stimpy

No, Brussels is French. You will find a lot of people who speak Flemish (not quite the same as Dutch), but not everyone will. And all I ever hear is French at this hotel, which I fortunately speak. As for the staff speaking their native language to each other, that sounds quite normal and natural to me. Why would they speak a foreign language to each other?

thomas199023

Well at the bus tour they actually told us you can speak both French and Dutch in Brussels not a problem though. Last year I actually did have a Dutch (Flemish) speaking check-in agent.

It was not weird that they were speaking in French to each other but as it really took a long time it would be nice to be at least given a few updates. It was a nice guy tough.

Koby

I don’t want to get into OMNI territory here, so I don’t want to start a discussion. But I do want to get the facts correct.

No, Brussels is bilingual. This is official. Whatever your experiences are, you should (in theory) be able to get around in Dutch. I admit that in reality this is not always the case, because not everyone speaks Dutch. But I can also show you people that don’t speak (or do not want to speak) French.

“Flemish” does not exist. The official language in Brussels and Flanders (the north of Belgium) is Dutch. Flemish is a word used to group all the dialects (related to Dutch) spoken there.

stimpy

Are you trying to say that people in Flanders speak Dutch? If so, you are totally wrong. The language they speak is NOT Dutch (Nederlands).

People in Flanders can mostly speak and understand Dutch, but amongst themselves they speak Flemish, or perhaps some old dialects. In any case it isn't Dutch.

And in the Brussels that I know, very few people can speak Dutch or Flemish. They only speak Belgian French.

Koby

It’s true that local dialects of Dutch are widely used in Belgium (rather than correct Dutch). But even in the Netherlands very few people speak correct Dutch; most of them use also a dialect.

The language use in education however is Dutch, both in the Netherlands and in Flanders (and some schools in Brussels).

I don't live there anymore, but I can assure you that whenever I meet people from the Netherlands (I am Flemish) I have no problem whatsoever to communicate with them in my native language.

I don’t know your background, but if interested the Wikipedia page on “Dutch language” gives a good description of the situation. (And I propose to let this thread get back on-topic... )

claes059

Pictures of my stay: http://travel.webshots.com/album/578276124gPQuWC

Recently stayed again in one of my favourite Starwood properties, the Sheraton Brussels. A 4* hotel, in m.h.o. a 5* property!

For my birthday this summer I was upgraded to a nice suite, and we liked it. The view was not what we expected (backside), but the suite was great.
Last year I stayed on my birthday in the Sheraton Sao Paulo and before in the former Sheraton Kuala Lumpur, now a luxury collection hotel. They suprised me in both properties with upgrades a really nice chocolate brithdaycake. It was great.

We liked our stay in the Sheraton Brussels very much (again). The suite was spacious with comfy chairs and couch. It offered a large diningtable and a kitchenette, with coffee and tea maker. Two bags of coffee and two teabags.
No flatsquare tv however. My friend told me she was irritated the suite did not offer such a flatsquare tv.

The sleepingroom offered the comfy Sheraton Sweet Sleeper bed. Again no Flatsquare tv.

Bathroom was spacious but very dated, and offered the regular Sheraton bathamenities. Though I like them, I guess a suite should offer a different kind of bathamenities, like Molton Brown or Gilchrist & Soames.

We had our turndownservice, with the nice small Belgian chocolates(!) and the newspaper was delivered to the room! We did like it!

In the lounge I noticed we had a choice of wines, the French wine was new for me. I always like to try new kind of wines and I hope the lounge will continue to offer this. No healthy snacks this evening however ( carrots, cucumber, etc with delicious mustard). This evening many guests seemed to enjoy the Clublounge (as we do) since it was busy, !

Though I like the breakfast in the lounge, my friend likes the large breakfast in the restaurant, since it offers more choice. Breakfast here is always a feast.
It was busy when we had breakfast, so busy there was a line for the selfservice coffeemachine. The location of the coffeemachine next to the bread is not particular good when it is busy and you have to stand in line, since most guests want to pass by for the buffet. When it happens everytime you want to have a coffee, it becomes annoying when they keep on "bumping" to you and even the personnel who wants to refresh the buffet has to pass......
One of the machines, the small one, gives very good espresso. I like strong coffee!
Breakfastbuffet offers in general a wide range of quality products. One exception though, every time a try a waffle I find them so tasteless. The waffles you can buy in the city seem to taste much nicer.

The service is professional and with a smile in the Sheraton Brussels. I still do not understand why it is not a 5* Starwood property! Looking forward to my next stay here in the near future!

Pictures of my stay: http://travel.webshots.com/album/578276124gPQuWC

teckardt

Hello

To bring back this thread on course, let me share some of my thoughts with you about the Sheraton in Brussels...

I already stayed in many hotels in Brussels, and even more outside. I already went to the LM, the airtport and also the 4pts.

The hotel itself is located at Place Rogier, where for now several months quite some construction is taking place. But usually you won´t be bothered by building noise - at least I never could complain about that.

The only thing which bothers me foremost is the front office staff. In Brussels this is very often an issue in my oppinion. I wonder how long it sometimes takes to check-in or check-out. That is clearly something to be changed.

