Small, inexpensive city centre hotel (Hotel Arlequin)

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Product:	Hotel Arlequin
Date:	05/06/01 (247 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: location, price, internet-friendliness

Disadvantages: basic facilities, lack of air conditioning

This cute little hotel is right in the middle of things, just “a few steps from the Grand’ Place”, as its website correctly claims. Better, it is in the “Ilôt Sacré,” the famous and hugely atmospheric restaurant centre of Brussels, with wall-to-wall catering establishments facing each other across narrow streets. Its also less than five minutes walk from De Brouckère tube station, which puts it on two of the main underground lines. This station is a couple of stops away from Gare du Midi (where the Eurostar is) and Gare du Nord (where the train to the airport is) and Gare Centrale (where trains run to… well, I don’t know).

When I say small, I mean less than ten rooms on each of eight or nine floors. The actual building is strange – the entrance is off the street, in a small shopless arcade which connects two streets. The building is in an obviously old block in the elderly part of town; but the inside has been comprehensively renovated recently (at least, some floors have; check if you want a really modern room before booking). Reception is ultra-modern and slick (walk past their cinema, and note that their live jazz bar is downstairs – curious) and is, obviously on floor “-1”. My room, last time I stayed, was on floor “0”. Aha, you think, one of those strange buildings on a hillside… but no. It is built in the centre of Brussels, which is as flat as a Belgian Waffle that has been stomped on by Tintin. Oh well.

One of the nice things about this hotel is its internet-friendliness. You can book through its web-site (www.arlequin.be), and you’ll get a 5% discount for doing so. But the web booking system is a bit crude; so do check your confirmation carefully, mine was inaccurate. A quick exchange of e-mails sorted it out without difficulty. And none of this nonsense about needing your credit card number either, unless you ask for late arrival. Ch
eck out the internet access terminal in reception too; and some of the rooms have internet access sockets. They even have a scheme for renting PCs (which I have not tried). I used the PC in reception, which was fast and fine (but WARNING: French keyboard, which is really tough to get used to if you use a UK keyboard a lot), and I plugged my laptop’s modem into the phone socket (the phone socket is a standard RJ45, which means that the small US phone-style modem plug fits without an adapter). My PC had trouble connecting at times; I still don’t know whether that was my fault or the hotel’s. Finally, if you visit the web site, do have a look at the “Photo Tours” page which shows a nifty 360-degree rotating, zoomable view of parts of the hotel, including one of the rooms (the room shown is larger than average).

The reception staff stop short of being warm and welcoming. But maybe its because this is Belgium. However, because it is Belgium, they all speak English (and probably several other languages).

Some of the rooms are a bit small, some aren’t. Some have no view at all, unless you count a brick wall about three metres away. Some rooms on higher floors must have a great view though. The facilities are simple – phone, TV with remote (and about 30 channels including two BBC), bathroom, furniture. No aircon, no minibar, no clock radio… get the idea? The bathroom, at least in renovated rooms, is nice, with marble floors and a shower (in the bath) that works really well.

This is basically a good value hotel, inexpensive for the centre of Brussels. It is often full up, so do book early. The folk who stay there come from all over the place, and include tourists and businessmen with limited expense allowances.

The hotel has no restaurant. That’s not a problem, as you trip over them when you walk out of the front door… within 50 metres to the left, you’ll fi
nd an authentic Japanese restaurant which I enjoy (Mangetsu) and a couple of others; to the right you find two pizzerias (only one of which has the added attraction of a floorshow, in the form of a small black mouse), several doner kebab places, and two Chinese/Japanese restaurants. But anyway, back in the hotel, breakfast is a treat – it is served in a conservatory-like extension on the 7th floor. Big glass windows look out on the Grand’ Place and the rooftops of central Brussels. You can choose from bacon and eggs, croissants, cereals, fruit, and oh a few other things, from the buffet; then take your choice back to your table by the window to enjoy the view, a lovely start to the day.

Summary: