Cardo Brussels, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode - Sint-Joost-ten-Node

We stayed at this hotel for 2 nights during a weekend trip to Brussels. The reason that we chose this hotel was due to the membership to Marriott Bonvoy program, the central location and our positive experiences in Autograph hotels before.

Overall, the hotel is great and opened quite recently after refurbishing the old Sheraton hotel. The rooms were brand new and fully equipped with the latest technologies. The digital screens were controlling all the lights and blinds. The location was very central and walkable; the underground station is right outside. The breakfast was slightly expensive but offered a great variety of freshly prepared food options. The pool was also very cool but a bit crowded even though it required a pre-booking. The Marriott Bonvoy membership status was not directly addressed and there was no effort to offer room upgrades which was the only downside of the hotel. Still, we would definitely consider staying here again as our stay was very pleasant.

Details on some specifics are as follows:

Welcome: We arrived at the hotel around 11:30 am. Even though the hotel was quite large and there would have been plenty of rooms that could be available, we were told that the room is not ready yet but we can pre check in and leave our luggage until it is ready. There was also no mention of our Marriott Bonvoy status and no room upgrades were offered. While the room was larger than expected, our booking request to be on a higher floor was also not taken into account. We were given a room that looks to the back of the hotel, which was possibly the least pleasant side of the hotel. Also, even though we booked the room for two people, the room only had one pair of slippers as if the room was prepared for 1 person. Other Autograph collection hotels always welcomed us with a local delicacy in the room but Cardo didn't also offer this. While these are really minor problems, we weren't impressed by the welcome at the hotel.

Room: Our room was pretty impressive apart from the other mentioned soft product problems. The hotel offered every amenity you could need. It was a brand new room and full of technology; smart blinds, touch screen controlled lights, a large LCD with video casting feature, brand new bathroom. The bed was also extremely comfortable and we truly enjoyed our room during the stay.

Service: The staff at reception are usually pretty busy but they still work with a smile on their face. It just takes a bit of queuing to reach them. Apart from that, the service was top notch. The room had nice Nespresso and kettles with good quality coffee/tea options and bottled drinking water. When we needed dental kits, it was very easy to order in the Marriott app and the staff didn't take long to bring the items. Thank you very much for such a great service.

Location: The area of the hotel is very central but not the most touristic part. However the biggest advantage of the hotel is the closeness to the underground system. It is right outside your doorstep. You can also walk to Grand Palace area in about 20 minutes but the area feels like a red light district when walking that way.

Food: We had breakfast for one morning, which was 25€ per person. The buffet was excellent with extensive choices and we truly enjoyed our breakfast. While we find the cost a bit high, we think it's worth it.

Spa:  The hotel has a nice spa with a rooftop pool on the 31st floor. You need to prebook the pool to control crowding but it was still crowded when we went at our appointment with nowhere to sit. Still, the pool is quite nice and it offered us a warm pleasant experience.

Overall:The hotel met all our expectations from a 4* stay. The welcome and the recognition of our Marriott status could be improved. However, everything apart from that was a memorable stay....

Due to many issues, cannot recommend this hotel. There are good things, but serious problems that could ruin your stay.

The good Great location, especially if taking the train from the airport, short train ride, then short walk to the hotel. The staff is very nice.

Ambience is modern artsy flair, lots of color, dark colored mirrors, and rooms are decorated with items like a Magritte bowler hat!

Rooms are clean and modern, beds comfortable. If you can get an odd numbered room, it will be on the back side of the hotel, it is very quiet…no street noise. There are also blackout shades that lower to make the room completely dark.

Food and drink are available, however there is no Marriott members lounge, we were given a free buffet breakfast which was very good. The lounge bar is nice but pricey.

The bad Room noise - the hotel main side (even numbered rooms) faces a plaza and busy street. Noise comes from the constant sirens from emergency vehicles as there is a hospital a block away. Had to change rooms due to this issue (plus no AC).

