May 4, 2014, 9:46 pm
DISCUSSION for Hilton Honors Hotels in Brussels, Belgium {BEL}
Feb 5, 2017, 11:30 pm
The Hilton Brussels City is 'ok' (the deluxe rooms are the best rooms in my opinion). A bit dated but there is a sauna, gym and steam bath (24hrs) which the Hilton Grand Place doesn't have. Location is within walking distance to Brussels North train station (and at the beginning of the main shopping street, 15 min walk to Grand Place). NO executive lounge but prices are much cheaper than Hilton Brussels Grand Place.
The Hilton Grand Place is the best of the 3 but EL is very small. Direct access to Central Train station though.
I would pick Hilton Brussels City Centre.
Apr 28, 2017, 4:31 am
Apr 28, 2017, 12:44 pm
Jul 5, 2017, 5:03 am
Also, the executive lounge is even smaller than usual, with many folks having to share the 10 or so tables there. Hours for the lounge are much curtailed as well.
Figured I'd pass this along as I did not see any mention of construction when I booked on the app.
Jul 5, 2017, 5:27 am
Also, the executive lounge is even smaller than usual, with many folks having to share the 10 or so tables there. Hours for the lounge are much curtailed as well.
Figured I'd pass this along as I did not see any mention of construction when I booked on the app.
It is mentioned on their website that they are doing renovations at the moment though.
"As part of our continued commitment to enhance our property, service and guest’s experience, we are pleased to inform you that we are renovating the Lobby and Bar from June 22nd to July 14th, 2017.
During this time, the relevant services will be provided in the most suitable alternative location. Please be informed that utmost efforts will be made to limit disruption and that there will be limited noise implications.
For questions, please contact us: [email protected]"
I also thought that the executive lounge offerings have improved under the new owner (now also offering prosecco and several drinks on request like Bailey's, gin, vodka,... and they also serve a 'cocktail of the month' which I thought was pretty nice). I don't care much about food in the lounge as we always have reservations in nearby restaurants when we are there.
I was also told that the new executive lounge (new location) will open sometime in September...
The new owner is definitely investing money in this property and I consider that a very good thing (despite the hopefully- temporarily- disruptions this is causing).
Jul 6, 2017, 12:21 am
It is mentioned on their website that they are doing renovations at the moment though.
"As part of our continued commitment to enhance our property, service and guest’s experience, we are pleased to inform you that we are renovating the Lobby and Bar from June 22nd to July 14th, 2017.
During this time, the relevant services will be provided in the most suitable alternative location. Please be informed that utmost efforts will be made to limit disruption and that there will be limited noise implications.
For questions, please contact us: [email protected]"
I also thought that the executive lounge offerings have improved under the new owner (now also offering prosecco and several drinks on request like Bailey's, gin, vodka,... and they also serve a 'cocktail of the month' which I thought was pretty nice). I don't care much about food in the lounge as we always have reservations in nearby restaurants when we are there.
I was also told that the new executive lounge (new location) will open sometime in September...
The new owner is definitely investing money in this property and I consider that a very good thing (despite the hopefully- temporarily- disruptions this is causing).
Sep 18, 2017, 2:52 am
Hilton Garden Inn Brussels Louise
Berckmansstraat 128 Brussel, BE 1060
OK hotel - textbook HHonors benefit (3 Photos)
Hilton Garden Inn Brussels Louise
Location
Hotel is located in the Saint-Gilles section of the city. There is a metro station (Saint-Gilles) about 5 mins walking distance (though might be difficult with large luggage) and about 5 mins from the Justice Palace. There are quite a number of places for F&B especially closer to the metro. Walking to the Grand Place will most probably take a 20 mins leisure walk.
Check In
I purposely did not do an online check-in just to see what are the chances of scoring a better room (the hotel proactively upgraded me to a Standard Garden view room) from my Standard room reserved.
Had to wait a couple of mins before my turn, check-in was done without issues. They did take a 50 Euro guarantee which is not an issue to me, but for some it seems to be an issue, which is strange to me. Was provided with 2 bottles of water as part of the HH benefits.
Given a welcome letter and was shown the direction to the elevators.
Room
Located on the 5th floor facing the inner garden courtyard. The size of the room is on a smaller side (I am comparing this to the Hilton Brussels City property). Bed was comfortable and typical Hilton bed. There is a coffee/tea making facilities provided.
