Hotel Metropole Brussels — Hotel in Brussels

Very disappointed with our stay here. We booked in advance and on arrival were told our room was ready. After being shown to our very nice room with lovely views of the streets below we immediately noticed the bathroom hadn't yet been cleaned and was strewn with the previous occupants old towels and cups. After being told this would be cleaned later that afternoon we unpacked and went off for some lunch and a drink. Upon return at 5pm we tried to enter our room and found the key wouldn't work on the door. After a couple of tries we decided to go to reception and when we told them our room number we were told our key didn't work because "This is not your room, it's booked to somebody else". After much mumbling and to and froing between staff somebody finally worked out which room were going to stay in instead of the wrong wrongly allocated to us.

So we were escorted upstairs to the room wrongly given to us, the escort let us in, and we had approximately one minute to hurriedly gather our stuff, repack and leave the room. We were then taken to our new room a further two floors up. This one had a view of a brick wall and a ventilation ducting system. Okay we thought, it's only one night, we won't let it spoil our stay. Upon walking into the separate bathroom we found the heated towel rail was on full blast and turned it off (It was boiling hot outside that day). There was a small water leak on it so we put a towel under it and went for a quick snooze before heading out for the evening. We woke up an hour later and walked into the bathroom to find the floor saturated, and to compound our misery the door handle came off in our hand!

Managed to have a shower and get ready in the mess that was our bathroom and headed downstairs to reception to report the leak before heading out. After a great concert (the wonderful Beck) and a few drinks in the city we came back to our room for a sleep before heading home the next day. Walked into the bathroom to find, yes, the leak had been fixed, but no, all our towels were now sodden and unusable and all the water had been left on the floor meaning you got soaked using the toilet!

Exhausted and tired we decided to leave it till the morning to complain about the matter. So at reception we were asked if we enjoyed our stay and I explained that, no, we hadn't, and the rooms and service were not to a 5* rating in our opinion. To say the apology and lack of explanation were half hearted is an understatement, but we were told they "would look into our comments". So eventually we left the hotel, unhappy and vowing never to return here again. It may look grand and ornate but it's a shame the rooms aren't! We never did get a proper apology from them, in fact we never heard...

AVOID Metropole Hotel....in the USA this place would be rated as a 1 star MOTEL. Staff made us wait until 1500 instead of giving us a room that was available.

Initially, the room (435) seemed okay, albeit quite warm....didn’t even think to try the bed out before we headed out for the afternoon/evening. We got back and that’s where it all started to go downhill. I pulled the chair out at the desk....stained. What?! How does a chair like that stay in a room? Then pulled the covers back on the bed...meh. Laid down and was like, “whoa, this is THE most uncomfortable bed I’ve ever had.” It wasn’t flat, but decided to not complain to them until the morning since it was so late.

Next morning we went down and complained about the bed, and they reassured us that the head of housekeeping would “look into it.” Later that day (early afternoon) we were in the room and received a knock on the door. It was housekeeping, and their “head of housekeeping” they pulled the covers back on the bed (see pictures I posted) and she laid down on it, ran her hand over the bed and said these exact words, “it’s okay... all our beds are like this.” I was both flabbergasted and flummoxed to hear that ALL their beds are like this.

On our last of 3 nights we could smell smoke in our room with the windows closed....it was coming from the bathroom. I open the window and looked down to see if their windows were also open, they were, and I could hear people talking loudly, smoking and drinking. I called the front desk at about 22:30 and complained that I could smell smoke and people were being loud... they offered to give us another room (on our last night) but our infant had already gone to sleep, so that was not an option to wake him and relocate. So they told us they’d send “someone” to check it out, but because it was so late they wouldn’t knock on doors and ask if anyone was smoking.

Other notes on the room, the floor had stains, and in general requires a 5 star overhaul in order to raise this hotels rating from 1 to 2 stars. My wife has suspicious red marks similar to bedbug bites after being here, so they also need to fumigate the place. They need to improve air conditioners. The door to the bathroom was severely warped and requires a replacement...hotel front desk and “Head of Housekeeping” also warped and needs replacing.

My family will return to Brussels someday, but we will never return to Metropole MOTEL. This place is a dump. WASTE OF MONEY to stay...

I chose this hotel to stay without a doubt for two nights with my husband as it looked like a very luxurious, charming hotel and other Hotel Metropole we have stayed gave us a great experience. We thought this would make our wedding anniversary trip special. However, the experiences we received was far from the level we expected. At check-in, the receptionist was very friendly and professional, but did not check our booking condition carefully and so he did not offer us a welcome drink that we have payed for (booked through the official website under the condition of Summer Escape). We were disappointed but could not ask for it as there was a line for others to check-in. Our room on the sixth floor was spacious with a big terrace with a view to the top of the cathedral, which gave us a lovely impression. Although, longer we stayed in the room more we noticed un-Cleanness and age of the room. Firstly, the air-conditioning was just not functioning like it should have. It was on and obviously working but it just did not do anything to the room. It was hot and humid – there was absolutely no air the whole time. We even set up the air-conditoner to be “15 degrees” and were grateful that we did not come when there was a heatwave. Wallpapers were washed off and dirty. The bathroom looked gorgeous unless we had a close look to everything. The rubber on the bath to block water going out was not fixed and left just like this on the floor. As a result, water went everywhere in the bathroom. Cleaner came the next morning but it seemed that she/he cleaned just around the rubber and did not dare to fix it back. There was black dirt on the bottom of the bath which made the bath look dirty and made us not want to step our feet in. We were quite surprised by the fact that there was no boiler or coffee machine in a 5 star hotel as even 3-4 star hotels have always provided them.

We found the price of the breakfast to be pricey. We have discovered that Brussels is a city with full of Brunch lovers and there are plenty of nice cafes where you can have breakfast for half of the price you would pay at the hotel. After all, we liked all the receptionists who were friendly and generous to borrow us their umbrella. As most of the workers are well trained and professional, we regret that the rooms and functions are not following the 5 stars that they have received years ago. I will recommend other 4-star modern hotels...