collateral is in line with the Radisson Blu Meetings brand and is focused on the detail for meeting organisers but does, to provide some local reference, use images of the historic and architecturally impressive central station, but mainly as a backdrop to their business offering.

External travel websites support the hotel’s 4-star rating and do not use inaccurate evocative language to describe the property however, they do tend to advertise the hotel’s leisure aspects rather than their business facilities.

Typically, the hotel’s social media pages, Facebook and Instagram carry images from leisure-based activities experienced when staying at the hotel. The hotel does have its own LinkedIn page and that is purely focused on their offering as a business hotel.

LOCATION AND SETTING

The hotel was purpose built in 1997 of brick and concrete and is in the heart of Antwerp dominating one side of Astrid Square with the central Train station on the other. In the immediate area are a bus and tram stop, fast food outlets and small to mid-sized shops but no luxury brands or high-end restaurants. To the sides and rear are small businesses and restaurants that reflect Antwerp’s Chinese Community.

Antwerp’s central train station serves Brussels with a Thalys direct train that takes 40 minutes as well as Amsterdam which can be reached in one hour 9 minutes. The airport can be reached by express train in 35 minutes and an airport bus runs from opposite the hotel.

The hotel’s own carpark has 130 spaces covering four floors underneath the building. Parking cannot be reserved for large groups but can be included in delegate rates.

Antwerp International Zoo is adjacent to the central station but only the entrance is partly visible from bedrooms and meeting rooms on the front of the building and has little or no impact on any stay at the hotel.

Antwerp boasts a new conference centre (the FMCCA) which is within a short walk from the hotel and is likely to be host of some national and international meetings in the future. Antwerp is also home to the Institute of Tropical Diseases and the regional headquarters of some well-known global healthcare companies so healthcare meetings, internal and external, national and international are regular visitors.

FIT FOR PURPOSE

With its location in the heart of the city, the Radisson Blu Astrid Antwerp positions itself equally as a venue for meetings and leisure, but leisure options at the hotel are minimal and proportionate to the overall venue and not central to its business offering.

The hotel has 15 various size meeting rooms, split across the first and second floors with the largest room, the Esperanza 1-4, able to accommodate 300 in a classroom setting or 240 for dinner or cabaret, ideal for large conferences and investigator meetings as the opposite Aurora room can accommodate 240 for lunch or dinner, naturally allowing for the privacy and confidentiality required.

The Radisson Blu ‘Meetings’ brand includes Brain Food for meetings, and free delegate Wi-fi where personal details do not have to be provided however, for quicker speeds and more confidentiality, a dedicated line can be installed at a cost.

‘Brain Food’ is another Radisson Blu standard and an innovative and responsible food and drinks solution created by nutritionists to help energise and keep meeting attendees alert.

With the regional offices of well-known healthcare companies in Antwerp, the hotel already has experience of holding public and private sector healthcare events.

FACILITIES

The main hotel lobby is on the ground floor and accessed via the main Astrid Square entrance.

The Radisson Blu Astrid Hotel has undergone a major refurbishment to bedrooms, meeting rooms and public spaces, including the lobby area.

Meetings: The first floor contains six smaller meetings rooms with a combination of capacities from 15 classroom style up to 76. The Orlov and Promise rooms offer air conditioning and natural daylight, white furniture and light curtains and carpets to create a clean and positive environment for educational events.

First floor rooms all benefit from natural daylight and have light beige carpets, white walls, chairs and tables, which give a bright and clean modern and energetic working space.

The Day Delegate Rate includes the main meeting room, x1 flipchart, projector and screen, pads, pens, purified water and mints and doesn’t include anything that would suggest service levels are above what would be expected for a healthcare meeting.

The communal foyer is located immediately outside the first-floor lifts and provides permanent tea/coffee and snacks I.e. Brain Food. Catering can be provided inside any of the rooms should additional privacy be required.

