AMCHAM Announces Plans to Expand Members Benefits Club

On Wednesday 12 November 2025, the American Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg (AMCHAM) held a Members Benefits Club Partners Breakfast at Pizza Hut in Place d'Armes in Luxembourg city centre.

Around 100 people were register to attend, with AMCHAM Chairman Paul Schonenberg welcoming everyone. He said that he remembered from college eating cold pizza the morning after a late-night party, a reference to the venue. He talked about the MBC programme starting during Covid times to help businesses regain "foot traffic", using purchasing power of a large community.

He confirmed that there are now a total of 330 partners who offer incentive discounts, with 8,000 MBC cards issued; he revealed that the goal is for all Amcham members' employees and their partners to have access to the MBC benefits, to be launched in early 2026. He also talked about the networking opportunities for those at the breakfast event.

The Guest of Honour was Maurice Bauer, Deputy Mayor of Luxembourg City, whose portfolio includes Trade and Tourism. He spoke on topics impacting local commerce and the city's future, and stated that the city is currently preparing the Christmas markets for the upcoming holiday season. He said that the city of Luxembourg occupies 2% of the surface territory of the Grand Duchy, with 1% being green. 40% of the jobs in the country are based in the city, and 71% of city residents are non-Luxembourgish.

He talked about the high quality of life in the city which is appreciated by non-Luxembourg nationals; the disadvantage is that housing prices are high as there is such a high demand and has become an economic disadvantage.

He talked about the other challenge in the city being mobility, with more people travelling into the city on a daily basis, particularly during morning and evening rush hours. He stressed that the two issues are inter-linked. He talked about building more P&R facilities outside the city to try to alleviate traffic congestion and make the city more attractive.

He confirmed that currently there are 137,000 inhabitants in the city, an increase of 30% in less than fifteen years, during which time a lot has happened. He referenced large housing projects on Kirchberg, the project to redevelop the former football stadium on the Route d'Arlon and large developments in the Cloche d'Or and Hollerich districts, with all these projects looking ahead to when the city could reach 150,000 or even 200,000 inhabitants.

For the city merchants, he referenced the recent opening of the Hotel Marriott in the station area, and the current Minister of the Interior who he said wants to invest into solving issues around the station area, including drugs and drug addicts for which there are many facilities available. There are around 2,700 merchants in the city with a 10-12% vacancy rate, many of which he admitted are around the station district. He also mentioned the concept of pop-up stores which has been operating since 2019 and helps entrepreneurs testing the market, with a success rate of around 30%.

Maximilian Chorus, representing the event sponsor Streff, introduced the company as being active in removals and storage, as well as expanding into other areas such as archiving in recent years.

The breakfast of coffee, juice and pastries then moved to a brunch as pizza was served.

ED