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When you are traveling, you might do it for work, for leisure and sometimes for special occasions. This weekend Luxuryactivist team were at Conrad Hotel in Brussels… and we realized afterwards that it was not a good idea.

The Conrad belongs to the Hilton franchise and as many luxury hotels, they became simply factories for business congresses and trips. When we arrive at the hotel, nevertheless, there is a great spirit with the main entry. The building itself is a very elegant white building, giving you the feeling of arriving at a special place.

Exterior view of Conrad Brussels
photo: Conrad

By walking in we get to the main area with the reception desk. There again we can feel we have arrived in a high quality place.

Conrad Brussels Reception
photo: Conrad

The welcome is polite, friendly and everybody looks ready to help you spending the perfect journey. Before going to spend an afternoon of shopping in Brussels, we let our luggage at the reception desk as the rooms were not ready yet. They said they would bring the luggage to our rooms while we were out. We also asked for some recommendation for the evening diner and asked the Concierge to let in the room a list of possibilities (which he agreed on).

After an afternoon of shopping in the city center of Brusssels, we came back to the hotel because we had a Relaxing massage at the spa. And while discovering the room, trouble started.

Classic Queen Bed Room
photo: Conrad

First, when you look to the picture here above, we can see 2 big Queen beds. Queen beds are supposed to be 160cm  x 200cm in Europe and when I asked the hotel, they told me that it is not true, that in Europe Queen beds are 140cm. Not true. Just check here: Bed sizes.

After complaining twice, I finally got the installation of a third bed, which frankly did not make the best visual effect in the room. Welcome to Boot camp!

bad bed at the Conrad

Of course the best thing was also that we had only 20mn before the spa massage and my luggage…. was not in the room. Where? nobody knew. After a while they finally brought my luggage and the luggage man just told me that his colleague forgot to bring it to the room. We can see that service is not at its best here.

Then of course there were not enough bathrobes and slippers, no blankets… nothing really made for the guests comfort. Nothing really personal with this bedroom, could be Conrad, Marriott or even something else. Basically we can feel that Conrad Brussels is a money machine, getting business people coming here probably because they do not really have the choice and that probably get points into their HHonors program.

We finally got into the Spa for our 17h00 massage. One of the 3 massage therapists was not yet there, late. So one of us needed to wait. The Spa itself was nice. There was a 17m pool with a very nice decoration, Mediterranean style.

Aspria Avenue Louise Spa

The massage itself was really good. We all took the 45mn relaxing massage with essential oils. The therapists were well trained and did a quite professional job.

After the massage there were no more places available in the long chairs around the pool. We can see that all the place was given to the pool itself and few place was left for the comfort of guests. It is a pity that they did not think about a relaxing area in which we could just relax. At the contrary, the fitness area is huge, which is also a sign of a business clientele exclusively.

So highlights of the place:

  • Central place in Brussels
  • Biggest swimming pool in a hotel in the city center
  • Massage therapists really good
  • Rooms size

Lowlights:

  • Service to the person really poor
  • Efficiency and standardization before comfort and cosiness
  • Lack of consistence in terms of service
  • Beds are not what is promised
  • Little details for the comfort of people missing in the room

So Luxuryactivist advice is, do not stay at the Conrad. Just come for the spa. Even for business, we saw better hotels.
LA

 

Info sourced at luxuryactivist experience, wikipedia and Conrad hotel website. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction right available.