Air conditioning - Our first room AC did not work at all, and the windows do not open. The front desk acknowledged this sometimes happens…not a good sign. Our second room worked fine, would cool down as needed.

Room decor - The layout can be very awkward…first room had twin beds with a large TV and stand directly between the beds at the feet, and a small floor step down…trying to maneuver around the TV and stand then find the step down without tripping in the dark…no thanks. The second room layout was fine.

Water pressure - The first room toilet would never flush, in the second room, the toilet flushed but the shower water pressure was very weak.

Room service - Our first room did not have any coffee cups, and the second room had a dirty washcloth hanging in the shower and no clean ones. Notifying the front desk on our way out, we came back to find we had received towels but no washcloths, and they did not remove the used one. On the next day turned on the “do not disturbs” light outside the door, but when we came back, we found our room had been cleaned, and the do not disturb light had been turned off.

Elevators - this is the major issue that will prevent us from ever coming back. There are 6 elevators, with a call box where you type in your requested room floor, then it directs you to a specific elevator. When they did work, there was usually were a long wait for it to show up. Worst part is on two separate days, when calling for an elevator, a recorded message played that said “elevators crowded…please wait and renew your call”! Doesn’t put you in a waiting cue, you just have to keep pushing the button over and over, hoping to get an elevator. After :10 minutes of this, all the crowd of people waiting finally gave up and took the stairs…20 flights…to get out of the hotel. This is a deal breaker…can’t imaging finding this when trying to make an important meeting or catch a train/flight. I travelled internationally for work every week for 30 years and stayed in hundreds of hotels, and have never in my life seen something so ludicrous. This is unacceptable.

Would I go back…absolutely not Would I...

Unfortunately this hotel stay was one of the worst, if not the worst I have had and I would not recommend booking this hotel due to it’s poor security measures. The hotel itself is aesthetically pleasing and the rooms are a good size. The room was mostly clean, apart from the dusty shelving units. Housekeeping was consistent in visiting daily. The location is good and central. We stayed on a weekend from Thursday to Sunday. I asked the check in staff for a quiet room and the lady at the check in desk put us on the back of the hotel where she explained is quiet (we were on the 7th floor). On Thursday night I had no problem and had a good nights sleep. Friday was when the problems started. It seemed as though there was a large group booking on the same floor with multiple rooms being booked out by the same group of people (possibly). The room next door was blasting music and their voices could be heard down the corridoor and in our room. This was happening from afternoon and they could be heard early hours of the morning coming in making alot of noise. Unfortunately I had no sleep that night with the continuous noise and disturbances. The next day I informed the fromt desk who said he would inform security in the hope that we would not have to endure this for the coming night. Unfortunately that night we were also awoken to people coming in after partying and also a huge argument outside the room in the early hours of the morning. The argument went on for a long time with a male arguing with a female and then being locked outside his hotel room. He continued to shout loudly on the phone whilst being left outside in the hallway. Alarmed and disturbed by this, we called security. The security guards circled the floor but did not say anything to male standing locked outside the room! They did not even ask him why he is standing outside the room waiting outside early hours in the morning and the situation was not handled. It is needless to say that we had no sleep and were also very disturbed with the incidents in the hotel hallway. We did not feel safe in this hotel. There is no cctv in the hallways and there are little security measures to stop people from roaming on any floor of the hotel. There is no key card needed to access specific floors, once someone is in the hotel they can access any floor via the lifts. Although our bad experience was down to other hotel guests, it is ultimately the responsibility of the hotel to put in security measures such as cctv and a key card system to ensure they know who is getting access to which floor. It is also the responsibility of the hotel to oversee what is happening in their hotel and to ensure antisocial behaviour is not taking place in the property. It was questionable that the security guards did not question the man standing in the hallway and the incidents happening seemed suspicious. I would not recommend this hotel if you value a good night’s sleep and feeling safe. Furthemore we explained what happened to the lady on checkout and she did not offer any compensation or attempt to resolve our bad experience. We could not wait to get out of there and definitely will not...