New Hotel Charlemagne - Brussels, Belgium     

We booked this hotel because the hotel advertises on Booking.com with "Free Private parking is possible on site". A few days before arrival, I called the hotel to confirm this. However, on arrival the parking appeared to be very small and full for our first night. When I told the receptionist that the Booking website makes notice of free parking he told me that information is wrong and should be adjusted. This has not been done so far. The receptionist told us we could park on the street for free that day because it was a public holiday. He also told me parking there was safe, even though there was glass from a shattered window on the floor where we parked our car. On inspection, we noticed that most of the other cars on the street had paid for their parking, so I asked the receptionist whether he was sure it was free that day. Again he assured me that I could just leave my car on the street, but when I asked him whether the hotel would pay my fine in case he was wrong, he reacted with a very arrogant attitude and told me: “No, of course not”. By chance, there was a police officer in the lobby at the moment, so I asked him whether parking on the street was free. He told me it was not and I should pay for that day. I asked the manager of the hotel to pay the parking for the first day since we booked his hotel because of the “free parking”. The manager refused this. Although the room was nice and the location not bad, we don’t recommend this hotel at all, because of the staff’s attitude (which does not match the four star rating of the hotel) and their ignorance about the parking regulations in front of their own door. If it wasn’t for the police officer who was by chance in the hotel, we probably would have ended up with a parking fine.

I booked the new Charlemagne when my usual hotel was full. It's unpretentious, smaller than the big chains, but absolutely fine and I'd stay there again. Small bar area seemed cosy though I didn't use it. Room was fine but unpretentious - clean and comfortable with everything necessary. Not where you'd choose for a romantic break, but fine for business travel, and very convenient for Berlaymont, Justus Lipsius and other EU institution buildings.