They call it komkommertijd, cucumber time, when the country goes on holiday and newspapers have to make up stories about giant cucumbers to fill their pages. But this year has been different. The Belgian papers are full of big stories, ranging from Leuven-based in Bev’s €52 billion acquisition of
Thanks to Brian Fahy of Action Recruitment for this little bit of initiative to help us get through all the doom and gloom that is surrounding the country at the moment .
“We are proud to announce tomorrow ( July 8th) as NATIONAL CONFIDENCE DAY the current gloom around our national economic uncertainty has impelled us to ask all our contacts to inspire their colleagues, friends, relatives and business associates to adopt a more confident approach to their jobs and lives in general.
Here are some thoughts that may help you get started, if you have more interventions we would love to hear them.
SMILE
¶ Add your own confidence ideas
¶ Compliment a colleague, customer , supplier,
¶ Call your mother, sister, brother, aunt etc
¶ Whistle, sing, dance (not all at the same time of course)
¶ Send someone a card.
¶ Wear your loudest tie
¶ Pay a bill.
¶ Make a donation
¶ Set some challenging Goals
¶ Play a trick on someone (not a confidence trick)
¶ Stand tall
¶ Give someone a hug
¶ Take a deep breath
¶ Walk the dog
¶ Tell a joke
¶ Take someone (or yourself) to lunch
¶ Do someone else a favour and ask for their help (people love to help)
Kind Regards,
Brian Fahy
Ancora Imparo
Action recruitment”
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This is another relevant article from IBEC .
High oil prices have widespread economic impact across all sectors, but perhaps none more so than in aviation. In March of this year the International Air Transport Association (IATA – they represent over 90% of the world’s airlines) were predicting an industry profit of $4.5 billion for this year, based on an average oil price of $86 a barrel. “For every $ that the price of fuel increases our costs go up by $1.6 billion”, says IATA.
July 1st 2008 |
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Last Friday ,as the results came in, I was a little disappointed that Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty . But over the weekend as I listened to the various opinions I began to wonder whether the NO vote was such a bad thing after all . What has really struck struck me more than anything has been the total lack of planning by the powers of be for the possibility that this treaty would be defeated by the Irish electorate . Surely in a closely fought contest there was always the possibility that the No’s would win and and a plan should have been put in place for that eventuality .
So we now have a situation where an estimated three million Irish voters look likely to have plunged the European Union, a bloc of nearly 500 million people, into chaos by their rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Is it our fault that we have expressed our democratic right and rejected this treaty . Regardless whether you were for or against this Treaty ,those people charged for bringing this to a public vote should have prepared for either one of the two outcomes . So when we see reports of the European Union being plunged into chaos ,we should not blame the Irish public but those people who did not consider this out come and who failed to have the plan B ready .
Ireland is the only country in Europe to hold a referendum on the treaty. That’s because in order to accept some of the changes in power from Dublin to Brussels, the Irish Constitution must be changed.
Of course, the treaty’s proponents rightly pointed out that few countries in Europe have benefited from the EU’s largesse more than than Ireland. More than three decades of subsidies from the EU, in part, helped transform Ireland from Europe’s sick man into its most prosperous country. Now Irish supporters of the treaty are rightly worried that their influence in Europe will be badly diminished.
So what’s next? Brian Cowen will have to go to next week’s meeting in Brussels embarrassed that his attempts to convince voters of the treaty’s merits have failed. The bigger impact is, of course, on the credibility and future of the EU itself. But going back to the drawing board will prove difficult as the Lisbon treaty was already the product of years of tortuous negotiations.
In the meantime PREM Group ,like a lot of Irish company’s ,will continue to grow our business throughout Europe .We will continue to work closely with our colleagues in the UK,France and Belgium and look forward to opening Hotels in Germany and the Netherlands in the near future . We will continue to do business while we let our politicians deal with the wishes of the people . Maybe next time they won’t take those wishes for granted .
PREM Group have just launched an online customer feedback tool on all our Days Hotel Ireland websites.