The Esperanza is located on the second floor and is the hotels largest meeting space. Esperanza 4-2 can accommodate 220 in cabaret and would be the ideal number for the hotel as the Aurora restaurant is opposite and can also accommodate 220 for lunch or dinner supported by 253 bedrooms, with these capacities in mind the hotel can offer almost exclusive use. In this situation, hotel guests will be provided breakfast on the ground floor leaving the 2nd floor privatised for meeting and catering, ideal for healthcare meetings requiring confidentiality and privacy.

Recently refurbished, the Esperanza has new silver, grey and cream carpets which complement the light walls and light oak doorways.

Decor is modern and contemporary but with no suggestions of any touches to make bookers consider this floor as anything other than for business meetings.

The Diamond is a bright room located on the second floor overlooking Astrid Square. Décor is in line with other refurbished rooms on the second floor and accommodating 80 in theatre style, would be ideal for a small product launch.

Bedrooms: 253 bedrooms are available across four categories from the 3rd to the 8th floors and all use light colours schemes, light grey wood style flooring and images of Antwerp in their décor. All floors offer all classes of rooms and views - there is no supplement for rooms with views so unlikely to be considered as an upgrade.

Standard Rooms are comparatively large at 30sqm and come with tea/coffee facilities, iron and board, mid-size safe, flat screen and own brand amenities in the light grey tiled bathrooms with combined bath and shower.

An executive room is the same size as a standard room and come with extra amenities so considered an upgrade and would therefore be more aligned to internal staff for healthcare meetings if the number of bedrooms required to be allocated in these.

Premium rooms have all the above facilities with robe and slippers, paid movies, minibar, Nespresso machine, turn down service and a separate shower. These rooms might not be recommended for allocation to external healthcare professionals.

There is no Executive Lounge for executive room guests or guests staying in Suites.

The nineteen serviced apartments can be used for small meetings as they offer an area with separate toilet and natural daylight but, however, should not be allocated to healthcare professionals as a bedroom.

For larger conferences and events, the nearby sister property, the 3-star Park Inn can be used for overflow or crew accommodation.

Breakfast Room & Meetings & Events Restaurant: Breakfast is served in The Aurora, named as the views are of Astrid Square and towards the historic central station. Located on the second floor it can be utilized privately for larger meetings and events taking place in the hotel as it is adjacent to the largest meeting space. The cuisine is Belgian/International and is not positioned as fine dining.

Recently refurbished, the décor has a modern feel with parquet wood flooring with matching tables, green and silver blue velvet upholstered chairs and white and cream wall. The floor to ceiling windows allow plenty of sun into the room giving a positive feel.

Bar & Restaurant: On the ground floor, restaurant Made in Antwerp was added in June 2018. The restaurant serves seasonal dishes, with a local touch and is not positioned as fine dining.

The Bar is located on the ground floor off the main hotel lobby. Bar options would not be included in any proposals for healthcare events where external HCPs are in attendance.

On street level, Starbucks will manage the coffee shop section of the lounge which overlooks Astrid Square; with access available to hotel guests from the lobby or externally from street level.

Leisure: Located on the first floor, the fitness area provides guests only with free weights, machines, a modest sized pool, Jacuzzi, wet and dry saunas. There is no spa, however, treatments are available but provided and managed by an external company using the hotel’s treatment rooms. The overall impression is that these facilities are in line with other hotels of this type and are not core to the overall offering.

SERVICE

The hotel does provide a concierge service for leisure guests but in our opinion, service levels are consistent with a venue suitable for healthcare meetings and events. There is no sign that the venue attempts to use service and a guest to staff ratio to leverage luxury impressions.

The Radisson Hotel group is actively involved in the Think Planet scheme and the Radisson Blu Astrid Antwerp Hotel is a Green Key hotel which represents an independent third-party audit of each hotel’s practises and actions to protect the environment. Whilst not directly related to Healthcare Meetings, it demonstrates the brands dedication to responsible business activities.

The Radisson Points membership programme offers meetings and professionals Points for each booking which leads to complimentary hotel stays and upgrades - this is consistent to other hotel brands and should not be a deciding factor when booking this hotel for a healthcare meeting.

One side of the venue has an impressive view, over the main road, to the architecturally impressive central station. The hotel does not follow this period style with a modern contemporary design.