Hotel Barsey by Warwick — Hotel in Brussels

Update: After the previous review below we were contacted by the marketing team and offered a free night’s stay in a premium room. We decided to give it another try, used the voucher and stayed recently. Premium room was much better than the classic room we had previously stayed in and this time we were greeted with a complimentary bottle of wine. Room was clean and nice toiletries incl. soap provided. Reception was professional and friendly and when there was an issue regarding a faulty bath plug (didn’t work so water in the bath took several hours to drain) and no cold water (so far too hot water) in the shower there was an apology and a bottle of wine to apologise. Breakfast was much better than the last time but on the second morning they had run out of gluten free bread rolls and I was served half frozen gluten free croissants so didn’t have much to eat. We’ve had better breakfasts in other 4 start hotels so there’s room for improvement. Decor of the hotel remains elegant in its style but still in need of repair in so many places. Cracked tiles in the shower and mouldy grout in multiple areas. I will raise it from 2 stars to 3 stars but I feel that the overall standard still needs to improve to fit a 4 star category hotel. Cannot fault the staff however - 5 stars to them ☺️ We have decided we won’t stay there again as it’s just not a 4 star experience and we still had multiple issues but we were glad to have at least given it another try and that the second experience was better.

Previous review: Pros: Great location and parking on the street available across the road from the hotel. Nice decor and quiet rooms. Nice view from the bedroom. Air conditioning worked well and TV channels had English channels which was a nice surprise. Nice selection of teas but I would expect a better coffee selection/small coffee machine provided in the room for a 4 star hotel.

Cons: Room was shabby and had broken handles and stains on cushions. 1 very lumpy pillow that had clearly been washed and had become a collection of lumps - should never be provided in a 4 star hotel. Shower pressure was the worst I’ve seen in any hotel or B&B. No soap was provided to wash hands - only shower gel which is not the same. They apologised when we asked for soap and gave us extra shower gel so I had to specify again we need soap to wash hands but they could only give us antibacterial hand gel. Shampoo and body lotion was provided but no conditioner which is often needed when washing hair as a woman. Dirty glass in the bathroom. Mattress was very hard but we slept fine fortunately. No drink or snacks provided in the mini fridge and 1 tiny complementary bottle of water even though we were two guests. Breakfast was such a disappointment that we ate elsewhere the second morning despite already paying for breakfast. Selection of food was very poor: cheap frozen viennoiseries that had been heated up, dry bread bun, 2 clementines, 2 plain yoghurts and we were served without fruit salad and a selection of breads that other tables received when served and we had to specifically ask for them. Plate of sweaty cheese, 3 tiny slices of inedible chorizo and two cheap slices of ham that had sticky white substance on that looked as if had been taken off someone else’s plate. No apology given when checking out and the excuse for the breakfast was ‘COVID’ and re the soap it was that the “supplier failed to deliver soap”. Hotel management should always have an emergency stock to rely on. Absolutely appalling to not provide people basic sanitary supplies to wash hands after using the bathroom and no one wants to wash hands with antibacterial gel after the bathroom! Pathetic excuse to blame Covid 14 months after the pandemic started - you can’t use Covid as an excuse for everything. Such a shame - we were really looking forward to this and it was definitely not a 4 star experience and we won’t...

Well, this was a rather disappointing one. I'm in Brussels pretty often and decided I'd forgo the usual Airbnb and book a nice hotel instead this time around. Showed up and was given a newly remodeled room, which sounded nice, with the exception that the air conditioning was going to be out "for one more day". I was told to sleep with the window open. Figured I could do that for one day.

At right around midnight this first night, serious construction started outside on the street below, and I was forced to close the window. Unfortunately, while it wasn't particularly warm outside this day, it was much warmer inside, and I slept very poorly with the window closed, repeatedly waking up covered in sweat.

The next day, management informed us that they needed "one more day" to get the air conditioning working, so it would be warm again. At least that night, we were able to open the window, as whatever overnight road work was going on was completed, so at least we could sleep with the window open. Still, it was quite warm and quality of sleep was poor.

On the 3rd day, management informed us that the new air conditioning was being installed that day for sure. Came back later that day and it was still not working at all. The hotel staff basically said they didn't know what to say, and at this point, we probably wouldn't have air conditioning for our stay. We asked if we could switch to another room, and we were told that we wouldn't be able to get one with working air conditioning at this point. We were given "complimentary drink coupons" as a sorry. Not a great option, but at least it was something, right? Went to the bar, ordered drinks that we wouldn't have otherwise gotten, and only after ordering, we were told that the coupons were invalid, and we ended up having to pay for the drinks in full. Very frustrating.

Finally on the last day, when mentioning the poor quality of sleep we were getting due to lack of air conditioning, someone at the desk claimed "that's been fixed for most rooms for 3 or 4 days now, what do you mean?", despite having been told a few days prior that it simply wasn't going to be fixed. So, apparently, when I asked to switch to a room with working air conditioning a few days prior, either that person had lied about none of the rooms working or I was gaslit by someone else at the end of my stay. Either way, rather unhappy as a whole.

Final note -- recently remodeled room had a funny chemical smell the entire time. Fun.

Paid more than I usually in Brussels would to stay here. Did a hotel vs cheaper airbnb largely because I didn't want to go through a heat wave in summer without air conditioning. What happened in the end? Went through a heat wave in summer without air conditioning anyway and got conned out of additional costs for drinks I didn't really want to begin with. Would be hard to find any ways to make this a more...

This was one of the worst experiences I could have had during my birthday month. I booked a room for two for two nights at this hotel. My reservation was made through booking, but for some reason, the communication between booking and the hotel did not work. The hotel staff charged me €100 upon arrival because she couldn’t find the reservation. The next day, I went to the hotel staff again to see if he could find our reservation because the lady on the day before couldn’t. He tried to explain the mistake and said that our reservation was actually made at another hotel that was not even associated with this one. Anyways, after speaking to booking, they promised to refund all the money we paid. We went to the hotel staff again to see if we could pay for the last night, because all we wanted to do was see the city before moving to the next city. He apologized and explained that this happens a lot and then said we wouldn’t need to pay anything else because of all the trouble. He gave us a bill to send to booking and all that. We moved to the next city until I noticed they charged the €288 they said we didn’t need to pay! Overall, we paid €388 for two nights at an old hotel that smelled funny and nothing worked. Our TV wasn’t working and we couldn’t open the windows to get some air. So we got an "upgrade" to another room that was actually the same but had a new carpet and different wall colors. This was a nightmare and to be honest, for that money, you can find something better, modern, and competent. Don’t let yourself get scammed. This hotel was probably a fancy place in the past, but nowadays, it doesn’t deserve the 4-star rating it has. You can find way better for less in Brussels. My birthday was ruined, and I was totally unmotivated to continue our trip because of the unfairness and lies of this hotel. As a customer who travels a lot, I would never stay at any of this hotel chain again. As I said, the hotel is kind of old, smells funky, and almost nothing works. Booking did refund us for what we initially paid, but for the money this hotel charged, we could get something better. At the end is not about the money, because we wanted to pay for the nights. But saying we don’t need to pay and still charge after we checked out was so much more inconvenient. Honesty is not easy to...