Radisson RED Brussels — Hotel in Ixelles - Elsene

The hotel frontage is visible to your left as as you leave the train station . You enter via rotating doors into the hotel’s bold comic book decor and brightly lit lobby. You approach the receptionist at single small desk which doesn’t act as a “barrier” making it very different to your traditional hotel reception desk. You’ll find a Pool table, fooseball and shuffle board in the lobby too. The receptionist was friendly and comfortable talking to us very well in English. If you prefer you can avoid any human interaction and use the APP to check in and out and communicate with “Those behind the scenes” (Written instead of “Staff only”on the relevant doors.) The WiFi is free and very good although I suppose it needs to be if they are trying to get you to use your devices as extension of the the hotels IT operations. The hotel also offers the ability to use the APP to open the room . I see this as a look to the future to the Apple Pay generation. Key cards are still an option though and I would recommend using them as the key on my phone was troublesome. We were staying in a corner suite so I can only comment on that. A generous size room dominated by a large bay window with booth-like seating in front. This gives the feel of a room twice the size. The large wall-fixed TV had a good channel selection in a range of languages and built in connectivity so your smart devices will also cast using the excellent WIFI. You can rotate the screen to face the seated area as well as the very comfortable king size bed. By each side of the bed you’ll find USB sockets to charge your portable devices.The rooms seem to be well sound proofed with no noise pollution from either adjacent guests or the...

The room was in a sad state when we arrived. The floor was not thoroughly vacuumed, with dirt and hair in spots. Some of the furniture was worn, and the closet door was broken. Our complimentary water was not in the fridge, so we had to go back down to the desk and get it. The shower leaked water all over the floor from a gap at the bottom of the door, and the shower threshold was rusted. We were awoken around 7am by a bright, red light on the smoke alarm directly over the bed, which was flashing on and off every second. The biggest problem was after the first day. We left the green sign off the door so the room could be serviced (and maybe cleaned a little better), and when we returned at the end of the day, our door was unlocked and open. Someone on the staff had left the deadbolt engaged, and anyone could have walked into our room at any time. Luckily nothing was missing from the room. We reported it to the front desk and asked for new keys just in case. The desk associate said it might have been from maintenance investigating the smoke alarm blinking that we had reported in the morning. On top of all that, our room had not been serviced by housekeeping (it was 6:30 in the evening) and so we had to wait an hour in the lobby while they serviced the room (and still didn't vacuum). I feel like this hotel needs to improve a lot to meet the standard I expected from the cost...

Positives ||Vibrant design throughout the hotel.|Courteous service – even the cleaner came to tidy the room without being asked.|Conveniently sized gym, generous and high-quality breakfast (although the music was a bit loud during breakfast). ||Spacious and bright superior room on the 5th floor. High-quality king-size bed, and a firmer pillow was provided upon request. Good blackout curtains. Plenty of wall hooks for clothes and bags.|Very cool minibar offering complimentary water, chocolate, and snacks (no purchasable items like alcohol). Coffee machine and tea-making facilities. ||Bathrobes and slippers (though the robes were very small). Quiet air conditioning, and no disturbance from traffic noise (stayed over the weekend).|Lots of TV channels and Chromecast worked well. Very large shower with eco-friendly soap dispensers. ||Peaceful location: 5-minute walk from the EU Parliament and bus stops, 10 minutes to the metro, and 20–30 minutes to Grand Place on foot. ||Minor Criticism||Some wear and tear on room surfaces and curtains. The corner sofa had a fairly large hole.|As mentioned, the "one size" bathrobes in hotels should generally be large or XL – smaller guests are fine with larger robes, but larger guests can't fit into ones that are too small.|For some, the location might feel a bit remote from the hustle and bustle of the...