Bathroom was small, quite impossible to fit 2 persons in there without one standing in the shower area. The only good thing about the shower is the nice rain shower head combined with good water pressure. The amenities are the ones from the Hilton (Peter Roth) instead of Neutrogena (like at US HGI's).
TV offerings were ok, though not all channels listed was working and quite a number of channels had issues with the quality (digital interference). Internet seems to be complimentary for all without any option for elite members for a better speed. However speed was not too bad.
Noise from neighbouring rooms or corridor was ok, only potential problem is when your neighbour shuts their door hard, the walls and headboard will slightly tremor. The A/C was working good and even at high fan speed, noise level was good.
Dining
Breakfast room was nice and bright. However the goods ends here, as the offerings in my opinion are quite bad in quality and choices compared to what is offered at other HGI's and especially to HGI's in the US (did I just compliment HGI's in US :)). There is a possibility for made-to-order eggs, but this is not written or informed by any members of the staff (trying to hide this option?). To put it into perspective, I would say the offerings were just slightly better compared to a Holiday Inn Express (just because they had 3-4 additional hot food).
The only small saviour here is the waffle making machine, but even that, the possible toppings for it is very limited. Bread and pastries offerings did look a bit old (good if you are going to toast it, but not for non-toasted option).
For the hot food choices were scrambled eggs, chicken chipolata, beans in tomatoe sauce and potatoes were offered. The chicken chipolata (basically chicken sausage) was of doubtful quality/contents.
I wonder how full the hotel was cause at around 900am, there was only a couple of people and the place never got crowded - maybe this is the reason the offerings were so lacking. Normally at a good hotel, at this time, the place would be crowded. Again - breakfast offerings at the Hilton Brussels and the Renaissance was much better.
Service
Service in gerenal was ok. Nothing really exceptional. Though I think the breakfast staff could have been more inviting/friendly as they did give an impression that they did not want to be there that morning.
Overall
Overall not too bad but not a property that I would rush to come back to. Main dissapointment is with the size of the room, breakfast and recognition for HHonors elite member - paper based benefit and that's it. Even the HGI's in the US have better recognition, going slighly beyond what is on paper, e.g. a free drink on us, upgrades to suites/larger rooms, etc.
I know for sure price is comparable at the Hilton Brussels City or the Renaissance property, those will be my first choice compared to this property. Even the Aloft although limited in service, is slightly a notch above this place. I consider this close to a full service property.
I am actually surprise at how quiet the property is in the weekend, which is actually not very inviting to hang around the hotel lobby. This is so different at other hotels I've stayed in Brussels where the bar/lounge area is much more alive.
May 8, 2018, 7:03 pm
Hilton Garden Inn Brussels Louise
Berckmansstraat 128 Brussel, BE 1060
HGI Brussels, we're not in the US anymore (3 Photos)
Hilton Garden Inn Brussels Louise
Room
I was on the top floor with a room facing the garden, aka the other half of the hotel. The downside with the top floor rooms the roof slopes in so you lose the feeling of a lot of space, and if you're me, you hit your head on it.
Overall the room was fairly small and I was just one person. I can see this being very cozy for a couple.
Dining
As a Diamond member, breakfast was included. Unfortunately I have to say that the breakfast leaves a lot to be desired and IMO doesn't meet Hilton brand standards. Unlike every other HGI I've stayed at there is no coffee stand in the morning with to go cups and no menu to order cooked to order eggs or anything additional. What was available on the buffet was not of good quality, and due to the high number of guests having breakfast, frequently there would be no eggs, no cold cuts, no beans, etc. At least a couple of items would be out and the restaurant was insufficiently staffed to keep up. Each morning there was only 1-2 people responsible for clearing tables, refilling food, etc. I wish I had photos but the restaurant was always so crowded I would have felt strange taking photos.
Overall
It's an OK property if you have the right expectation going in and get a cheap enough rate. This hotel isn't up to HGI standards, but at the rate I paid (92 EUR/nt) I can't honestly say I didn't get decent value, though I'd be disappointed if I paid a higher rate.
The best things about this hotel is an OK location near the Metro and Midi station and the lobby bar has fairly reasonable beer prices, at about 3-5 EUR. There is also a convenience store around the corner which is nice, and a Dominos Pizza across the street if you're in the mood for some fast lazy food.
