Holiday Inn Leuven, Leuven

...couple of days of our holiday in Germany?
Easy - Leuven.

Yes, I know it's in Belgium. But we were traveling home via Brussels, so it's not as strange a choice as at first seems. No, really.

We booked the HOLIDAY INN GARDEN COURT for our last couple of days - handy for the airport, and, let's face it, it would be nice to get my hands on some Belgian beer after enduring all that German stuff! *

...
...We booked this on the Holiday Inn website and managed to score a deal. We paid 75 euros room only per night (a good price in Belgium). To get this price, we had to pay the full price at time of booking and this was non-refundable. Normal prices are 135-200 euros.

In conclusion, I can't say I was mightily impressed with this hotel. It's not so much that there was anything wrong with it - someone's got to be at the back looking out ... more

Where to spend the last couple of days of our holiday in Germany?
Easy - Leuven.

Yes, I know it's in Belgium. But we were traveling home via Brussels, so it's not as strange a choice as at first seems. No, really.

We booked the HOLIDAY INN GARDEN COURT for our last couple of days - handy for the airport, and, let's face it, it would be nice to get my hands on some Belgian beer after enduring all that German stuff! *

The hotel should be easy to find. After all, it's only a matter of turning down Tiensestraat from the inner ring road and there it is - 100-150m from the Grote Markt. What they didn't tell us though was that Tiensestraat is a one-way street, and part of it was closed due to roadworks, and another part was closed due to a fun-fair, and to access the hotel meant driving all the way around the ring road and then the wrong way up the one-way street. Sheesh.
It's easy to spot though. It resembles a sore thumb somewhat - a modern, six-storey dutch barn sort of affair jostling amongst the traditional, medieval Flemish architecture.

Two hours later, thoroughly miffed, we parked the car on the pedestrian area in front of the hotel and ventured into the reception. Thankfully, check-in was a breeze (we'd pre-booked and pre-paid, which helped) and after a couple of minutes I was able to move the car to the underground car park before a tow truck moved it for me.

The reception area was modern and minimalist with a bar area to one side of the desk which was well catered for in the leather sofa department and had the largest collection of newspapers I've seen since...um, the last time I was in a newsagents (earlier that day). Up a few steps on the other side of the desk was a small snack bar-cum-breakfast room. The restaurant was towards the back of the building.

Also at the back of the hotel was our room...one floor up. One floor up from the restaurant too. More importantly, one floor directly above the kitchen with its attendant smells and sounds.

The corridors were wide and spacious, not to mention brightly-lit - I hate gloomy corridors, gives me the creeps. Piped music filled the air and the carpets were deep and plush. So far, so good.
Arriving at our room, we were somewhat peturbed to hear the TV blaring merrily away. Surely they hadn't given us the wrong key? Even worse, double-booked? Perhaps we had arrived at the wrong room?
No such luck.

A passing maid soon solved the problem for us. Apparently they leave the TV on with a welcome message for the incoming guestslike many hotels do, though why the thing had to be on full volume is anybody's guess.

So. Into the room.
It was a decent-sized room, with two double beds which were a little on the soft side for Mrs P's liking - she prefers it hard (so I've been told), but they were comfortable enough. The usual dresser/desk was home to the TV (around 40 multi-lingual channels as well as pay TV), and more drawers than we could fill. We also had a rather dated wardrobe and an occasional table with two chairs. The bedside, work and standard lamps were bright enough, but were plug-ugly and resembled ice-cream cones!

On the plus side, the window was large. Unfortunately, our view consisted of the roof of the kitchen, A/C and ventilation units, the fire escape and a breeze-block wall. Good curtains though - they shut out the light completely, not to mention the scenic view.

The furniture was of a beech veneer...or more accurately, formica - very sticky...no, not sticky. Tacky!
Of course, this meant it blended well with the decor which consisted of various shades of beige - walls, carpets. curtains and bedspread. Who'd have thought there were so many shades of bland? Oh for a splash of grey to liven it up. Not even a single picture on the walls. It was all very gloomy and depressing.

It was spotlessly clean though, and the room had a coffee-maker, trouser press and modem connection. No mini-bar or A/C, but it wasn't particularly warm so we weren't overly concerned, and there was an ice maker and vending machine along the corridor.

The bathroom was very large, completely tiled and neat and clean with the exception of some flaking paint on the ceiling. There was a big, 3-sided mirror around the vanity area which was well-lit, and we had an excellent shower - scalding water and a Niagra-like flow. We also had a tub. No fancy toiletries though - just bog-standard (pun intended) soap and shampoo dispensers although the towels were big, soft and fluffy and there was a hair-drier.

As for amenities, I've already mentioned the bar and restaurant, neither of which we used, and there was a fitness room too. I didn't even look for that.

We booked this on the Holiday Inn website and managed to score a deal. We paid 75 euros room only per night (a good price in Belgium). To get this price, we had to pay the full price at time of booking and this was non-refundable. Normal prices are 135-200 euros.

In conclusion, I can't say I was mightily impressed with this hotel. It's not so much that there was anything wrong with it - someone's got to be at the back looking out on...well, nothing really. The room was very clean and equipped with just about everything we needed/wanted, and it couldn't have been better placed for the town centre. The trouble was the decor was just so depressingly dull and boringly bland. Who decorated this place? A one-eyed, colour-blind chimp wearing a blindfold...at night? Jeezo.

Would I stay here again? - Sure. Right after the re-decorations.

* German beer is wunderbar!

©proxam2005 

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