I had a brief trip to Brussels, so I needed somewhere to stay for the night; I used the Holiday Inn, as I am a member of the Priority Club (I get points towards free nights) So this op is really about a quick one night stay – although I have stayed here before, so will add a bit more detail than my one night.
** Booking **
Really easy, I only found out I was driving to Brussels the day I was due to go, so I just logged onto www.priorityclub.com this then took me to the secure booking site. I just typed in where I wanted to stay, it gave me a list of Holiday Inn hotels nearby, and I choose one. You can then select the level of room, or if you book in advance, you can get some quite good deals.
** Getting there **
I had to pick something up from Brussels airport, and it was too heavy to carry, so I had to drive (the French side of the channel tunnel to the hotel in Brussels in 1hr 20 mins!! It is about 195 km from the tunnel. Does the 130 limit mean Kph or mph ?)
The hotel is situated in the business district of Diagem, and easily accessible from the Brussels ring road, it is about 5km from the Airport, and they have a courtesy bus which picks up from the airport, and takes you to the airport a journey time of no more than 25 minutes allowing for traffic.
Again as I booked through Priority club, I printed a map and directions how to get there. I found these directions to be exact, with no errors
** Going in **
Once you walk through the rotating doors, you see a massive reception lobby, to the right is a seating area, where you can sit and have informal meeting, this area is carpeted, the main area has a marble type floor.
There are some stairs which take you up to the Restaurant.
To the left is the bar area (more of this later)
Straight in front of you is the reception desk, they had 4 receptionists on duty when I checked in, they seemed to be very efficient, they also said that I had a package waiting for me, so they are really on the ball. They also authorised my car park card, so I could just drive out They all spoke perfect English, which was good as I don’t speak Belgium!! As I am a platinum member of the Priority Club, they upgraded my room to an “executive” room, no prompting, they just did it.
There are TV screens near reception, relaying the latest flight information from the airport.
The hotel has a number of meeting rooms, which are situated at various locations, there is a board in reception displaying who is in which room. To the left of the reception desk is a massive function room, which I have never seen used.
Also in the reception area is a stand selling Belgium chocolates, so if you have room, you can take a box home! I bought a box for 15 Euros – it had about 30 chocolates in it
** Rooms **
The fact that I was a last minute booking, meant that I couldn’t get too much of a discount, so my room cost me 233 Euros (The exchange rate was about 1.4 to the Pound)
To get to the rooms, the lift are to the right of reception, they are some of the fastest lifts I have been in! There are 7 floors to this hotel
The hotel is very large; each corridor is about 250m long, with rooms on either side.
Each floor has an ice machine, I never used it, but I assume it works!
To get into the room, you are given an electronic key card. The first thing you notice about the room is the size. The bathroom was to the right as I walked in, it was very large with marble type flooring, a good size sink, bath/shower and loo. There were plenty of towels available, and the whole place was clinically clean. There was also a good supply of soap and shampoo.
There is a cupboard with hanging space, and shelves for clothing.
My room had 2 armchairs in it, there were also a number of magazines laid out, such as Time (they were all in English)
The bed, well you could have fitted 4 people on it (that would have been fun!! ) It was really comfortable, there were plenty of sheets and pillow available to use as required.
They left a box of Belgian chocolates on the pillow too, that was a really nice touch.
There was a mini bar, but I never use them in hotels, so I don’t even know what was in it.
The room had a direct dial telephone, I noticed it was 2.85 Euros a minute to phone the UK.
There was a very big TV, which had about 40 channels – The standard CNN, and BBC World, then my favourite (as I mentioned in another HI op I did) the local TV channels – I love local TV!! They had the standard pay to view channels, which you could get blocked if you wanted to. Again I don’t use them, so never really pay much attention to the price.
I had a window overlooking the car park, but as I was on the 4th floor, I had pretty good views beyond.
** Facilities **
The hotel has a really good health club/fitness centre – I didn’t use it this visit, but I have certainly used it in the past. There is a gym, which has the usual CV type machines, and some free weights. There is a swimming pool, which is about 20m long, and 2m deep. There is the sauna, and a steam room. When you sign in to the centre you are given a towel. The changing rooms all have lockers (I can only vouch for the men’s!!)
In the swimming pool area there are loungers for you to chill out on, there is also a bar where you can buy health drinks.
I would say it is one of the best hotel fitness centres I have been in. It is open between 06:30 through to 22:30
** Restaurant **
Breakfast is served from 06:30 through to 10:30, if you have to leave the hotel before 5am, they serve tea/coffee and biscuits in the reception area.
Breakfast is served in the same restaurant as the evening meals _ I didn’t eat in here at night, so cannot comment of the food.
The breakfast though is a very lavish affair, it is all laid out in big serving areas, there is fresh fruit, cereal, cooked, they bring tea or coffee to your table Breakfast will cost you 20 Euros
** Bar **
Well I couldn’t go to Belgium and not try the beer could I! Unfortunately for me I met up with some people in the bar and it turned out to be a bit of a session! And well you know how it is – the memory got sort of distorted.
I had some Leffe Bruin, which is a very strong dark beer – 6.4%, they also give you a big dish of rice crackers/peanuts
They were playing some background music in the bar – Mix Masters – In the mix! It sounded good to me
The bar have a range of bar food, such as burgers, pizza and things like that – I did make a note of how much each thing was, but I’m b******* if I can read my writing after that session! Suffice to say if was good food, and the price was reasonable for an Airport Hotel.
CNN was on in the background, apart from that it was a good pub atmosphere
** Car Parking **
The hotel has a very large car park, but they charge 8 Euro a day for parking – which around an airport isn’t too bad. The only problem is negotiating the barriers – you have to get your ticket, and in a British car it means you have to get it from the passenger window!
** Getting out **
The last time I stayed here I wanted to go to Brussels centre, the best way I found was to get the courtesy bus to the airport, and then take the train, I found it really easy, and much, much cheaper than a taxi would ever be. Coming back the courtesy bus has published times when it picks up, so you just need to plan your day or night out accordingly. This bus service is free.
** Checking out **
I could have checked out at breakfast, as this is service the Holiday Inn offer, but I needed to speak to reception about getting some direction. There were 4 people in the queue for checking out, they were dealt with extremely quickly. My turn came, and I paid. I needed directions to a cargo area on the airport, they found a map for me, and highlighted the best route to get there (it was spot on ) My bill was good, with no errors, which is always nice!
** Address **
Holiday Inn Brussels Airport Holidaystraat 7 DIEGEM 1831 Belgium
Well thanks for reading this, and if you have to go to Brussels, then this is certainly a place to consider staying.
Larry
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