Wizla's inquiry has reminded me that I haven't written up my recent stay at this property, so here goes...

I stayed for three nights in July with my family. Had contacted the property in advance to ask for connecting rooms, and was told that they couldn't guarantee it. Since the connecting rooms matter to me (and the Marriott was willing to guarantee them), I reached out to the manager - he assured me that it would be no problem, and that the whole family would get lounge access and restaurant breakfast via my diamond status. At check-in we were upgraded to a junior suite connecting to a double room. The junior suite was basically a large room with the addition of a sofa and extra table. That said, both rooms were very spacious and quite comfortable, with a wall of windows. The rooms themselves were standard Hilton- for those who are picky about such things, they were showing their age in a few places (an access panel had fallen from the wall in the bathroom, some paint was peeling, etc.), but nothing particularly concerning or unexpected. Rooms did get some sound from the hallway, but not too much. There was a very large family down the hallway with 6 or 7 rooms who made quite a bit of noise-- they insisted on propping open the door to one room occupied by a crying baby (so everyone in the hallway could share in the noise) and their kids kept running from room to room slamming the doors. I had this same experience once in a London hotel and couldn't sleep due to the noise; fortunately the doors at the Hilton Grand Place sealed well enough that only a little of the slamming door sound came through. Bathrooms had Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries, the a/c worked very well (it was especially hot while we were in Belgium), and each room received a small box of godiva chocolates on arrival (there is a Godiva shop/cafe in the lobby of the hotel). Windows did open, for those of you who like that.

Now for the lounge (I didn't forget you Wizla!). When we stayed, the lounge was a room on the ground floor, slightly down the hall from the front desk (you walk in the front doors of the hotel, take a right, walk 20 yds or so, and the doors are on the left). It was fairly small, with seating for 20-30 (including two large tables for 6). This did become a problem, as quite a number of people had lounge access. In our case, the large family on my floor all had lounge access and took up more than half of the lounge whenever they stopped in. They also quickly decimated the food offerings each time they arrived (sometimes more than once each evening), such that there were long periods of time when people would come into the lounge and not be able to find a seat nor to get any food. The lounge server was outstanding, and did his best to replenish things as quickly as possible, but couldn't always keep up. The one time we were there when the lounge wasn't too crowded it was a much nicer experience, and the server came over to our table to make sure we had what we needed. The lounge had a coffee machine, soft drinks, water, and beer/wine/spirits in the evenings. I was a bit disappointed with the beer selection, as the three beers served were Hoegaarden, Jupiter, and Amstel. Being in Belgium, I really felt like they should be able to do better -- even the priority pass lounge in BRU had mini-casks of Leffe and six or seven other good choices. As for food, the evening selection consisted of one hot dish (one night was moules, another night was a paella), several small cold hors d'oeuvres (pasta with pesto, vegetables in some sort of sauce), and leftover cheese and bread from breakfast. The cheese was quite good, though the bread did get stale.
Breakfast in the restaurant each day was quite good, with a wide selection of hot and cold items, as well as fresh squeezed orange juice and a smoothie of the day. My wife and I were both really pleased with the Belgian Cramique bread, and ate quite a bit of that. On the second morning a manager walked by our table and asked the kids if they wanted hot chocolate (not otherwise in evidence)- she then went off somewhere and came back with two glasses full, which pleased the children to no end. We also noticed the table next to ours ordering omelets which were made to order-- no one had told us about those, but we ordered them on the third morning and they were provided at no charge. My only gripe on breakfast had to do with the waffles-- they had one of the standard Hilton make-your-own waffle irons, and the stock Hilton waffle batter. As with the beer, I was really surprised that in Belgium they couldn't provide proper Liege waffles (I've had them at Hiltons in London and the Netherlands, so I know its possible in a hotel kitchen).

I thought the location was excellent-- literally across from the central train station, and a very short walk to the Galleries Saint-Hubert and Grand Place. With kids, this proved very useful, as it was very easy to take the train to/from the airport, Gent and Bruges, as well as to go for a short walk down to the tourist areas. The area around the hotel felt very safe at all hours- I was very glad we stayed there over the Marriott, as I liked the Hilton location much better.

Desk staff and concierge could have been better. Our checkin was done by a trainee and took nearly 20 minutes even though the manager was standing nearby. We asked the concierge about activities that my kids might enjoy on independence day and he told us there weren't any. Fortunately I went down towards the palace on my own and saw that there were quite a few kid-friendly things taking place, and took the kids, who then had a great time. On checkout I was charged for the kids' breakfasts, but explained that I had been told in advance that there would be no charge. The desk agent then removed the charge without complaint.

Although I have a few minor complaints, I thought that the location, rooms, and breakfast were all well worth the cost, and would happily stay here again. I definitely concur with the flyertalkers earlier in this thread that the lounge really needs to be bigger. I don't know if they get lots of diamond guests or sell lots of exec rooms, but they clearly have more guests with lounge access than they can handle.