As PLAT you could pick up the keys for the room at the concierge - but nobody told me, so how should I know
When I went back to this hotel another time, I went straight to concierge and really just pick up keys, sign in and good to go. But the paper with the upgrade and point amenities in my folio he took out to throw away?! I wonder why they printed it in the first place... strange service anyway.

I once had a lengthy talk to the SPG ambassador, but only after insisting (!) to fill in a card about the pro and cons of the hotel. For some reason you are not offered these - I know why ;-)

Coming back to the hotel. The lobby is always quite crowded and there is - if I remember correctly - also a LINK@sheraton. Part of the hotel is sold to other companies having their offices inside. The CLUB rooms and SPG rooms are on higher floors, the Lounge being on the 25th.

The rooms are nice, clean and spacious. So leaving a good first impression. The equipment as well as the carpet is kind of outdated. Not having WLAN really bothers me a lot. Nice bed - good size.

The club lounge.... I cannot share the very positive comments from previous writers. I think it is a fair lounge, nothing great. You get some cereals, your usual juice, some ham and cheese and some side things. If you ask, you can get even a coffee speciality - otherwise you get black coffee. So nothing wrong there, but certainly nothing incredible either. The stock they have at night in the unattended lounge is very limited, so you think twice if you will steal the last Coke ... ;-)

Room service is very pricy, quality from "not up to the price tag" to mediocre, fair at best. So I certainly have learned my lessen on try to refrain from in-room dining.

The thing I really have problems with - coming back to my introduction - is the staff. Nothing really friendly, not interested in you as client, casual at best.

And before people like to tell me I don´t know what I am writing about or it is just me... I could give you easily a dozen hotels were I could say quite the opposite about staff - where people really care and greet you and try to help you etc.

So in the end it depends. If you are SPG by heart, need the points like crazy - like I do.. - then you could stay at this place. The airport hotel isn´t much better, the LM is very stylish, but the rooms were indeed quite small. The 4 points is a nice alternative.

So if you get a good pricce for the hotel, I guess there is nothing I could say "do NOT go there". If you pay already good money (200 Euro +), you should also consider other options.

This is just my thinking. Just wanted to write my thoughts, as the previous reports were a little bit too kind on the hotel - from my point of view of course.

Thanks for reading and kindest regards,

Timo

claes059

[QUOTE=teckardt;14461357]Hello


The only thing which bothers me foremost is the front office staff. In Brussels this is very often an issue in my oppinion. I wonder how long it sometimes takes to check-in or check-out. That is clearly something to be changed.

Guess I was always lucky, never had to wait more than 10 minutes. Staff is always extremely friendly and nice to me/us! Really, hope you believe me!

I once had a lengthy talk to the SPG ambassador, but only after insisting (!) to fill in a card about the pro and cons of the hotel. For some reason you are not offered these - I know why ;-)

What is a SPG ambassador?

The thing I really have problems with - coming back to my introduction - is the staff. Nothing really friendly, not interested in you as client, casual at best. I am very sorry you have these experience. But I really do not have these experiences. I hoped you will get better staff experiences.


This is just my thinking. Just wanted to write my thoughts, as the previous reports were a little bit too kind on the hotel - from my point of view of course. Well every guest has its own experiences! Perhaps you could write to the management of the hotel or, SPG?

SLF

agreed - i arrived, waited at main desk, they messed around trying to process me then called over concierge where my key was waiting.

Three nights later I was back, i went straight to concierge who said "no keys here" so went to main desk. Very confused!

geilux

Exact same story happened to me 2 months ago:
As a plat, front office sent me to the concierge who then sent me back to the front office...

Strange and not very professional

uxb

So I am here at the Sheraton Bruxelles. Starting to wish I had stayed at the LM Bruxelles. I booked a standard room on C+P and was "upgraded" to a Club Room, which is just a big room with rundown furniture. I enquired about the local gift. Was told that there are already chocolates in my room, so I picked a wine. Didn't see any chocolates. No WiFi here. Apparently there is a charge for the breakfast?? Is this true? Also, the concierge is the worst. I tried to get directions from Zaventem to the hotel using public transit, and they couldn't handle the question, so they hung up after making me wait 10 minutes. Nice.

If I return to Bruxelles, then I won't stay here.

stimpy

No, not true. Breakfast is free in the Club for Plats and people who pay for Club. The Sheraton isn't as good as the LM, but its always much cheaper.

GuysInCT

This is also not correct, at least as of my last visit in September. Free wifi for plats.

geilux

In the lobby, you get the Wifi, not in the rooms....

uxb

I received a sheet upon check-in that stated: "The Club Lounge Breakfast is at 26.50 euros." The same sheet mentions what is complimentary... mainly "soft drinks and cake" and at Happy Hour the "hors d'oeuvres and alcoholic drinks."

Wireless access is in the lobby and not the rooms. It's wired in the rooms, but that connexion sucks even if it is the best possible speed.

Bottom line for this stay: Worst Concierge for a hotel. Hands down. I couldn't get the printers in the lobby to work. They send me over to the concierge who is having me climb over his desk to use his keyboard. Don't even get me started on how the keyboards in the lounge are so difficult to use whilst the keyboards the staff uses are QWERTY. It's just like staying at the Hilton in Paris... miserable.