The famous La Réserve hotel in the West Flemish seaside resort of Knokke-Heist has welcomed its first guests. After a total renovation costing ten million euros, entrepreneurs Marc Coucke and Bart Versluys have turned La Réserve into the first five-star hotel on the Flemish coast. For the hotel's kitchen, they recruited top chef Peter Goossens.
La Réserve has been a well-known hotel since 1949 and has hosted many famous people. Paris Hilton, David Beckham and Frank Sinatra have all spent the night here. In 2021, entrepreneurs Marc Coucke and Bart Versluys bought the building with the ambition of turning it into a five-star hotel by the summer of 2023.
"We met that deadline," says a happy Bart Versluys. "There are thousands of people waiting to spend the night here. Our staff are ready! There is no time to take it easy. In fact, we have already welcomed the first guests."
Total renovation
"The result is fantastic. We tackled everything: the basement, the facades, the garden, the lobby, the rooms... Everything has been renewed. The idea is that guests will no longer recognise the iconic hotel, because we want to leave our mark on it. There needed to be more ambition and that has arrived, because today the hotel has become an example of top architecture."
At the revamped hotel, guests have views of Lake Zegemeer and there is a wellness facility as well as a wine cellar. For the cheapest room, you will pay around €350 per night, while the most expensive room will cost €1,549.
Chic hotel with chic restaurant
La Réserve's showpiece is its restaurant La Rigue, headed by top chef Peter Goossens. Since 1992 he has been running the three-star restaurant Hof van Cleve in Kruisem (East Flanders), but at the end of this year he will hand over to a successor. "Here I won’t have to be present every day," Goossens says of La Rigue. "It will be something completely different."
"We will offer top quality, but the cuisine will be simpler. Think of dishes like shrimp croquettes, vol-au-vent or steak au poivre. In the Hof van Cleve, only 45 guests could enter, here there is room for 150 people. We also provide breakfast and room service. So there is no comparison."
"I am impressed with the infrastructure," Goossens says. "The kitchen is incredible, wonderful, unique in Belgium. The guests and the chefs both have a view of Lake Zegemeer. We have lots of light and everything is new, including the people. It will take a few more months for everybody to get into the routine, but it will soon be running smoothly."