Martin's Brugge — Hotel in Bruges

My key take always: Great location. Room security concerns. Poor customer service with evening staff. Overall decent accommodations, read reviews and know what you’re getting into.

Full Review: This hotel is in a fantastic location, and Brugge itself was wonderful. The convenience of being able to stop into the hotel throughout the day really enhanced our trip. We had a romantic getaway and would highly recommend spending several days in Brugge. The mornings and evenings, when the crowds thin out, are magical. Getting up in the morning when things start to open to get coffees at izys and a waffle was an incredible start to the day. We’ll definitely be back to Brugge itself.

At first, I thought we’d happily stay here again. I was ready to give Martin’s Brugge a rave review for its location alone, but unfortunately our experience with room security and customer service on the evening shift left a lasting negative impression.

One evening, while we were in our room with the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, housekeeping scanned in unannounced around 6 p.m. (an odd time for cleaning). I was about to shower and my partner was napping. The deadbolt is the only lock, and it did not prevent entry since it was overridden by the housekeeping card. There is no latch bar, peep hole, or other safety features. We had to rush to stop housekeeping in the doorway. We were really alarmed that someone could so easily enter our room.

I went to the front desk to clarify whether the lock was faulty, if we misunderstood the “Do Not Disturb” policy, or if this was considered normal practice. I raised it as a genuine safety and privacy concern. Unfortunately, instead of reassurance or an apology, the staff simply phoned housekeeping and told me it “never happened.”

Several employees dismissed me. One of the staff waved me off mid conversation. I wasn’t asking for compensation, just reassurance that our room was secure and our privacy is respected. A simple acknowledgment such as, “We’re sorry this happened, we’ll look into it” would have been enough. Instead, I was left feeling unwelcome, unsafe and honestly confused by their reaction. It felt like I was being called a liar and that someone entering our room unwanted was not a big deal. I’ve never had such an experience with someone working in customer service. However, the morning staff upon checkout were very gracious, they took this down as a note to address later, and even offered us chocolates to accommodate for this experience. I was quite satisfied with how they handled it. The room security and privacy issue is really the only thing important to note.

It’s a shame, because otherwise this could have been a wonderful and relaxing stay.

Additional: I see some reviews saying the hotel is not in good shape or the rooms were misrepresented. I feel the rooms are slightly different than advertised but still a great space, comfortable if you have your expectations in line with room size. Had everything we needed and the hotel had a...

This was booked via Eurostar, as part of a package, and I was travelling with my family for 3 nights. |This involved a room change (see below). ||Good points:||Amazing location, right behind the tower in the square. ||Very very easy access to shops/bars/restaurants etc. ||Good price. ||Clean (although some carpets need updating). ||Good luggage storage, with lockable cabinets for back packs etc. ||Very friendly and helpful staff (they seem multi-lingual if that is important to you). ||Reasonable breakfast (cooked and cold) with a good pancake making machine-bear in mind this hotel is only 3 stars. The breakfast is buffet style. ||Useful mini shop near reception where you can pay to get snacks. ||A good supermarket about 4 minutes walk from the hotel (turn left when leaving the hotel). ||Nice bar area in the hotel. ||Good Starbucks machine near reception where you can pay for a coffee (see bad point later). ||About a 15 minute walk from the main station (please consider that pulling suitcases over the endless cobbled Bruges streets is not easy). ||A short train ride to a nice beach with seals at Oostende. ||Has a room safe.||USB-A sockets by the plug in case you forget an adapter (note not USB C). ||Equivalent to a Premier Inn in the UK (in terms of decor and service). ||Bad points:||No tea or coffee facilities in the room (you have to buy drinks near reception from a Starbucks machine). ||Almost no storage in the room (so you have to live out of a suitcase, which I guess is fine for a short trip). ||Our first room (801) was a long way from reception, in what appeared to be an extension to the building. This involved going up and down many small flights of stairs. |It was also in the basement, with little natural light, and a strange smell. |Bizarrely the toilet was also completely separate to the shower room (in fact on the other-side of the main bedroom) and had no fawcett/sink in it, just literally a toilet, and also no window or other apparent means of ventilation. |My family found this unhygienic, and would be against UK building codes (can’t comment on the EU), and is certainly something I have not seen anywhere else in the developed world. |For this reason, and being in the basement, we moved after the first night to room 223, which was significantly better, and in the main building. |We really enjoyed room 223, especially the bunk beds for the kids. |My advice to families would be to book the family rooms with the bunk beds, not the ones with two double beds, as I suspect the two double bed ones are all like room 801. ||Overall I would recommend this hotel for a short break, but please see the point about the room...

SCAM at Hotel Checkout – Beware of their sneaky 6% overcharge When checking in at Martin’s Brugge. I used apple pay as my payment method. After the wireless transaction took place, the receptionist without saying a single word gestured to the payment terminal. The terminal displayed something like ‘language’ & ‘UK,EU’. Caught in their trap and assuming this must be for some sort of receipt I pressed UK (as I am a UK citizen). My Banking App sent an instant notification of payment and I noticed this seemed more than what I was expecting. I then knew exactly what had just occurred. They had used the DCC (dynamic currency conversion) payment system. Google it, as it is widely known as a payment Scam that favours the retailor & payment provider. They can basically set a mark-up as they so please. In this hotels case I was overcharged by 6% from my expected booking price. I immediately requested a refund and the transaction re processed not using DCC, this was refused. The MasterCard Code of Conduct states that the merchant has to advise you that they are using the DCC payment system. They did not. This system is widely used by unscrupulous restaurants in tourist hotspots. They ask you what currency you wished to be charged in ‘suggesting’ that you opt for your home currency as they cannot guarantee the exchange rate. This then enables the system to kick in and charge what the retailor & payment provider have pre agreed. There will never ever anywhere on planet earth be a rate that favours the customer. A recent EU report suggest you will likely be overpaying anywhere between 3 & 12%. As someone that travels frequently throughout Europe I have never seen this method being used in a Hotel as a payment system. So Watch out and don’t fall into their trap. Always, Always select the currency of the country you are currently in & NOT your home country currency. If you found this review useful then please comment and like so as it remains high on the comments list, letting other Travellers know to be vigilant. Personally I advise you just avoid this Hotel as why would you want to stay somewhere where their clearly set out to...