Belgium Travel Guide
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You Can Thank a Chinese Airline for Brussels' Next 5-Star Hotel
The HNA Resort Sanya (obviously not Brussels)
Hotels and airlines—two peas in a pod, or occasionally, the same pea. Airlines that have successfully spun off hotel chains are many; off the top of our head we can name Pan Am (Intercontinental Hotels), SAS (Rezidor/SAS) and Icelandair (IcelandAir Hotels). One that's lesser known, however is the Asian carrier Hainan Airlines and their chain of "business hotels" throughout China. They're 40-something in number, so it's not a boutique venture or anything; Hainan is serious and the good Tripadvisor reviews of their properties reflect this.
Naturally the next step is to make a big move towards a luxury development in a city outside of Asia. In Hainan's case, that city will be Brussels, Belgium.
Hotel Design / Manhattan Hotels / Brussels Hotels / Belgium Hotels / Radisson Blu / → All Tags
Radisson Blu Channels New York's 'Flair' From Brussels
What pops into your head when you think of a New York-inspired hotel room? Turquoise carpeting? A Nespresso coffee machine? Black walls? We only ask because those are the three main features that make up the newly-unveiled "New York Mansion" business class rooms at the Radisson Blu Brussels. Now, we know Brussels has the whole mood ring hotel concept down pat. But, New York? We're not so sure.
These rooms are supposedly going for "sophisticated," but we can't help feeling the design is a little all over the place. That armchair? The bedspread? The clashing headboard-wall combo? The only New York vibe we're getting from this room is its size (small).
Snapshot / Bruges Hotels / Belgium Hotels / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Just The Sort Of Welcome Note You Don't Want To Find In Your Hotel
Not the kind of thing you want to see in the information kit in your hotel room: a notice informing you that mosquito nets are available at the front desk.
What makes it worse is that this wasn’t the steamy South, or somewhere exotic. This was our hotel room in Belgium. Bruges may be the prettiest town in Belgium, but even that won’t swing it a get out of jail pass when it comes to mosquitoes.
Luckily, we’ve just emerged unscathed after three days at the Grand Hotel Casselbergh, so it appears the hotel may just be being a little protective of its guests. Better safe than sorry, though.
Hotel Closures / Hotel Hell / Belgium Hotels / Zeebrugge Hotels / Historic Hotels / → All Tags
Zeebrugge's Ghost Hotel Is Belgian Sadness In Microcosm
Among the printable things that make us gasp are unexpected sightings of grand dame hotels. So imagine the excitement yesterday when we were on a tram in non-descript Zeebrugge, Belgium, and caught sight of the corner of what looked like a huge old hotel. We got off at the next stop and ran back to the building.
And this is what we found: the shell of what had obviously once been a belle epoque hotel, but sadly gone to seed and renovated into what looked like apartments, from the for sale signs in a few windows.
A local informed us that it had indeed been a hotel, but that it had closed after the war, and been apartments ever since. And, rootling around online, we established that this started life as the Palace Hotel, Zeebrugge, then was later called the Residence Palace.
According to the garbled Google translation on this page, it seems that the hotel was built in 1914, just after the port of Zeebrugge was founded in 1907, to attract rich German cruise passengers stopping off on their way from Hamburg to America.
Art Hotels / Belgium Hotels / Brussels Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
Brussels' Pantone Hotel is Like a Little Embassy for Colors
Oh man—we haven't checked in on Brussels' new Pantone Hotel in almost a full year, but it looks like the New York Times is even slower, since the colorful hotel only just hit their radar.
The Times' T Magazine takes a deeper look inside the hotel, including its beanbag-outfitted roofdeck, mod lounge and appropriately vibrant breakfast buffet. There's not a review, per se, but they do state something we absolutely agree with, and that's the fact that Brussels suffers from a lack of cool hotels like this. The Pantone is filling a need there, and its rooms from $137 including free WiFi are hopefully a hit.
Budget Hotels / MaxHotels / Brussels Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
The MaxHotel in Brussels is One-Star and Proud of It
We were recently tipped off about a new hotel concept in Brussels, The MaxHotel which is a one-star hotel and supremely proud of it. But unlike most dodgy one-star hotels, which are really a small grotty step above a hostel, the MaxHotel promises guests "brand new, very shiny, non smoking, equipped with flat screen tv and WIFI connection, individual air-conditioning and private bathroom." That sounds promising.
MaxHotel also has done away with the front desk, allowing guests to check into the hotel via automated kiosks in the lobby. These kiosks will do everything a human used to do, even deliver your messages. (But just in case, MaxHotel will have humans on hand.)
There's also no restaurant or bar on-site but rather a vending machine room that serves snacks and drinks, both hot and alcoholic. And much like Tune Hotels, the MaxHotel you pay extra for amenities like shampoo, TV, the internet and cleaning service. (The WiFi is an affordable 5 Euros for 24 hours.)
