About Hotel Verlooy

Hotel Verlooy is a project of Herwig Verlooy (48) who, after he took over a small bakery in the Heilige Geeststraat in the year 1979, quickly became one of the most prominent bakers in the region. By creating the Coeurs d'Amour, a heart-shaped chocolate filled with a tender paste of hazelnut and almond, he became well-known across our national boundaries. In 1991 this delicacy won the image-building award, an item in the competition of entrepreneur of the year.

The idea to run a hotel along with the bakery came to Herwig in Germany and Austria where this combination is more widespread than in Flanders.
 
'the going together of a hotel and a bakery has always fascinated me', Herwig says, 'it radiates warmth and cosiness. For the building next to the bakery I have cherished hotel-plans from the beginning.'
 
After eight long years of designing and building, Hotel Verlooy welcomed its first guests at January 3rd 2005, thus continuing a centuries-old tradition that seemed lost in the midst of the 90's.
 
In 1993 Hotel Het Lam was torn down, one year later the same fate fell to De Sportwarande. This meant, in only two years time, the city of Geel had lost its two remaining hotels in the city-centre.


Located on the intersection of roads our city has always needed a place where travellers could stay and this need has not decreased in the 21st century. Hotel Verlooy meets this age-old need in a very up-to-date way.