Dear AmCham members, partners, subscribers, and friends,
Welcome to the 183rd edition of your AmCham digital Newsletter! We have come a long way since we first launched this digital newsletter during the Covid era. We undertook this project at that time because there was an absence of English language information, and our expat audience was having difficulty understanding what was going on and what the government was doing to keep all of us safe. To be clear, we had no idea how to do a weekly digital Newsletter (!) and were very proud and emotionally connected to our quarterly paper magazine! But we realized that giving news and information once a quarter was not often enough to meet your needs. So we took the plunge, cancelled our quarterly paper magazine, and did our best to create and distribute this weekly digital Newsletter with informative actionable English language news published every Thursday morning at 9AM to meet your needs (and with a good prepare-at-home food recipe to feed your families and friends while the restaurants were all closed!). When I look back and read some of our first issues, I smile… and am proud of our guts trying to help and make a difference in service to you all in our community! With a present distribution to 10,000 subscribers every month, I think we have done the right thing to serve and support your all… and hope you agree!
This past weekend we were delighted to partner and join the Seventh International Roude Léiw Polo Cup for their Summer gala two days of matches and Gala dinner. We had beautiful weather, almost 200 AmCham affiliated persons attending this two-day event including two tables of AmCham members joined the Gala dinner where I presented our AmCham cup to the team with the highest point count! It was an absolutely great weekend of activity. We sincerely thank the Polo club for wanting us to be their partner! Please enjoy the photo spread later in this newsletter.
Tomorrow we are excited for the very first time to be hosting a Beach BBQ Dance Gala in Howald at the newly opened PLAYA Beach club in front of Yoyo indoor & outdoor playground. We think this is a terrific location and great idea offered by Steve Darné, the owner of the complex and we are pleased to be using this venue for our BBQ/ dance party featuring Marco Boesen’s music and dance entertainment. With over 250 of you all signed up to attend, we hope everyone has a night to remember! We are sold out, but if you are interested to join us, please contact Daniel@amcham.lu to see if we have any last-minute cancellations and are able to accommodate you. Please find a photo of the venue here. We will publish a full package of photos of the actual event when we return in the Fall.
As most of you are aware, the train station district has been targeted by the government for a gentrification upgrade and renewal to make it safer and home for newly upgraded retail offerings. Among the very first retailers to newly establish themselves as part of this makeover has been our incredible USA Five Guys burger chain which is expanding throughout the best capital cities in Europe. I personally love Five Guys and have made it a must-visit monthly fast food and milkshake activity! My standard choices are a double burger with ketchup, pepper, grilled onions and grilled peppers; a hotdog with mustard, grilled peppers and grilled onions; Cajun French fries with ketchup and black pepper; a mix of lemon and strawberry Coke Zero and a caramel chocolate cookies and cream large milk shake for dessert. This is clearly too many calories to consume every day (but it sure makes a terrific monthly indulgence to enjoy!)
In our interview this week, we are very pleased to announce and promote the completion of renovation and the relaunch opening of the iconic Hotel Alfa (owned and operated by Marriot Hotels) directly across the street in front of the Gare train station. Daniel and I recently were very pleased to have lunch and a full tour of the hotel along with the two Luxembourg Marriott Hotel Alfa Hotel Principals Mr. Rex A.G. Nijhof, General Manager and Pierre Dorrell, Director of Sales and Marketing. We enjoyed the food quality during the lunch and were very impressed by the careful renovation of the building which included a high quality visually appealing upgrades along with a careful and high-quality restoration of the key Art Deco original furnishings. The end result is a great hotel ambience with a perfectly executed mix of old and new in an easy access central Luxembourg location which will become more and more important as the upgrade of the Gare area continues. Marriott Hotels has very wisely taken a long view and made a considerable investment in the future of Luxembourg and the Gare areas. We recommend this Hotel as a great place to both eat and stay or as a business location utilizing their impressive meeting rooms (many of which are named after World War II leaders like Churchill, Eisenhower and Patton). Enjoy this lead weekly interview with the Hotel Alfa Management team and give them a look when you need facilities for events or guests!
Even as we pause our Newsletter publication during July and August, your AmCham team will continue to actively work to serve you. Call or contact us as you need us or want to pass along comments and suggestions!
My very best wishes, thanks and kindest regards,
Paul Schonenberg
Chairman and CEO
AmCham.lu