fdemacar

Quite possible but never experienced as on company account...

Helena Handbaskets

I was recently upgraded as a Plat to the junior suite on the 1st floor. By the way the staff referred to it, it seemed that I may have been the first or one of the first to stay there since a very recen renovation of the room. It is a nice room, with an installation of decorative lights in one wall that makes for a startling impression.

Since the hotel (or at least the room I was in) has turn-down service, and since this is an upscale hotel in the center of Brussels, I was astonished to learn that there were no chocolates left on the pillows during the turn-down. What a missed opportunity, in this city of chocolate! It seems to me they should offer a single designer praline on each pillow, as a means of intoducing the talent of a local chocolate artisan to a captive audience overwhelmed with choices in the streets below, and then turn it into revenue by selling boxes from the same artisan in the lobby. Or by offering a discount coupon to the "Chocopolis" shop directly behind the hotel, for instance.

The shower in this suite has an enormous rain-shower head (about a 24 inch diameter) in addition to the more conventional handheld sprayer. I was not (initially) able to discover how to switch the flow from the handheld sprayer to the rain-shower head, and neither the front desk nor the general manager knew how, either. If you get one of these rooms, you may wish to know that I eventually discovered it is done by turning the water flow knob clockwise rather than counter-clockwise. Counter-clockwise directs the flow to the handheld unit. As far as I can tell, it is impossible to switch from one to the other without getting a jolt of cold water. It also seems impossible to shower in this unit without flooding the bathroom floor, since, unlike every other shower I've ever seen, the floor of this shower is actually above the bathroom floor, with a slope down to the bathroom floor. There's a rubber gasket on the bottom of the shower door, but it does not seal the water in the shower.

Overall my stay was actually a positive one, but these two things just struck me as a little odd.

The Wolf

I have just booked a night via the free weekend award scheme at Meridien Brussels for me and my wife - we're in the following room:

Being SPG Gold, is this already an upgrade, is there an upgrade to expect or is this usually not the case with award bookings?
Does anyone have a good tip regarding a good treat - is the massage service to be appreciated?


Thanks for any tips,

Cheers

Condition One

That appears to be a standard room. Or at least that's what I booked on a cheap weekend rate in February.

volkswankin

Just made a stay this weekend at the Le Meridien Brussels. We were upgraded to a lovely junior suite on the top floor (6th floor). Very tastefully decorated and wonderful slanted windows that opened outward. I liked the fact that they had a Illy espresso machine in the room stocked with espresso pods. The staff at the front desk was helpful, although they promised me a newspaper in the morning that was never delivered. I was also displeased to see that the mens bathroom in the lobby was out of order.

Overall a good stay and it was nice to received the upgrade!

glenny84

If you are visiting Belgium for the first time this hotel location is unbeatable. However, the stay so far has been anything but stellar. As a business traveler, one of the things that I have (unfortunately) become dependent on has been the internet. Since I arrived at the hotel more than 24 hours ago, the internet has been down with no estimation on when it will be back up. The front desk's suggestion was: "There's a Quick or a Haagen Dazs behind the hotel for wireless". Very disappointing for a hotel of this caliber.

SanDiego1K

I had a one night stay at this hotel. I appreciated everyone's reports, and particularly that of fdemacar who stayed there 50 times.

Arrival
We came by train. The hotel is immediately across from the main entrance to the train station. It couldn't be simpler to find.

A junior suite on the 6th floor had been blocked for us. I was armed with fdemacar's trip report. S/he prefers the 4th floor, but that was not to be. It was the 6th floor or wait. Since it was our first time and we had no experience elsewhere in the hotel, we were well pleased with our room. It was spacious, with a seating area to one side. There were two spacious windows in the slanted part of the roof. They could be opened to let in fresh air. The only downside to the windows was the amount of sun that beat in in the morning. I can imagine that in the summer months, the room gets quite hot. There was a bathroom with a walk in shower, as well as a small dressing room.

We were given a small bottle of Evian and a box of nice Belgian cookies.

Area
The hotel location is perfect for tourism. It's about a 10 minute walk uphill to the new Musee Magritte Museum, housing the works of the most important Belgian impressionist painter. Be sure to see the 45 minute video about his life, shown in the basement.

I highly recommend Laurent Gerbaud chocolates. His main shop is between the hotel and the Magritte Museum. (I liked both the salted pistachio chocolate rounds and the chocolate covered ginger.)