Design Hotels / Fashion Hotels / Pantone Hotels / Brussels Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
We're Dye-ing Over The Pantone Hotel in Brussels
Fast Company reported yesterday on a very new type of designer hotel--The Pantone Hotel in Brussels. Yes, Pantone as in the company that created a precise-color matching system by which all designers of anything live and dye by.
The company, while extremely well-known in its industry, is looking to reach out to real consumers. Hence, The Pantone Hotel.
Designed by Belgian interior designer Michel Penneman and Belgian architect Olivier Hannaert, each of the hotel's 59 rooms, which range from $84 to $184 a night, is inspired by different Pantone color palettes. On-site Pantone Color consultants are apparently available for "color consultations and educational seminars on color psychology and trends."
But what we love, absolutely love, is that guests can choose their room at check-in based on their MOOD. It's like a Mood Ring Hotel!
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Visiting the Infamous Hotel from the Movie 'In Bruges'
The hotel is the two matching wood facades over the canal
At this very moment—believe it or not—we are in Bruges, and no not because of the tourist rush that the Colin Farrell/Ralph Fiennes movie "In Bruges" brought. We've just always wanted to head to the "Venice of the north," as the town is called, but while here we can't simply ignore the now-famous sites around town that became almost another character in the movie on their own.
One such spot is the hotel in which the main hitman characters Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) are put up by their boss, Harry (Fiennes). In the movie, it's passed off as a quaint, home-run bed and breakfast, but in reality it's the 4-star hotel Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce. It's here that the characters ponder death, reveal secrets, and even one of them jumps from his room window into the freezing canal below.
Another picture and what we found, after the jump!
Hotel Spas / Kempinksi Hotels / Bruges Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
No More Creepy Couples Massages at the Kempinski Dukes Palace
We’ve been itching to go to the fabulous-looking Kempinksi Dukes’ Palace in a 15th-century castle in Bruges since it opened, and every time we hear some more news about it, we get closer to opening up our wallets. This time it’s the new spa menu taking our fancy.
It’s using the French Thalgo line (nice) for some pretty well-priced treatments including a Detox (scrub, detox gel, sauna and massage, €85) for after you've gone overboard on the local chocolate, and the cozy-sounding Mother’s Cocoon (massage, facial and foot treatment, €140) for the preggers among you.
Best of all, they’re making an admirable break from the creepy couple’s massage – their Harmony for Two treatment (€120) is being sold to "mothers and daughters or friends".
Hotel Bathrooms / Brussels Hotels / Belgium Hotels / → All Tags
The Bathroom Mirror at the NH Hotel Brussels Boosts Our Self-Esteem
Mirror, mirror, on the wall--or at least hanging in the bathroom in the NH Brussels hotel. Apparently we're not the fairest of them all, but this mirror still has a friendly message for us:
I see a lot of faces and I have never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful.
The nice part is that guest reviews make the NH Brussels sound like one of the best hotels in town, so we probably would be smiling at this mirror. And more so now that we've discovered a stay at this place won't break the bank, with rooms starting at €64.50 (a strangely not-rounded price but that's what the hotel's own website promises; it's less than $85).
If the mirrors are so complimentary about our beautiful smiling faces, then we're just wondering what the staff will have to say about our great dress sense and gorgeous luggage, too. And who said Belgium was only good for the chocolate?
[Photo: kattebelletje]
WTF Hotel News / Brussels Hotels / Hotel Crime / Hotel News / Hotel Sex / → All Tags
Seventeen Women Freed from 'Slavery' at Conrad Brussels
Holy crap. Dozens of police raided the Conrad Hotel Brussels (which has been called the "most exclusive" hotel in the city) and freed 17 people who were being held as slaves by a royal family living in the hotel.
The Telegraph had the scoop:
The operation was triggered by the apparent escape of a maid who was among 20 servants working for the widow of a senior royal figure from the United Arab Emirates and her four daughters who have rented the entire fourth floor of the hotel for the last year.
The servants, dubbed "slaves" in the Belgian media, allegedly had to be at the service of the Arab royals 24 hours a day and had their passport taken away on arrival in Belgium. The women were reportedly not allowed to leave the hotel and their monthly salaries were as low as £80 a month.
Insane, right? The investigation is still going on, and no charges have been brought against the royal family yet.
De Haan Hotels / Belgium Hotels / → All Tags
Seize the Day at Manoir Carpe Diem in De Haan
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Well said, no? And this is exactly what our friends will be doing next month.
Instead of traveling the well-touristed paths in Brussels and Bruge, they're heading to Belgium's North Sea coastline, to the village of De Haan. Never heard of it? Neither had we, but get this. This is where Albert Einstein and Marvin Gaye went to escape the madness.
It obviously has just the right equation to get it on (sorry, couldn't let it pass without a plug for Marv and Al, rest their souls).
Anyway, our friends will be seeking respite from their own crazy lives at an intimate 15-room property called Manoir Carpe Diem. A plum piece of property right next to the forest dunes, beach and promenade, this family-run villa is like a country-style home. English garden, brick terrace, grassy lawns. And the heated outdoor pool is the thing when you can't bare the frigid North Sea waters.
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