Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come throu...
Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come through with a review at long last. :)
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Following on from my review on the Hotel Eden in Ghent, I thought I would write about the hotel we stayed in on our previous visit to Belgium. On this occasion we stayed in the Hotel Admiral in Ostende ~ quite a different hotel to the Eden in many ways…but, was it better or worse? Read on…..
Ostende can be found in the West Flanders region of Belgium, not far from Bruges, and is a bustling little seaside resort. It is a popular holiday destination and also makes an excellent base for exploring Belgium ~ it has a good train station and provides a tram link to neighbouring towns and villages.
The Admiral Hotel is located on Langestraat; a busy area of Ostende. It has a number of bars, shops and other hotels nearby and is only 100 metres from the main promenade (Albert Promenade) and sea front. Its major selling point for was that it is just around the corner from the Ostende Beerhouse ('t Ostens Bierhuus) and the Little Bottle Bar (Café Botteltje)! It is about a twenty minute walk from the train and tram stations ~ very convenient and an easy walk because you can stroll along the sea front looking at the boats and seafood stalls as you go. The hotel website gives you a route to the hotel and is worth a look because it also gives you a pretty good map of the town too.
~~~WHAT DID WE PAY?
We booked our trip using a local coach tour company. It cost us £139 each for a four day trip ~ this included three nights accommodation,
breakfast, evening meal and coach transport (via the channel tunnel). This does seem to be how most people end up at the Admiral ~ it is VERY popular with coach companies and the majority of rooms seem to be used by tours.
If you want to contact the hotel direct there is a website (http://www.hoteladmiral.be/index_uk.htm), where you can either email or telephone them for further details. The prices vary between high and low season and are as follows (prices are from their website):
HIGH SEASON & WEEKENDS - single room €44.00, double €61.00, triple €78.00 and quadruple €90.00. LOW SEASON & MID-WEEK - single room €39.00, double €54.00, triple €72.00 and quadruple €80.00. These prices are for bed and continental breakfast. A supplement applies of €10.00 per person for the evening meal.
~~~OUTSIDE & INSIDE.
The hotel is nestled in between a row of shops and other buildings. It really doesn't look too sparkling from the outside ~ a bit like a grey office block with a wooden bar to one side of the ground floor. Once inside (through the main doors that are accessed directly from the road) you will enter the reception area. This consists of a reception desk (open 24 hours) some seating, a door to the bar and dining area and two lifts. As well as the entrance level the hotel is made up of 6 floors and 80 bedrooms. The hotel does seem popular with slightly older guests and the lifts were big enough to take a wheelchair. The bar and dining room were also on one level and easily accessible for the less mobile.
~~~CHECKING IN & OUT.
We arrived all together on a full size coach so check in took a little time. There were two friendly people on the reception desk and (because we were part of a tour) the check in was painless and quick ~ our rooms had all been allocated and the coach driver had already given our details as part of the group booking. Check out again was painless. We just handed in our keys to the reception and left! We just had breakfast, packed and had to be out of our rooms by 11am.
~~~THE ROOMS.
The theme of the Admiral (unsurprisingly) is nautical. It is all a bit dated, but clean tidy and functional! The bar, called The Admiral's Cabin, is advertised as a "British Pub" and has a small selection of Belgian beers, entertainment, comfortable seating and nautical themed decoration. The bar leads to the dining area ~ in fact the fruit juice at breakfast is laid out on the edge of the bar. This is quite a large size and is completely non-smoking.
Our bedroom was pretty much typical of all the double rooms in the hotel (we had a little peek at some of the three and four people rooms and they were all much of a muchness, just slightly larger). The bedrooms all have a bathroom with toilet and shower, but no hairdryers! Again the rooms and their fixtures and fittings are a little on the dated side and are perhaps ready for a re-vamp. I was happy to stay there for a couple of nights but I wouldn't really have wanted to stay for
The bathroom isn't large but is plenty big enough and was very clean. Our bedroom was sparsely furnished, painted white and had a mirror, bed, wooden dressing table unit and built in wardrobe. The whole thing reminded me a little of a cabin on a ship ~ perhaps intentionally fitting in with the whole nautical theme! Extras wise, the rooms all have a television with satellite channels and they also have a telephone.
~~~MEALS.
To be honest, even though we were booked in for bed, breakfast and an evening meal, we only had our breakfast. We just used the hotel as a base and found it was more convenient for us to eat out and stay out for the evening. This meant we didn't have to hurry back from Bruges or Ghent and could please our self when we returned. From what other people on the coach told us we didn't miss much!
Main meals were aimed very much at the English tourist and, at the risk of being stereotypical, were a big hit with the older clientele who seemed to make up most of the guests. While we were enjoying Flemish Stew, Waterzooi (a traditional Flemish soup), mussels and frites and mayonnaise the guests at the Admiral were tucking into Fish and Chips, steak and kidney pie and other standard English fayre. The portions were ok, but I was glad we had opted out of the hotel food and struck off on our own.
Breakfast was similarly disappointing. The fruit juice was obviously more water than juice and there wasn't much of a selection. What we had was alright, but there just didn't seem to be choice or effort gone into picking it. There was cereal (but just some unappealing fruitless muesli or cornflakes), toast, bread rolls, one type of cold meat, one type of cheese slice and a few hard boiled eggs. A cooked breakfast was available for a supplement, but nobody seemed inclined to try.
~~~OTHER FACILITIES.
As this is a two star hotel there are very few additional features. The reception IS open for twenty four hours and offers a bureau de change, but apart from that there isn't much else.
~~~ATMOSPHERE.
The Admiral is a very friendly and has a happy if slightly dated feel to it. The bar was reasonably busy, but not traditionally Belgian ~ entertainment was a little like you would get in a small British holiday camp and consisted of Bingo, Happy Hours and club type singers. There was a good atmosphere, but not one that we were looking for. Thankfully there are cheaper and better bars nearby ~ the bars I mentioned earlier and a pretty good Jazz Club among those on offer.
The staff (especially the owner who we later learned was called Peter) were helpful and eager to please. When we said we were going out for the day and wouldn't be in for the evening meal he actually looked quite upset and asked if they had done anything to upset us. We felt a little guilty but not enough to change our plans!
~~~FINAL THOUGHTS.
I enjoyed my stay at the Admiral but I really don't think I would go there again, unless it was part of an organised tour. It is reasonably priced and a way to get to see this part of Belgium without breaking the bank. Therefore I am glad we visited here, but when we return to Ostende in October this year we have found another slightly higher rated hotel to stay in instead.
It was comfortable, clean and well worth the money we paid. It just really wasn't the place for us though and was catering more for an older audience. As a two star hotel it is a good place to stay for a couple of days, but not a place for a romantic or luxury break. It is in an ideal location for the tourist attractions, the sea front and makes an excellent base for touring the Flanders area of Belgium.
I could also see it would make an affordable place for anyone visiting the Ostende area on business ~ it is easy to get to and within easy reach of the station. Although in a good place for getting to the seafront and beach I'm not sure either if it would be the place for families, especially ones with slightly older children who need entertaining. Everything was aimed at older guests and not for children or younger adults.
So…I am recommending the Admiral, but am also drawing your attention to its down sides. It was nice and we have no real complaints, but we just weren't blown away by the décor, facilities, rooms or food. In conclusion the Admiral is adequate and not exceptional!
~~~HOTEL DETAILS.
Hotel Admiral Langestraat 72 8400 Ostende Belgium Tel 00 32 59 80 30 55 http://www.hoteladmiral.be/index_uk.htm
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exceptional by (12%):
very helpful by (88%):
