The French president once slept there, but next year the iconic family hotel in Knokke will close after 101 years (Knokke-Heist)

After a history of 101 years, Hotel The Memlinc, the oldest in Knokke-Heist, will close its doors next year. The Deklerck family, currently with generations three and four at the helm, will focus on other projects in 2025 and see no successor. The hotel was an attraction for the very best for decades, but the ‘Place m’as-tu vu’ will never be the same again.

The closure was confirmed to our editors on Wednesday by the hotel management. It all started for The Memlinc on June 30, 1923 under the wings of Emile and his wife Augusta, who continued the hotel themselves in 1930 after a divorce. After her death, Martha took over the business and later sold the hotel to André Deklerck.

Each room then had a bathroom and the hotel was also expanded. In 1977, a petroleum crisis arose: the building was promptly fitted with double glazing. “That is just one of the many crises that the hotel had to endure, with the corona crisis still fresh in our minds,” manager Christophe Deklerck told our newspaper in June 2023, when the hotel presented a book in honor of its 100th anniversary. . “A lot has changed in the hotel industry in a hundred years,” he said at the time.

Christophe took over the hotel in 1988 as the third generation. A restaurant was added in 2005, and in 2015 even a sky bar on the roof The Memlinc boasted a 360-degree view. Today he runs the hotel together with his niece Marie Friberg: the hotel is run by the third and fourth generations. And that is quite unique in itself. But it ends at the end of April of next year: the family currently sees no succession and wants to focus on other projects. The operation of the golf club in Zoute, among other things.

Or how ‘Place m’as-tu vu’ or Albertplein, where the hotel has stood for more than a century, will never be the same again. The Memlinc was a real family hotel, but was visited by many celebrities over the years. Just think of French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing or David Rockefeller, along with a lot of other big names from decades ago.

Those who want to enjoy it one last time have until the end of March 2025: after that, unless a new operator comes along, the doors will inevitably close.