The other direction is the Grand Place. I used to go to Brussels periodically on business. I must say in intervening areas, this wonderful ancient square has become much more touristic to its detriment. Nothing can spoil the facades, but the shops are filled with tat on the streets leading into the square, and the square itself was remarkedly jammed with tourists for so early in spring.

I like the 2010 article from the New York Times titled 36 Hours in Brussels.

Fishbait

We are in the Le Meridien Brussels right now, checked in yesterday for a five night stay. I suspect we have actually been downgraded as Plat.. We booked a "Specialty Select" room, on reservation it has been listed as an "Executive room with sofa and coffee table..." Our room is actually a "Deluxe Room" by the description, on the second floor, very small, awkward, and noisy. We went down to the desk after check-in and asked if they were sure we were in the correct room, and after the desk clerk spent a lot of time in the "back room", she came back and stated that we were actually "upgraded"??? Today, while we were out, they took our bottle of wine from the room.

Otherwise, the location is great, and Brussels and Brugges are fantastic citues.. Just can't help feeling ripped off..

Robin

novaguy30

I stayed there in April 2011...and the only good thing is the location. The front desk is absolutely incompetent. They argued with me about the room I reserved and told me I was wrong. Luckily I had a copy of it and had to pull it out of my luggage to prove otherwise. Then the front desk refused to accept my credit card for incidentals -- despite the fact that I had used that card to prepay the stay! They said it was a debit card. It was not. It did not say DEBIT anywhere on it. They just randomly decided it was a debit card because they had not seen that credit card before. After ANOTHER 10 minutes of this run around (had a 10 minute run around to get my CORRECT room)...they decided to swipe the card and the lady was surprised that it worked as a credit card. Wow. Brain trust. OH...and this is all as a Gold member. Anyway. The room sucked. It reminded me of a semi-luxury hotel room from 1992. Everything was outdated. They also charged for use of a wireless card that ONLY worked in the lobby. Then they discovered it wasnt even working in the lobby. Meh. They told us to go to the Marriott. HAHA. One good thing is that they had 3 computers open on ground floor. Only two worked during my entire stay...and sometimes only one. Meh again. "pluses" are that the room was clean...but the bathroom was so outdated it was impossible to be cleaned...a lot of stains that were permanent. Towels were clean (some reason that has become more difficult nowadays in hotels).

KittyCat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BlJiZ7F7o

Nothing too major according to initial reports, but still some annoyance to be expected if you would have reservations in the coming week or so

stevens397

Checked in yesterday about 11 AM and was told they would check our bags and the room would be ready in two hours. Fine. Returned then and was taken to a lovely Junior Suite on the 5th floor. Unpacked, set up my laptop only to find that there was no way to connect wirelessly - none. Called and within ten minutes, a tech came up and he had no luck either (glad my wife is fluent in French since he certainly spoke no English!).

Finally, he called the front desk to have them change my room (my wife, of course, thought I was nuts). We got further upgraded to a full Deluxe Suite on the 6th floor that is absolutely lovely.

BTW, we had the same reaction as Helena above - could not believe there were no chocolates on the bed!

Great location in a lovely city.

JNelson113

Question . . . has anyone parked nearby and what were the charges? Also, how awful is it to drive in Brussels? We will literally just drive in and out (and then walk or taxi/train) but I have read a lot warning against driving in Brussels. I have driven in many other parts of Europe so not sure how worried to be.

terrysalmi

Driven to the hotel and surrounding areas a few times. It's very easy to get to, with a underground road system bringing you from the highway to within a mile or two of the hotel. Other than some traffic, never any problems. Parking is around 25-30€ a night at the public garage directly underneath the hotel. The garage is appropriately called Grand Place.

JNelson113

Thank you--this is exactly what I needed to know! :-)

Torosan

Hi FT'ers! I'm planning a trip with my girlfriend for this Christmas/New Years. We'll be in Brussels over Christmas (staying at LM) and planning to day trip to Brugge and Ghent (any maybe other places?).

I'm planning surprise her with a proposal and am looking for any recommendations on locations/ideas.

I'm planning to travel to Amsterdam for NYE afterwards and I thought it may be better to do the proposal in Belgium, then celebrating (hopefully) in Amsterdam.

thoughts?