Hilton Brussels Grand Place

Hotel is in a fantastic central location, just across from the Central train station and a five minute walk from Grand Place, restaurant row, etc. while many reviews mention noise issues from outside, my room on the backside of the hotel had absolutely none. And because it is a refurbished building, there is a great noise dampening between rooms and floors. Throughout the hotel, the air-conditioning works very well. The daily breakfast buffet was comprehensive and always well prepared. Also a special shout out to Marios, who goes over and above to address any issues encountered.

We stayed for one night as part of the final leg of our European road trip. The rooms were fairly small and dated. The bathroom had signs of mould around the shower door and ceiling. The beds were good and the AC worked very well. We had emailed in advance asking about parking and were advised that there was parking under the hotel. However we were not advised that you need to go to level -2 then get another elevator into the hotel. Due to this we ended up walking around the hotel through the train station with all our luggage. The check in was very abrupt and informal. At the end of the after sightseeing we thought we would grab a drink in the bar, however they did not have one of the drinks requested, Baileys Irish Cream. Apart from these issues the hotel has a great location within walking distance of all the main sites in Brussels. We would probably give the hotel another try if we were to visit Brussels again.

Hubby is a Hilton Diamond member so we picked this hotel over others because of the location. Good about the location is it is a 2 minute walk to the train station and a 5 minute walk into the old town city center filled with restaurants and shops. Bad is there were homeless people right outside the front doors and in the park right across from the hotel. Lobby is very pretty, room was tired and needed a refresh. We got upgraded to a Junior suite and neither of us were impressed. First the roof slopes and the only windows are in that sloped area so if you are tall you can see out of them if you go up close. There were two sets of windows, the blinds were broken on half of them. one set was maybe 3 ft behind a built in desk so pretty much impossible to reach so we didn't bother with those. Couple outlets weren't working nor was one of the bedside lamps. The bathroom was nice though. We only ate breakfast and visited the executive lounge there. Breakfast was nice, plenty of choices and everything was good. Executive lounge was ok, some small bottles of water would have been nice. Asked the front desk one day about tours and he ha no idea and told me to connect to their wifi and google it.

Plush pictures of the foyer aside, this hotel is far from great. There are too many things that fall below the line of "excellent" and as such, with a bit of attention to detail and a more sensitive approach to the realities of the modern world, it could get to the standards required. For example - they have a coffee machine in reception that they will not turn on before 7.30am! So if you are going to a meeting on the other side of town for 8am and you want a coffee, either pay 29e for breakfast (more of that later), or you have to go outside where virtually nothing is open before 8. The breakfast - 29e and it is so unspectacular, charging this should be a source of embarrassment. They open the doors at 7am (it's a business hotel - so why not earlier) and already the hot food is tepid at best. As limited a hot food selection as a 3* in Manchester. In room drinks were embarrassing. Worse than a travelodge. The TV controller had access to smart services - incl. a button for Netflix which took you to the alarm. Shower - hot water was intermittent at best and not very powerful. However the room was a decent size and bed was comfortable. Last but not least the bar! It closed at 11pm and that was that. So after a long day of meetings, and a work dinner, the thought of a nightcap at the hotel was most appealing. But no, locked up and dark in the centre of a major western capital city. I asked for a cup of water 1 evening to take a paracetomol. I was told that I could not get that as they could not guarantee the water quality! Seriously.... this is Brussels and not Baghdad. Staff were largely fine - but there was not much interaction which tested this. So sort yourself out Hilton Group. There used to be more options for Hilton customers in Brussels, but now if you want to stay loyal to the brand, these are much reduced so Im grateful there's no plans to return to Brussels anytime soon.

For our purposes, this was an excellent hotel. For our three nights, we were also upgraded and enjoyed breakfast and the executive lounge as diamond members. We even had our own Diamond Member apples. (see photo) Since we stayed during the summer, the rates were especially affordable. Our room was spacious and comfortable. The breakfast was above average, and the staff was friendly. The manager was friendly and welcoming also. We had access to the train/metro station and we walked to the old central town. It was an excellent place for a short vacation. There were also a lot of Smurfs at the hotel and nearby.