Klooster Hotel, Leuven

The Klooster Hotel is a stylish, peaceful upmarket hotel in the heart of the old city centre of the University town of Leuven, filling a needed role in a town which was lacking such a venue for business travellers and the discerning visitor. The hotel is part of the Martin's Hotel group, which runs premier establishments in other locations close to Brussels, such as Genval and Waterloo, as well as in Brugge (Bruges).

HOW I FOUND THIS ...
.../> CONTACT DETAILS
Klooster Hotel
Predikherenstraat 22
B - 3000 Leuven
Belgium
Tel +32 (0)16 21 31 41
Fax +32 (0)16 22 31 00
Email: kh@martins-hotels.com

There are good pictures on both the hotel's website http://www.hetklooster.com/html/en/index.htm and also http://www.belgiumview.com/belgiumview/tl1/view0000724.php4  ... more

The Klooster Hotel is a stylish, peaceful upmarket hotel in the heart of the old city centre of the University town of Leuven, filling a needed role in a town which was lacking such a venue for business travellers and the discerning visitor. The hotel is part of the Martin's Hotel group, which runs premier establishments in other locations close to Brussels, such as Genval and Waterloo, as well as in Brugge (Bruges).

HOW I FOUND THIS HOTEL
Before I describe the hotel itself, allow me to explain how I found this hotel. All three of our children were born in Leuven. The last one had to be induced at 11 days overdue (he was over 5kg when he was born), and while my wife was having check ups, she sent me off to buy something in the centre of town. Walking along the main road, I happened to glance down a narrow cobbled side-street, at the end of which was a whitewashed archway. I went in for a look around, and a very helpful young lady showed me a couple of rooms, the breakfast room, the garden and the lobby and gave me the leaflets. We were looking for somewhere for my parents to stay when they visited us, and this looked ideal.

HISTORY OF THE HOTEL
The hotel is a former convent near the heart of the old university city of Leuven (I did a review of Leuven a while back, which I shall revise). It is surrounded by university buildings, five minutes walk from the botanical gardens in one direction, and just over the River Dijle from the main civic squares, the Oude Markt and the Grote Markt with the Town Hall and the Cathedral. The building was also the home of Guy Morillon, secretary of Charles V and Prince of Holland (1516 – 1555), and resembles some of the buildings you find in the older parts of Oxbridge colleges, such as the old library of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

FACTS AND FACILITIES
The hotel is rated 4-star, which is due more to a rather narrow range of facilities than to any lack of comfort and taste in the decor. The upside is that you are not being charged for a gym, swimming pool or sauna you never make use of.

There are 40 rooms, with four different price ranges from140 -330 euros for a room The hotel describes the grades of room as cosy, charming, great and exceptional, with jacuzzis, fireplaces and a salon included in successive categories. There are special rates available 'with seminar packages, in low season, short breaks, corporate rate and long stay'.

The rooms that I saw all seemed to be different, reflecting that this is an old, historic building which has been modernised. The colours are natural - darkish woods and shades of off-whites, with lots of up lighting rather than overhead. The bathrooms are modern, with porcelain basins and chrome fittings in modern minimalist style. There are lots of bottles of shower gel, lotions etc, as well as the usual shower cap, slippers and bath robe. The rooms all have minibars, air conditioning and safes. There is a large TV set, with the offerings of local the Belgian cable company, which runs to about 40 channels, including BBC1 and BBC2. There is also pay-TV for fims.

There is not a restaurant as such. There is a breakfast room, and you can order room service, but this food is provided from outside. The breakfast buffet is standard Belgian fare - pains au chocolat, croissants and Danish pastries; breads, rolls and toast; various types of cheese and ham; smoked salmon; bacon, sausages (pretty ropey by full English breakfast standards) and scrambled eggs; yoghurts; fruit juice and tea, coffee and hot chocolate. The breakfast room overlooks the garden, and has a gas fire and a decor of teak wood furniture and off-white paint, with a variety of abstract paintings.

There is a sumptuous lounge by reception, where you can have hot and cold drinks, alcoholic and soft, while relaxing in the type of comfortable sofas and armchairs that you would expect to find in a good club. There is also a fire, a plasma screen TV and a laptop with broadband for the use of patrons. Off this lounge, there are a small number of meeting rooms which can be hired.

One of the delights of this hotel is the garden out the back. Although you see the tall tower of the St Pieter hospital, this is a real oasis of calm. A large green lawn with a magnolia(?) tree runs from the back of reception, alongside the breakfast room and according to the hotel blurb covers 1500 sq m. There is a small car park at the back beyond the garden, which is operated by a number code from the inside, but to gain access you have to buzz through to reception by an intercom.

Walking up the staircase to the rooms (there are lifts as well), you can see the original brickwork from the old building, as well as some small stained glass windows.

SERVICE AND OVERALL IMPRESSION
The friendliness and helpfulness of the staff every time my parents have stayed there has been exceptional. Language is not an issue - everyone speaks excellent English as well as Flemish (I've not heard anyone try French as this is in the heart of Flanders, but I'm sure the staff would speak excellent French if need be, as practically all Flemish people do, in my experience). Whenever we wanted to have breakfast at the hotel, bringing my children to see their grandparents, the hotel have been very accommodating, arranging for us to have a large table and making the children feel very welcome.

The usual clientele seems to be professional - there seem to be a lot of conferences, and businessmen staying here for meetings in the university or related hi-tech industries. At weekends, the cars in the car park are expensive as well.

The only downside we have seen is that if everyone comes down for breakfast at the same time, there could be a shortage of tables. But that is the only criticism I have so far.

My parents have enjoyed their stays here, and now this is where they always stay. Its location makes it an ideal base for walking round this beautiful old town, and transport connections are good. The hotel prides itself on providing an oasis of calm, and it is very tranquil. Overall, I would say the hotel is understated, efficient, comfortable, modern in a traditional setting and the best place to stay in this city. The absence of a restaurant is no handicap as there is any number of good, reasonably priced restaurants within walking distance. You could do a lot worse than make this your base for a stay here.

====================
Update 24 July 07
My parents, and my brother and sister-in-law have just stayed at the hotel. My brother's room was on the ground floor, and had a 4-poster bed, and a "wet room" for the bathroom, ie no bath, just a shower over tiled floors. The roof was much higher than other rooms and had oak beams as well. For this, for 2 people, they were charged €135 bed and breakfast in total.

We were also told that there is a family room, consisting of two bedrooms on the third floor, described to us by the receptionist as "in the Cinderella Tower". The rate for this was €185/night at weekends, €245 Mon-Thurs, which is for 4 people, and includes breakfast.

When we wanted to have a big family breakfast of 11 people (5 children), even though only 4 were staying, the hotel reserved a table, and didn't charge for the children under 12. They made every effort to make us feel welcome and the service in the breakfast room and reception was uniformly excellent. Definitely still to be recommended, if anything more highly than before.

CONTACT DETAILS
Klooster Hotel
Predikherenstraat 22
B - 3000 Leuven
Belgium
Tel +32 (0)16 21 31 41
Fax +32 (0)16 22 31 00
Email: kh@martins-hotels.com

There are good pictures on both the hotel's website http://www.hetklooster.com/html/en/index.htm and also http://www.belgiumview.com/belgiumview/tl1/view0000724.php4 

...less