Sofitel Brussels Europe Hôtel

Great hotel, close to the European Parliament. I had a large room which has a nice terrace to enjoy the sun. The room has all you need, a great bed, espresso in the room, and a great rain shower. The breakfast is perfect, great choice of fruit, well made eggs and good bread. Nice bar for drinks on the ground floor. Meeting rooms are great as well, good snacks and specialty sweets. Consistent, standard and quality. Nice spacious room & bathroom, quality finishes and amenities.

My girlfriend and I had an overnight layover in Brussels. We'd only be in Brussels from 10 pm (Saturday night) till 10 am (Sunday morning). We got the Sofitel Europe off of Hotwire. It seemed like it'd be a fine but faceless business hotel--that is, a modern hotel in a city's government district. But it really had the best service we've ever had. At check in, we were greeted by one of the hoteliers, Remi Gonzalez. Our room wasn't available, so he put us in a suite. Our duffel bag had busted open at one of the seams, and we asked Remi if he had anything to fix the bag well enough to get us home. He spent the next few minutes meticulously stapling the bag shut. Remi asked us what our plans in Brussels were, and we said that, given our limited (and late-night) time, we just wanted to 1) get as good of a look at the city as we could, and 2) try some Belgian beer. After he gave us some suggestions (identifying the Grande Place area on a map, naming some of his favorite bars, etc.), he mentioned that he would be off work in a few minutes and offered to walk us downtown. We took him up on that, and he walked us from the hotel, through the city's main park, to downtown. We had a great conversation on the way, and he pointed out some really cool things about the spots that we otherwise wouldn't have noticed. When we got downtown, he left us at one of his favorite bars that 1) had an English-speaking staff, and 2) took credit cards (we had no euros, as we were only in the EU for the evening). The hotel itself was very nice. As we were only there for such a short time, we couldn't really take advantage of the amenities. But the room was lovely. I was happy that it had a coffee maker. The bed was very comfy. The truly outstanding part of the hotel was Remi (the hotelier). Definitely made it more than your ordinary business hotel in the government district.

The lobby was very spacious, with a central large water feature, lots of seating, a small side room designed as a small library with a few tables and seats which offered more privacy. A bar opened off one side and a chocolate shop off the other side. The staff checked me in and couldn't have been more pleasant. The room was spacious and had excellent added features (like robes and slippers, chocolates, coffee maker etc). My bed was turned down for me each night. I visited the bar and the service was just about the right level of friendliness without being too intrusive. The bar area was decorated to my taste, it would certainly be one I would use in future. The price was fairly high, but I found that for all hotels in Brussels, and this one seemed to offer real value for money compared to others I have stayed in. The location is excellent for the EC conference building. The area outside is becoming a pedestrian area which will improve the location. There are several restaurants nearby, including a famous friterie.