Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Brussels ***

Stayed: June 2016

I'd stayed in a
Radisson Blu in Stockholm two years back and was very impressed by that hotel. Subsequently, my expectations for this Radisson were high. They weren't met, unfortunately.

The hotel is within walking distance of Central Station (if your mapping application can figure out which way you're pointed, otherwise you'll take a detour) and within several nice (and very touristy) locations in the city. It has a huge atrium and three "outside" elevators that take you to your level. My rate included breakfast and this was a real treat, though I had to wait for coffee for way too long.

The room showed its age in places, especially the bathroom. The bathroom door had severe scuffs on it where the paint was gone, though I have no idea what it might have hit against. I found the shower to be a bit confusing but usable, once you realize that you have three valves, one for the handheld shower, one for the overhead shower and one for the tub faucet.

I found it very annoying that you have no window to open, especially because the bathroom had a distinctive chemical smell to it and the AC smelled odd as well. It would have been nice to be able to control room ventilation by just opening a window, but there you are.

Also odd was that even though I'd changed my reservation a day after I had made it (two months agol!), with a confirmation having been sent by the reservation system, the local system still had me registered for the extra day. It got straightened out relatively quickly, but still - odd.

I was there for a conference, and while the staff at breakfast were so-so friendly, the people taking care of the conference guests did a really good job. Very annoying and completely unreasonable was housekeeping that went through the hallway just before 7:45, knocking on seemingly every door.

All in all I expect more from a Radisson Blu at the pricepoint it is at.

So here are my +/o/- points:

+ located close to central station and some nice (though very touristy) bits of the city
+ large bed, comfortable enough (though not amazing)
+ large room
+ excellent breakfast with everything you'll want plus made-to-order eggs and omlets
+ multiple power outlets at desk
+ relatively little noise from the outside or hallway, despite trash collection right below in the morning

o unspectacular bathroom with odd shower fixtures

- locked windows
- odd, chemical smell in bathroom
- air from AC didn't seem fresh
- housekeeping waking up entire hallway at 7:40h
- seemingly no stairway to take, annoying when you only have one floor to go; not even sure where the fire stairs were

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