Hotel Plasky - Brussels, Belgium 

Comfortable Hotel and Good Service
Posted: Thu, May 22 2008
This was the second time I stayed here and it is a perfectly acceptable hotel for a short stay. I really don't recognise the other review recorded. I suppose that the decoration of the room is a matter of personal taste, but the rooms are clean and comfortable. The only minor drawback is that the rooms seem naturally quite warm, but you can switch off the radiator and open the window while you are out. I closed it at night to minimise the street noise, but with it closed it was fine. The breakfast is basic, but perfectly adequate. I found the service friendly with helpful directions to local shops - contrary to the previous review there are supermarkets nearby, within 5 minutes, where you can buy water! The hotel also booked taxis readily for me, which arrived promptly. The tram network is very close (2 minutes) and the metro is less than 5 minutes away on the tram. The EU buildings are not on the doorstep, but I would have thought that they could easily be reached in 20-30 minutes. The hotel is particularly convenient for the Diamant conference centre (less than 10 minutes walk), which, incidentally, is excellent value for money with good facilities. Overall I felt that the hotel was good value and my overall score was enhanced by the "after sales" service I received. I left a pullover in the wardrobe, but didn't realise for about two weeks. When I realised I emailed them , they found it, still in the room, and posted it back to me free of charge!

Best avoided
Posted: Sat, Aug 12 2006
First, the good points: The Plasky is situated in a very pleasant residential neighbourhood. It's quiet, and feels a lot safer than some areas of Brussels. I travel to Brussels fairly regularly on business, and I have stayed in much seedier and unfriendlier places. The staff at the Plasky were polite and courteous. It's pretty easy to get to from the airport, as the area is served by the airport shuttle bus. However.... It's a good 15 min bus ride or 30 min walk to Schuman (for the European institutions), and even further to the city centre. Don't bother with the Metro as you have to take the Metro and a tram as well to get there and back. There are hardly any convenience stores/corner shops/mini-supermarkets in the vicinity, just bars frequented by the locals, so you're out of luck if you're looking for somewhere to get a bottle of water or whatever. And then there's the actual hotel itself. The rooms are hideously decorated, with the nausea-inducing green-and-white speckled walls proving particularly unpleasant. There is no air conditioning, so if you're there in summer, you will boil alive. The breakfast is terrible; you may as well not bother. Service was not great, either. In short, don't stay here unless you absolutely can't find anywhere else (that's how I ended up there...)