Comfort Art Hotel Siru

For some reason, I booked a week's holiday to Brussels. On my own. It should be stated straight away that I didn't have a great holiday, but I'll try not to let that influence my views of the hotel itself. The Comfort Hotel Art Siru (or the Siru as I'll refer to it from now on) is a strange beast. A few years ago, around 130 contemporary Belgian artists were commissioned to decorate each of the 101 rooms, to create the world's first 'Art Hotel'. Every room is decorated with unique and original paintings or sculptures, and it really is a lovely idea. The bizarre thing is that you'd expect this kind of innovation in some kind of high-end resort hotel. ...

I stayed at the Comfort Art Hotel Siru in Brussels in June last year. I had gone to Belgium because I had won a competition to enjoy a private rehearsal concert with my all time favourite band. The prize didn't include accommodation, however, and because it was short notice and I was on a tight budget, I jumped at the first hotel I was offered. I booked through Lastminute.com and this was one of the cheapest rate hotels available - I believe it was around £50 a night. The site said the location was brilliant, right in the centre of the the city and also that the quirky style of the hotel would be enchanting. The hotel rooms are decorated by Belgium artists and ...

Well, what an unpleasant little hotel. I had often wondered about staying there, because as well as being conveniently located in the cente of town on Place Rogier (ideal for the metro, and 5 minutes from Gare du Nord), it uniquely sells itself as an “Art Hotel”. But I won’t be going back. The idea of this “Art Hotel” is that every corridor and every room is “designed” by a modern artist. I think this is a charming idea, well above the whitewashed walls and cheap posters of most budget hotels. And I wondered how a small inexpensive hotel (74.37 euros per night in early 2002) could afford artworks in all its corridors ...