BBT Online Short Profiles

Meet BBT Online’s international team of workers and writers. They are from many different backgrounds and nationalities, but they all share one common passion – TRAVEL.

Karin de Graauw is Dutch, but has lived and worked in Belgium for 23 years. She started in the hotel business with Sheraton and then joined BP as Travel Manager for five years when their European Headquarters was still in Brussels.

From BP she went into magazine publishing and by 2001 was already convinced that the future of travel industry news & information lay in the internet. She created BBT Online.

As an online magazine, BBT Online is both comprehensive and unique. Today, 9 years on, Karin has established it as a leading source of business travel news and MICE views, information and above all ideas, and it reaches far beyond Benelux to more and more MICE decision-makers around the world. It is a media which is honest, immediately accessible and does not rely on trees or postal services.

Karin is married to a Pakistani American and has a son, James.

Karin won the MPI’s  award ‘MICE Personality of the Year 2006’ on the 13th of January 2007.

Viviane Vogels is a real "Sinjoor": born and bred in Antwerp and proud of it! She studied law and languages in Antwerp and during her studies her first job brought her into contact with Tourism when she joined the Brussels Tourist Board as a hostess. That is probably the moment she caught the tourism bug. Shortly before the end of her studies she was recruited by the Commissariat for Tourism where she spent 3 enjoyable years before joining the more competitive world of the hotel industry at the "Crest Hotel" in Antwerp. This was the beginning of an international hotel career  which culminated in the position of General Manager of the Stanhope Hotel which she turned within 1 year of its opening into a Relais & Châteaux. During her hotel time Viviane lived and worked in Luxembourg, London and Auchterarder (Scotland) where she was Director of Sales and Marketing for the fabulous Gleneagles Hotel.

Viviane has put her yearlong experience in the international hotel industry to good use for the last 12 years in her own communication company Linx. She is an avid reader of the better novels and biographies and has recently decided to start up with golf again where she battles bravely with the little white ball!
Although not interested in cooking she is an amateur of good cuisine and enjoys a good night out with friends around a good meal.

Bruce Taylor is half English-half American. Born in the US of A in the small Indian village
of Nassawadox on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, he was brought up in England from the tender age of 2.

Bruce has worked in the tourism & meetings industry for 40 (my God, he’s ancient!) years.
In 1970 he joined the British Tourist Authority (now VisitBritain) and worked as an Overseas Director in five major European markets – Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, France & Belgium – before changing course in the new Millennium  and turning into a trade journalist, communication consultant,
copywriter, lecturer, moderator, specialist in international marketing…..you name it!

Bruce is currently based between Brussels, Bordeaux and Belmonte de San José, a small village
in Southern Aragón. He is married to Carmen whose impressive title is ‘Canciller del Consulado
General de España’ in Bordeaux. They have 2 Anglo-Aragonese ‘kids’, Sara & Mark, both in their 30s
and enjoying a modern stressful life in different parts of the globe.

In his few moments of leisure Bruce is a keen amateur chef and house husband.
He makes a mean Spanish omelette…..

Frans Rombouts has been in the MICE sector for over 30 years. At first he joined a Belgium based PCO company, which later also organized incentives and events. Already then he started writing about these communication disciplines. In the late 80s he founded the Business Communication Department of the KHM (Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen, one of Belgium’s most reputed business schools at university level). At this institution he did his term as Director of Studies, and lectured on event organization and media relations.
Frans was one of the founding members of the local Belgian/Dutch/Luxemburg SITE chapter, the Belgian MPI branch and BAPCO.
 
Apart from writing on MICE issues, Frans is also a culinary writer and assistant Editor in Chief for the professional ‘Horeca Magazine’, a monthly business-to-business publication for the Belgian hospitality branch (restaurants, hotels, catering), and for ‘ Cook Magazine’, a glossy magazine for the better home cook.

Anette Wezenberg is Dutch, born in Venezuela and grew up in Qatar and Thailand.
She studied Hotelmanagement in Leysin, Switzerland and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration.  She has worked for companies such as British Midland, Swissair, Golden Tulip hotels and Kuoni Destination Management. 

With the “Sustainable Lady” Anette helps travel companies and hotels with certifications on sustainability and setting up programs to help companies become sustainable.
Pure nature and authenticity in countries like Cuba and Costa Rica have been a source of inspiration for her current green path.

Anette has been living in Amsterdam for more than 18 years.