Floris Arlequin Grand'Place, Brussels

Please please please, belgian authorities, take off the 3-star ranking to this dump!

I could hear the next room guest piddling! It smelled as if no window in the hotel had been opened for months. Its entrance is weird (one enters and exits before finally entering) and the whole place seems dirty, mouldy, gross.

 

The breakfast room has a great view, but it’s not enough to make you forget the toilet flush you heard last night from your neighbour.  The breakfast itself is basic.

Whatever the price is, it’s not worth it.

 

Thon EU Brussels, Brussels

For professional reasons I've been travelling to Brussels quite a lot. Since my hotels are booked by my employer, sometimes I get lousy stuff. But Thon EU was a very good surprise and nowadays I beg for it at the procurement department.

Location, for starters. For those who attend meetings in Schuman, the place is perfect. One subway station away or a 7 minutes’ walk. 

The rooms have a reasonable size and are very comfortable. Even some corny details – cone-shaped silver bedside tables, very very colourful chairs in the breakfast room – can be easily overcome by the best breakfast in all Brussels: besides eggs, pancakes, salmon (how I love salmon in the morning!), it has an espresso machine, which is so welcoming and warming...

Attentive staff, quick check-in or check-out, free wi fi. It’s silent, it’s professional, it’s clean.

It’s the best place for business travels to Brussels.

Depending on the days you’ll find single rooms from 70€, breakfast included.

 

 

Conrad Hotel, Dublin

I knew it!

There was something intriguing about the hotel; maybe my expectations were high - after The Westbury Hotel I confess I expected all five star Dublin hotels to be perfect; or was it the location? The neighbourhood was aseptic; it couldn't be the staff - attentive and joyful, as the Irish are. No...

After returning home and having done some research, I finally understood. The Conrad belonged to The Hilton, and no doubt one could feel that "hiltonite"! A large lobby, music in the air, the golden popping up again...

I had the most annoying difficulties in wi fi connection; big and comfortable room, but all night long a buzzy noise, as if the power generator was on the terrace (I’m pretty sure it was!) next to it. In business travels the only thing one demands is a good night's sleep, which unfortunately didn’t happen.

Nice breakfast – still, the room’s layout was a bit strange.

A bottle of water and a towel are at disposal at a small desk in the lobby for joggers (not my case), which I found a very nice detail.

The overall experience was good, not very good.

Prices around 190€, single room.

Hilton Malta - La Valletta, Malta

I dislike Hilton Hotels.

They are loud: golden handrails, fussy lamps, red fluffy carpets, several pools, all the decorative clichés one associates with American nouveau riche expensive hotels; but you'll find cheap details that immediately tell you they are not worth the money you pay.

In Malta (hotel in St. Julian's, a short car ride to La Valletta, the capital), you'll have to pay 4,5€ for a bottle of water in your room; no free wi fi, which I find inconceivable. Adaptors are available at a charge.  

Pool services close - even in mid-September summer days - at six o'clock.

One may encounter in the lobby or the elevators, sometimes in the breakfast room, guests coming from the pool in swimsuits, dripping from the hair. The piano is ubiquitous, it is hard to read a newspaper while waiting for a taxi - yes, you have to move by car if you want to see the city or cultural interesting sites. Location is a minus.

Breathtaking sea views - but it's really difficult to get to the sea. Perhaps that's the reason everybody prefers the pools and no one dives into the Mediterranean...

Prices start at 180 € per night, single room. But you'll waste your money. 

The Westbury Hotel - Dublin, Ireland

Ireland’s got it all!

Not only it holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union but is also preparing “The Gathering”, a major clan or family & friends get-together throughout 2013 (over 70 million people worldwide claim Irish ancestry).

I’ve been in Dublin twice these past two months. I had the chance to stay at The Westbury Hotel, and it is one of the finest hotels I’ve ever been at. It has that unpretentious chic of the Irish: amenities, services and attentions of a five-star hotel wrapped up in a relaxed atmosphere; a superb breakfast along with a smile; marvelous rooms and the morning newspaper together with a witty remark. Those luxury extras, such as preparing the bed in the evening. Comfort, taste, discretion, refinement.
As a bonus, location. You’ll be at the heart of the city. Less than one minute walk to Bewley's, ten minutes to Trinity College or to St. Stephen's Park.  A little bit more to Temple Bar.

Prices from 200€ per night, single room.