One thing that bothers me is they didn't honor all of my 5 EUR vouchers in exchange for skipping housekeeping service and didn't give me a reason why. I've reached out to the General Manager, though he hasn't responded to my email.
I likely won't return to this property and instead try one of the many Stariott properties in Brussels.
Amenities
A few other thoughts:
The hotel advertises a business center, though when I tried to use it to print off a few documents, the two computers have such out of date software you can't even get into Gmail to download PDFs so it's virtually useless.
As a Diamond member I was able to take two bottles of water as my welcome amenity. Such generosity!
As mentioned in another review, internet is provided with no login in details so there is no Premium internet available.
Also in general, the staff are nice and helpful but hamstrung by what seems to be cheap management, from the cheap breakfast to the lack of working business center.
May 8, 2018, 11:15 pm
3 stays in a row the same breakfast problems, usually half of the buffet empty, very limited and low quality. When I mentioned them last time that the croissants were out and the waffle machine had no batter to make the waffles they brought out 2 small cups of batter and 4 croissants, which took them exactly 15 minutes! I have stayed in only 3 Hamptons but all 3 had better breakfast than this hotel.
I had the same problems with the business center, slow, out of date and useless. In the end I also found out on my CC statement that they charged my for parking (I didn't even arrive by car!). Mistakes happen but it took 4 emails and 2 phone calls to get my 20 EUR back (4 weeks in total). Not even sorry from their side...
May 9, 2018, 12:02 am
I fully agree with the breakfast - especially as the hot items are limited and also the selection of fruits is rather limited. It helps if you have breakfast before 07:00 am in regard to the offerings, but this is for sure not everybody's prefered breakfast time. Honestly, the breakfast of the Hilton Brussels City is im my opinion even worse and I skip breakfast if staying there at all. On the other hand, I am usually satisfied with a coffee and a croissant on a business trip ...
The rooms are small - unless you got one of the appartements with kitchenette in the rear part of the building, which are larger. What makes the HGI better is, that they have far more available power outlets next to the desk and the better air condition. The Hilton City has one to none available power outlet in most of the rooms I stayed. As I need to work, usually carrying two laptops and need charge my other gadgets this is an issue for me.
I also agree that they very much go by the book at the HGI and do not offer anything in addition like a voucher for a free drink like the Hilton Brussels City does (but there it is a sort of compensation for a not available lounge).
If you are a regular guest you might get an appartment as upgrade if holding Diamond Status, but this depends a bit on occupancy. I was upgrade to an appartement 7 out of 10 stays with once to a two bedroom apparement with open plan kitchen / living room. Not fancy, but nice to have the additional space and be able to have dinner in the room. The Hilton usually upgrades, but the layout of the rooms vary and it is a bit of gambling if you received a room to Botanique, Place Rogier. I only got once a room facing the inner courtyards, which are the worst rooms in the Hilton City.
If the Hilton is cheaper, I go for the Hilton, but if the Hilton Garden Inn is cheaper, it would be my first option.
And if the aloft Schuman is within my per diem allowance, than this would be my first choice due to its location.
Mar 18, 2019, 11:05 pm
I stayed at the HGI on a Friday night as rates during the week are crazy, my records show I paid GBP 56. Most of what needs to be said has been posted by others and nothing much has changed.
I arrived by Eurostar into the South station at 10am. While the hotel is in this area, I was annoyed by the location as it was just a bit too close to take the metro (didn't feel like paying €2.10 to go two stops), yet it was just a bit too far to walk, as it is uphill. Also the metro is not exactly on the doorstep, it's still a short distance across a busy road and underground, so it's a coin toss as to which is actually faster.
On the positive side, the walking route is almost all smooth (rather than cobblestones) so it's easy to wheel luggage. When you are leaving the hotel the route becomes downhill, which aids running to catch a train!
As a room was not available at 10.30am, I stored my luggage at the hotel but perhaps I should have just paid for a locker at the station rather than making the 30 minute round trip - however I guess I didn't want to be wheeling luggage uphill at the end of the day.
After a day trip around Belgium I returned at 9pm, there was nobody at the front desk and 2 guests waiting. After 5 minutes the sole staff member returned and apologised for a problem in a room. I was "upgraded" to garden view but as it was dark there was nothing to see. He gave me two bottles of water which I didn't realise were sparkling until opening, so I decided to boil them otherwise they would be poured down the sink... There were no power sockets by the bed.
