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 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.
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.
While we were showing off our mini-hotel guide to Brussels, the TheNotoriousMEG was dropping off shots of her stay at the Sheraton Brussels in the HotelChatter Flickr Pool. While she has plenty of shots of the suite, we liked this snapshot of the bathroom. You gotta love those antiquated European hair-dryer systems.
We can't seem to get enough of Brussels and it seems our readers feel the same way too. One such fan, Elliott, gave us a belated Christmas present by summing up the Brussels Hotel Scene. So here is his mini-hotel guide to Brussels. Any tips, questions, suggestions or Belgian chocolates, send 'em our way.
Basically, when you go to Brussels you have three choices when it comes to location of hotels: Do I want to stay in the city center, around Avenue Louise (upscale shopping/residential area close to the city), or more towards the EU Parliament?
All have advantages and disadvantages, overall the city is quite easy to navigate on foot and via public transport. Cabs are available, but (very) expensive, depending on your frame of reference.
Guess what Monica Guy was doing yesterday on Boxing Day? Yup. Fantasizing about hotels....
It's Boxing Day and you're wishing you'd gone away for Christmas. The turkey-smeared plates are piled up in the sink and you are feeling the after-effects of Aunty Jean's home-made concrete mince pies and knock-out Christmas pud. (Or is it just the English who inflict these Christmas "treats" upon each other?)
Either way, you've vowed you won't be messing around with Christmas at home again - you're on the internet checking out Christmas hotels for next year.
Bruges, Belgium is possibly the sweetest Christmas city in Europe. Okay, so it's cold...but you might get snow and at least it's small and cosy enough to stroll around. The Christmas market in the main square is a mulled wine and roasted chestnuts extravaganza. Perfect.
It's not the most well-known hotel in Bruges or even the most classic - for that you'll want the equally bizarrely-spelt Hotel Tuilerieen. But that's about to change - the RBC's got a starring role in the forthcoming black comedy In Bruges featuring Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell. After March 2008, you'll be able to say, "Well, I was there before it was famous..."
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Emily gets her hotel drink on. Enjoy.
Just because Oktoberfest has come and gone for this year doesn't mean we can't dream of traveling to a land where the tap flows freely...and directly from our hotel. Belgium's Hotel Carolus is located inside the 15th century brewery Het Anker in the charming town of Mechelen, about halfway between Brussels and Antwerp. Sure, the 22 rooms look pretty spartan, but who cares about high thread count sheets when you've got a Belgian bock to keep you warm?
It was meant to open by the end of October, but with confirmation now that it will be coming on the market just a few days late with its November 8 opening, we can't be too strict yet with The Dominican in Brussels. Do ignore the November 5 opening date given on the hotel's web page, though--staff assure us November 8 is the real date.
A member of the Design Hotels group (the first from Belgium, in fact), the Dominican has already received high praise as the Guardian's hotel pick of the week: they were impressed with its:
sweeping archways, lofty ceilings and an interior courtyard ... its historic look echoes the abbey that stood on the site in the 15th century, but the 150 bedrooms are all ultra-modern.
Room rates start from around $250 per night. If you check in before we do, make sure you let us know if The Dominican lives up to expectations.
If you're stopping off in Brussels then there's a new boutique hotel right near the station that the Eurostar stops at, called the Be Manos. It's a sixty-roomer converted from an old town house and actually claims to be the first boutique hotel in Brussels, but sometimes that's just a matter of labeling.
The rooms are all very sleek and black, and include a king-sized bed, laptop safe, aircon, LCD TV and what they describe as "a stoned bathroom" (could it be tiled?--we'll let you decide).
For your Brussels luxury near the train station, you'll have to pay anything from 275 Euro for a single up to 550 Euro for a double suite; breakfast is included. For a splashout stop on your Eurail tour, then the Be Manos might be the spot, but if you're planning on seeing plenty more of Europe, then it could tip your budget over the line.
