Crowne Plaza Antwerp, Antwerp

...surprisingly, though boasting 4*s, the Crowne Plaza in Antwerp has a few things in common with a standard Travelodge or other similar motel chain. This is something you notice immediately on arrival, prompted by its location directly beside a motorway. The similarities continue inside too, with some of the rooms and parts of the public areas looking worse for wear despite an alleged recent refurbishment, and the hefty price tag associated with a ...
...an additional 'l' then the Crowne Plaza was keen to add the 'e' to have something else to bill you for. The hotels in this chain are not especially cheap - the standard rooms in the Antwerp one had rack rates of over 200 Euros with the business class rooms significantly more. For this money you would expect a decent standard of facilities and immaculate service, both of which were somewhat lacking in this hotel.

The rooms at the hotel ... more

Perhaps surprisingly, though boasting 4*s, the Crowne Plaza in Antwerp has a few things in common with a standard Travelodge or other similar motel chain. This is something you notice immediately on arrival, prompted by its location directly beside a motorway. The similarities continue inside too, with some of the rooms and parts of the public areas looking worse for wear despite an alleged recent refurbishment, and the hefty price tag associated with a hotel of this 'standard'. If, as Giles Coren speculated recently, Travelodges are so cheap they scrimp on an additional 'l' then the Crowne Plaza was keen to add the 'e' to have something else to bill you for. The hotels in this chain are not especially cheap - the standard rooms in the Antwerp one had rack rates of over 200 Euros with the business class rooms significantly more. For this money you would expect a decent standard of facilities and immaculate service, both of which were somewhat lacking in this hotel.

The rooms at the hotel are spread over a dozen or so floors, boasting far-stretching views which range from the car park and concrete slabs of road to one side to unidentifiable bits of greenery and old town buildings on another. Our room was on an entirely non-smoking floor and though we weren't given the option of twin or double beds, managed to cater for both through the provision of a couple of small doubles - again, like many an American motel. The rooms were small and equipped with only the bare minimum required to reach the 4* rating - phones, plural (though barely 1.5m apart so the 2nd was fairly redundant), a bizarre selection of multi-lingual TV channels, a minibar and trouser-press, a dry cleaning service and a very small table and chair, singular to complement the equally cramped writing desk. Hotel information provided was brief and yet, as we discovered later, out of date: the bus numbers listed and gym opening times provided were both incorrect.

The en-suite bathroom was clean and sufficient with a power shower over the bath and a nice array of fancy toiletries to take home as well as fixed-to-the-wall types for in-hotel use, but came with several broken hooks and hangers which has been replaced without being removed, thus leaving a rather odd pattern on one of the walls. Mirrors were provided in the bathroom and on the wardrobe doors but were not treated with anti-steam coating and so fogged up terribly during even a short shower. A hairdryer was provided but was fixed to the bathroom wall rather than being within reach of a comfy chair in the sleeping area. The in-room temperature controls had a mind of their own and, combined with the blazing sunshine and pouring rain typical of 'all 4 seasons in any one day' Belgium led to an utterly unpredictable climate.

The breakfast buffet was included in our room price but, though reasonable, could not be recommended for room-only guests being asked to shell out up to 25 Euros for it. Served for at least 4 hours per morning it included the usual European fare - rolls, cheeses and hams, cereals, yoghurts and fruits - as well as their interpretation of a British breakfast menu - bacon, eggs, sausages etc. My main complaint about the breakfast would be to do with the lay-out and staffing rather than the food itself: each morning other guests could be heard arguing with the servers over where they could sit and which table they could take, for example, and some of the food - the cheese in particular - was served strangely, left directly on the marblesque counter for you to cut from rather than being placed on a plate or chopping board. In addition the quality of the condiments was poor, with unknown brands of jam, butter and chocolate spread being used. It's a sad day for Zoës around the world when Nutella is substituted with a tasteless impostor.

The facilities in the hotel were limited for one of its supposed class: the breakfast room doubled as their only restaurant (an a la carte set up with a confused menu) and the two bars nearby had extremely limited opening hours. There was no café or coffee shop, nor a lot of comfy seating in the reception area, and due to the strange design there wasn't even a real hotel lobby. The local area information on offer was also limited with no leaflets on nearby attractions but several on excursions to the other side of the country. What surprised us greatly was their inability to provide any stamps for postcards when asked - and their equal inability to inform us that the attached petrol station could supply these. Quite how they could boast the 'postal service' listed on their website without stamps or a franking machine is an interesting one - maybe they mean it as 'posting service' instead for I'm sure if we'd entrusted them with the task they would have managed to actually send any letters or cards once, of course, we'd located the stamps. For the record, the petrol station also offers freshly baked rolls and baguettes, cheese, meats, cereal, a range of drinks, magazines (including British and American imports) and an excellent range of snacks and sweets. It was, all things considered, probably one of the highlights of our stay.

The one saving grace for the hotel was their health club complex. This included a well-equipped gym with multiple cardio and weights stations, a small pool and a relaxation area consisting of a sauna, steam room and cold bath. Use of this was free for hotel guests but the opening times were somewhat restricted, especially when compared to those displayed in the room information and on their dedicated Crowne Plaza TV channel.

The hotel is not well located for Antwerp - it's a 15 minute drive away - though there is a decent local bus service that costs 1.50 Euro per person per trip. The hotel offers a free shuttle service but only Monday to Friday, and only at set times (a few times first thing in the morning, and again at night). This is clearly a hotel geared up for business travellers which lowers its rates, and perhaps its service, to attract coach parties at weekends.

The hotel wasn't that bad, but all the little niggles together add up to a tolerable short stay only, and a recommendation to avoid it in favour of a more centrally located hotel, or one with a more appealing pricing structure: you don't get what you pay for here, and therefore I'd have preferred to opt for a cheaper hotel and lower my expectations accordingly, perhaps spending some of the money saved on the many local delicacies on offer.

http://www.crowne-plaza.be/

1 Euro is about 70p
 

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