After getting into bed I noticed a flashing light every 20 seconds. As I couldn't be bothered to get up I covered my eyes with a pillow.
I went to breakfast at 7.15am (Saturday) and it was devoid of diners and staff. There was a sign saying please wait to be seated, after 20 seconds I just went in, after 5 minutes someone came out of the kitchen. I agree with others that the food was more of a Hampton standard (or worse than some Hamptons).
At check-out I had to pay the city tax of €4.24. As I had exactly 24 cents I gave the staff member €20.24 but he got confused and tried to give me €15.76 plus my 24 cents back. Eventually he understood that he should give me a single €1 and notes.
Aug 17, 2020, 4:04 am
Called the hotel this morning and I was told that they will only open from 1st Sept - informed the associate that I did not get any cancellation email nor anything to inform me...he was only apologetic and said nothing can be done and offered to rebook me to the Hilton Grand Place - but at the usual rate of approx 165 euro without taxes. Told him that it is rather irresponsible. So now I have to look for an alternative.
Not happy with this situation, but anyway, just a warning/FYI for those who have upcoming stay at the property
Cheers!
Aug 17, 2020, 1:28 pm
Aug 17, 2020, 1:52 pm
Called the hotel this morning and I was told that they will only open from 1st Sept - informed the associate that I did not get any cancellation email nor anything to inform me...he was only apologetic and said nothing can be done and offered to rebook me to the Hilton Grand Place - but at the usual rate of approx 165 euro without taxes. Told him that it is rather irresponsible. So now I have to look for an alternative.
Not happy with this situation, but anyway, just a warning/FYI for those who have upcoming stay at the property
Cheers!
Jul 14, 2021, 4:57 am
Hilton Garden Inn Brussels Louise
Berckmansstraat 128 Brussel, BE 1060
OK property, typical HGI stay (13 Photos)
Hilton Garden Inn Brussels Louise
This is my 2nd time staying at this property after more than 2 years. From my last stay, I already knew it was just an OK property, so with that same expectation booked a 1 night stay here since I had a morning flight out from BRU the next day. Price was reasonable and transportation to the airport was not of concern since I had a car.
Location
Property is not the most centrally located one compared to the Hilton Grand Place, but it does have some nice neighbourhood establishment and I remember it not being to far to walk to the different attractions or public transportation stops. Area also seems quite safe even at night.
Check In
This property does offer online check-in via the app, however as usual in current climate, you will still have to drop by the front desk to collect your keys because you need to fill in some health declaration form. I did anyway an online check-in and selected another room on a high floor compared to what was assigned to me. As expected no upgrade to any suites or larger room.
Arrived quite late in the evening (also because of an unexpected accident leading to traffic along the way). Was assisted immedaitely by a friendly front desk associate. Given a run down of the different changes and my selection of elite amenities - went for the breakfast and given 2 bottles of water.
Was off to my room within 5 mins of arrival.
Room
The room faced the inner courtyard which i expect to be much quieter compared to those facing the road which I've never experience - so am not sure how good the sound isolation will be. Room size was ok - as expected for a property in the middle of this busy city. Other than that, the room was your typical HGI design/style with just some local touches.
I did not see any removal of items due to current situation - there was still the full facility of coffee/tea making items, ironing board, iron and the usual amenities.
Bathroom size was ok - with a simple design and functional walk-in shower. Water temperature control was good, with pressure being ok. The usual Crabtree&Evelyn toiletries were provided - still in the small individual bottles.
Wifi speed was stable and sufficient. The TV channels were the usual mix of local and international options. Temperature control was good - with the fan not being too loud. Sleep quality was good, did not hear too much disturbance during the night, although in the morning, you can hear doors get shut. Also the curtains did do a good job by keeping the early daylight out.
Breakfast
Normally breakfast is buffett style, so I was curious how it will be in current times (Belgium was just coming out from a strict lockdown).
There seem to be at least on this early Saturday morning, not much takers for breakfast as we were the only one - the room number was requested by the front desk staff as you approach the breakfast room area.
It was still laidout as a buffett style but with all items already portioned, plated and wrapped with plasticfoil (including the hot items). The spread was ok - although clearly it was a reduced version especially with very limited hot items.
All in all, not too bad although the quality can be slightly better.
Overall
For this short one night stay, for the price-quality ratio, the stay was sufficient and met my expectation. If the price is right, would not mind staying at the property again.