Tom Minnen, My story

My mission:

Strengthen every Hotel and B&B by increasing profitability, so there are more opportunities for investments and high quality services.

 

Hello, I am Tom

Thank you for your time and welcome to my space on the internet, where you can read my own personal story. I am Tom, father, husband, son,... 

but also an entrepreneur with a passion and a mission!

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A little background

After studying Hotel Management at KHBO/VIVES Bruges, I started my career at Martin's Hotels. After having spent 7 nice years with this Belgian hotel group and having worked as Revenue Manager for several hotels, I joined the then relatively small OTA, Booking.com. By setting clear priorities, I supported Booking.com to become the player it is today on the Belgian and Luxembourg markets, especially during the last 3 years, as head of the Belgian department of this internet giant.

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My source of inspiration: The Hotels and B&B owners

Every day I was in active contact with the owners of Hotels, B&Bs, Holiday homes,... and these from all over the country. What struck me again and again, was the great passion for the profession, but also the uncertainty and anxiety. Managing an accommodation has become very challenging and quite complex. The digital and internet revolution of recent years, has made the work of operators even more complex and 

put an enormous pressure on the sector's profitability = high commissions, expensive software, online marketing, ratings, etc.

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Everything started with a mission.

This harsh reality kept spinning around in my mind until I decided to change directions. I had set a new goal: I would help Hotels and B&Bs make them more profitable and stronger again. The seed of "Hotell me a Tale" was sown.

 

The attacks in 2016 have caused me to change course for a moment. Cowardly? Perhaps it was, because the sector had an even harder time at that moment, and perhaps I could have been of any use already. But at that time, the track with some more certainty was very attractive for me and my family.

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But in all those months the desire to do something with my predilection for the sector had certainly not diminished. The motivation to contribute to one of the most beautiful areas of expertise that exists, "hospitality", continued to be present.

After a lot of nocturnal hours sitting in front of my computer at my little desk in the living room, I took the plunge and put all my ideas and plans on the table. After many discussions with owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, etc..., I proudly started in May 2017 with "Hotell me a Tale". Very happy and still with one clear goal: I would help the Flemish Hotels and B&B's to become more profitable and stronger again by sharing my knowledge and experience.

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Completely perfect?

I'm not going to lie about it, the first few months were tough.

The doubts, the uncertainty, trying, testing, feedback,... but always with the focus on how to make the Flemish hospitality stronger and better. I can no longer count the number of days I literally and figuratively wanted to throw out my computer and everything at it. I don't have enough fingers to count all the times that I've drawn a thick, fat line over hours of work and then started again with a white sheet.

 

But never give up, walk hard against the wall but get up again, learn from the mistakes and continue back again.

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2018:Where are we now!

Meanwhile, a few months later, everything falls into place. 

I have been able to successfully complete the first large and small projects and there are also great opportunities on my way, such as giving training courses in collaboration with “Toerisme Vlaanderen” en “gast-vrij”.

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In whatever form, I work, share, learn,... every day with my passion and mission as an inexhaustible engine.

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Tom Minnen