When Corinthia was negotiating a multi-million euro deal to buy the Grand Hotel Astoria building in Brussels, the company offered the hotel’s original owners – an elderly aristocratic couple – a sweetener to clinch the deal.

“We told them that we would organise their next wedding anniversary at the hotel. It was a construction site by that point, but we got it done,” recalls Corinthia Group CEO Simon Naudi. “There were tears in their eyes. You could tell it meant so much to them. Sometimes it’s about going the extra mile.”

Naudi recounts the anecdote with the narrative flourish. It is clearly one he delights in telling. After spending a couple of days at the company’s newest property, I can understand why.

Rooms are decorated in neutral tones.

Corinthia has spared no expense in returning the Astoria to its former glory. Practically everything on its grandiose ground floor – columns, doors, frescoes, chandeliers – was restored from the original. 

A massive, 11-metre-high stained glass skylight was reconstructed to fix structural problems with the original that caused it to leak. It is now insulated and, thankfully, drip-free.

That skylight is undoubtedly the centrepiece of the recently inaugurated Corinthia Brussels, bathing in natural light: a ground floor that once welcomed kings and queens, artists and Hollywood stars.

Corinthia says the hotel is the finest in Belgium’s capital and caters to a luxury travel niche that Brussels had no way of satisfying until now. Ask its managers who they consider their competition to be, and they scoff.

“There is none,” one said confidently in between croquettes at Le Petit Bonbon, a high-end brasserie at the hotel led by chef Christophe Hardiquest.

The Corinthia Brussels has retained the facade of the Grand Hotel Astoria, which it replaced.

Corinthia is certainly aiming high: basic rooms start at €500 a night and a 330 square metre penthouse on the building’s sixth floor is expected to go for a cool €22,000-a-night once finished. To put that into context, €22,000 is what the average Maltese worker earns in one year.

The rooms are, with one small exception, superb. Their decor is muted and contemporary, the beds as comfortable as they look and the facilities as high-end as you would expect.

The room's light switches inspired less confidence: buttons seemed to have a mind of their own and try as I might, the simplest of tasks - how do I turn on just my bedside table lamp? - was a bulb too far. Given that the hotel had only been open for a few days when I visited, I'll chalk that down to teething trouble.  

It is the little things, though, that truly make the hotel shine.

On my first night, I drank the two complimentary water bottles provided in my room. When the cleaners came through the following day, they didn’t just restock, they left me six full bottles.

Every doorman, server and receptionist at the Corinthia Brussels knew my name. At breakfast, my server remembered how I liked my coffee and offered me another without prompting.  

Works on the hotel's grand central courtyard.

Corinthia's expansion plans

Corinthia has made no secret of its plan to refocus itself around top levels of service. It has created a second brand, Verdi, for hotels which will target less luxurious travellers. And it is rolling out new Corinthia hotels at a rapid rate.

In 2024, it opened a hotel in Manhattan as well as its new Brussels property. This year it will add hotels in Rome, Bucharest and Doha to its portfolio. And other Corinthia hotels in the Maldives, Saudi Arabia and, closer to home, the former Ħal Ferħ site at Golden Bay are on the horizon, too.

Naudi says the group is well placed to manage that growth, and notes that while Corinthia will be operating many new hotels in the coming years, in most cases it will do so through management deals, not by purchasing physical properties outright.

“We’ve invested a lot in our operating company. We have around 80 people in London handling things like marketing, finance, sales. That office is big enough to handle 40 or 50 hotels. We created the team before needing it,” he says.

Corinthia CEO: Malta is our home

The flip side of that rapid international growth is that what has historically been a quintessentially Maltese company is becoming a bit more international with each passing year.

Naudi is keen to downplay that – “Malta is our home, it’s what gives us our energy. We’re not going anywhere,” he says – but the numbers are what they are. Currently, roughly 20% of Corinthia’s revenues come from its operations in Malta. As it opens more and more hotels abroad, that percentage is destined to shrink

There is talk of “better aligning” its Malta hotels to the Corinthia brand and Naudi makes it clear the company will be unsentimental in going about that mission.

As the company’s “spiritual home”, the Corinthia Palace in Attard appears untouchable. All its other properties are less sacred.

“We have to think as real estate investors and owners,” Naudi says.

Still, he’s bullish about Malta’s tourism prospects – provided the country looks after its strong points.

Le Petit Bonbon, one of two restaurants at the hotel led by chef Christophe Hardiquest. The other, Palais Royal, also comes with Michelin pedigree.

“We have the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean. We have all the ingredients. We brought over US travel agents and they were blown away,” he says.

Is Malta equipped to attract the “quality tourists” the Robert Abela-led government has explicitly said it is targeting?  

“I wouldn’t use the words ‘quality tourist’,” Naudi says.  “We’re talking about visitors who are willing to spend more money. And if we have finite land area, it’s logical to try and bring somebody who can contribute more to the economy. Whether it’s 3-star, 4-star or 5-star.”  

After our brief chat, Naudi is whisked away to another meeting. I pack my bags, check out and head to the airport. When we arrive, the driver holds onto my suitcase and insists on escorting me to the airline’s check-in desk. Always the extra mile.

Bertrand Borg was hosted by Corinthia Brussels.