The reviews will be rolling, and will be continually updated as new comments are added.
The Days Hotel Dublin Airport is the first hotel to go live today . We plan to roll this facility out across our portfolio over the coming months .You can see how the reviews are going in Dublin Airport by logging on to www.dayshotelsireland.com
PREM Group previewed the new room for the Bedford Hotel Liege to a invited group of guests this week . The new room was very well received and we are now working on a programme to refurbish all 148 rooms by the end of 2008 . The hotel will be re-branded the Ramada Plaza Hotel Liege and will confirm its status as the best 4 star hotel in the city. The total investment in this hotel will be in excess of €1.5 million and will ensure PREM Groups commitment to Liege for years to come .
We are not the only company to have seen the attractiveness of investing in Belgium with 175 foreign investment deals happening in 2007 .
Belgium remains one of the most attractive countries in Europe for Foreign investment .
The political crisis seems to have had little impact on foreign investment in Belgium. Ernst & Young registered 175 foreign investment projects last year, earning Belgium fifth position amongst the most attractive investment destinations in Europe, with only the UK, France, Germany and Spain currently performing better. However, Belgium is ahead of The Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark. The Americans in particular are investing in Belgium (49 investment projects), followed by the French (21), the British (16), the Dutch (14) and the Germans (13).
De Standaard /Vlaams-Brabant/Brussel ; Thursday 05 June 2008 ; p.25
Back in January one of my first postings on this BLOG was ‘Belgium-Europe’s best kept secret’ (see ARCHIVE at the bottom of this page to read that posting).In that BLOG I wrote about how wonderful Belgium was to visit as a tourist but how poorly the country sold itself internationally . This opinion has been borne out by recent Eurostat figures .The tourism index is calculated from the sum of the number of nights of stay, both from national and international tourists, divided by the number of residents. This results in an index for the whole of Europe of 4.7. Belgium hardly makes 2.8. All our surrounding countries do better and fluctuate around the European average. The fact that the index is lower with a high density of the population works against Belgium. The French and the British for instance much more often travel for a few days in their own country than Belgians do. Perhaps the rather unique Belgian phenomenon of a second home at the coast or the Ardenne also plays a role, because those nights are not counted by Eurostat. In a reaction Tourism Flanders says that it reported better figures year after year, so that the Flemish index has risen to a more positive 3.17.
This is a sneak preview of our new 4 star bedroom that will be rolled out in the Carlton Hotel Antwerp over the next few months .A variation of this room will appear in the new Ramada Plaza Liege (formerly Bedford Hotel Liege) towards the end of this year and also in our new 4 star hotel in Brussels ,details of which will be announced shortly. The room will offer a new luxury bed with pillow top mattress, ipod docking station,flat screen TV with Internet access,wi-fi,workstation desks,safes with power source for recharging laptops,and much much more . A lot of thought and experience has gone into this room ,we love it , what do you think ? Feedback is welcome and if you happen to be in Antwerp ask for Christel and she will be happy to show it to you . In a few weeks we will be inviting our customers to try it out and give us feedback .
Back in 2002 when Ireland was preparing for the introduction of the smoking ban I was President of the Irish Hotels Federation .My presidency was dominated by this issue and negotiations with the Irish Government . In hindsight the right decision was made and the smoking ban has been a resounding success in Ireland. I have been watching the situation in Belgium with interest . A partial smoking ban was introduced in Belgium in 2007 and I believe that the Belgium Government made a big mistake by not introducing a total ban on smoking instead opting for a compromise version . Therefore you had a situation where smoking is allowed in some bars,for example ,and not in others . I read with interest therefore an article from De Nieuwe Gazet newspaper yesterday that the Government are now considering introducing a total ban on smoking in the hotel and restaurant industry .I support this move as the current legislation is confusing for both the industry and customers .My only concern is that this change is not due to come into effect until January 2010 . Why wait so long ,surely if it is the right thing to do ,this should be done a lot sooner .