The exceptional welcome extended by the "onions"...

Belgium is particularly attached to the town of Aalst and its inhabitants, who are affectionately referred to as "onions". The town is the stage of Belgium's largest carnival that takes place in February or March, according to when Easter falls, from Sunday to Shrove Tuesday. Several centuries old, the carnival has retained a medieval spirit and every year at the advent of spring, the townsfolk bury the past year, taking great pleasure in erasing all traces of bad memories, which they caricature to better poke fun at them. This sense of self-mockery, so particular to Belgium, is given free rein in the disguises and costumes and in particular those of the "Dirty Jennies", i.e. men dressed up as women. The carnival that parades in front of the Best Western Premier Keizershof Hotel offers a rich pageant of human experience. Kamiel, the Carnival Prince, a sort of master of ceremony, is a very important figure, dearly loved by the townsfolk, who "rules" the town during the 3-day festivities.

In a similar vein, the Best Western Premier Keizershof Hotel is known first and foremost for the quality of its service and devotion to guests' welfare, both of which bear witness to a faultless, impeccably maintained and run establishment. The Best Western Premier Keizershof Hotel is above all an enterprise of men and women. It is often rightly said that happy team members result in happy guests. By extension it is also true that unwaveringly loyal team members also lead to loyal guests. The hotel's employees, at every level of the organisation, have been at the service of their guests for many years, which explains why the entire team works together so smoothly and seamlessly and can offer a quality of human contact that is rare in this business. The barman is an emblematic figure of the team, and, not satisfied to simply serve up pints of Belgium's famous beers (Kriek, Hoegenband, Duvel, etc.), he can also be prevailed upon to take guests on a guided tour of the town or even render a very decent version of one or other local song. As a result many guests have become devoted regulars, returning time and time again with unfeigned pleasure. All the more so as the hotel's staff eagerly awaits their return, backed up by cutting-edge technology that records the every whim of former guests.

This hotel, considered to be the best in town, has other appeals too, among which its very well-designed fitness and sauna equipment and many light, well-equipped meeting rooms. True to the human dimension so characteristic of the town, the Best Western Premier Keizershof Hotel has named its meeting rooms after local prominent citizens: Dirk Martens (a former printer who also has a gin cocktail named after him), writer Louis Paul Boon, Prister Daens, etc. Similarly, the hotel is decked in portraits painted by a local boy whose reputation is now international, André Van Schuylnbergh.

The town is justly proud of its medieval architectural heritage, in particular the town hall and its belfry (one of the oldest in Belgium) and the former Amsterdam stock exchange. Both these old buildings stand on the traditional main square, the heart and soul of all Belgian towns, and home to countless restaurants that serve the famous onion soup of Aalst. Here too, as in the Best Western Premier Keizershof Hotel, the town's proverbial warm welcoming onions take pride of place.