The Private Traveller

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Hotel Review: Rocco Forte Hotel Amigo, Brussels.

The Private Traveller

Overview

The main purpose of this trip was really to stay (again) in the incredible Belgian city of Bruges, but with British Airways changing connecting flight times a few months before our visit we decided to travel the night before to Brussels and stay over before travelling onto Bruges the following day. As I say I think in pretty much every review here, my first go to place is always the Leading Hotels of the World website to see if they have a property in any location that we’re going to. Having stayed at the Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome in Berlin, which we found incredible, I already knew of the sister property Hotel Amigo and immediately opted to book it for the night. Being an Aurelian Club Member allows us a guaranteed late check-out of 4pm at any LHW property, so this provided the perfect opportunity for a day of sightseeing around Brussels before taking a late afternoon train onto Bruges, about an hour away. TripAdvisor currently rank the Hotel Amigo #3 out of 201 hotels listed in Brussels.


Hotel website: https://www.roccofortehotels.com/hotels-and-resorts/hotel-amigo/

Would I stay here again?   Absolutely yes, such a perfect location, excellent service and accommodation with fair pricing.

Location

We arrived at Brussels Airport (Zaventem) and had arranged for the hotel to pick us up. Excellent car (a deluxe Mercedes saloon) and it took about 30 minutes to drive to the hotel, being located about 10 miles away. The location of the hotel was absolutely incredible - only seconds of a walk to the main Grand Place adjacent and lots of interesting sightseeing opportunities, shops, restaurants, bars and cafés nearby. Uber was freely available, though didn’t seem as cheap as in so many other cities. The Brussels Midi/Zuid (South) train station, which also services the Eurostar, was only about 5 miles away taking around 15 minutes to drive dependent on traffic. You can read my full Eurostar review here.

Accommodation

There are 154 rooms and 19 suites across 6 floors, our room (#503)  was on the 5th overlooking the rooftop buildings surrounding the Grand Place. The room was spacious with a huge, very comfortable king-size bed, a window overlooking the rooftops, writing desk, large wardrobes and lots of drawer space, as well as occasional seating. It was beautifully appointed, exceptionally clean and a really nice touch of the personal welcome from both the hotel and the Leading Hotels of the World European Account Manager along with a chilled bottle of Prosecco in an ice bucket. Standards throughout the hotel very exceptionally high with very tasteful design touches (as you would expect from the Forte family pedigree), there were only a couple of things that surprised me that had been overlooked - a squashed fly on the (cream) bedroom wall, a bulb in a standard lamp in the bedroom being out as well as a bulb in the bathroom mirror light.

The en-suite bathroom, though beautifully appointed and spectacularly clean, was slightly dated but very spacious with another window overlooking the rooftops. It is just a personal preference I know, but a walk-in shower would have been more enjoyable than the shower over bath, albeit the shower was exceptionally good - sacrificing the bath (which I never tend to use in hotels anyway) could have allowed for a massive walk-in shower. There were ample large fluffy white towels, Forte organic toiletries and two over-sized towelling bath robes.

In the room there was mineral water provided and a well-supplied mini-bar, large flat screen TV and ample power points. Though at first we didn’t think there was an adaptor or USB ports fitted, once we phoned reception to ask for one they advised that it was in the mini-bar. I assumed that this was available to buy, but now seeing it in the room’s list of amenities it’s probably just there for guest use (just a bit unclear as not located within the desk, and there was no price for it on the mini-bar price list). A trouser press was fitted in the wardrobe and an iron and ironing board, though had to be requested, was available and worked well. Only being there for one night, and arriving late at night anyway, we didn’t experience either a turn-down service or morning service but (apart from the squashed  fly which I’m sure was just an oversight) standards were immaculate and I would expect nothing different if staying in the room for longer.

Food & Drink

Arriving around 11pm at the hotel, though the front-desk supervisor was suggesting we went to the bar (Bar A) for a drink, being still open, we opted to just make for our room and to bed. We therefore didn’t get the opportunity to try the hotel restaurant for dinner, or room service, however the following morning we had breakfast in Ristorante Bocconi. The restaurant is located on the ground floor next to reception, looking out onto one of the (pedestrianised) side streets also with outside seating. The welcome and service throughout was excellent, as well as the full buffet - fruit, cereals, yoghurts, meats and cheeses, breads and pastries, various fruit juices etc. There was also Prosecco along side the orange juice to make a Bucks’s Fizz or Mimosa (the only difference being the proportions of juice to fizz) there was also a block of Belgian dark chocolate cut into large chunks. If the full buffet wasn’t sufficient there was also hot food to order from a menu - eggs and most ‘Full English’ options, waffles, pancakes etc. There was also an A la carte menu too.

Facilities & Service

While there was not a choice of bars and restaurants (nor swimming/leisure/gym facilities) within the hotel, being so centrally located there didn’t need to be anything else in this superbly appointed and beautifully designed hotel - anything else you wanted could be on the doorstep. Considering the service and food quality/choice at breakfast, I would imagine either lunch or dinner would also be excellent with the Forte family Italian influence. Ristorante Bocconi (at the time of our stay) was rated #119 out of 4,333 restaurants in Brussels on TripAdvisor so being in the top 3% is a very good place to be. We enjoyed our stay, though brief, always being welcomed back from all staff at the entrance, reception etc. and it is beautifully designed with artistic touches throughout. Wouldn’t hesitate to go back if in Brussels again and would be more than happy to stay longer. 

ThePrivateTraveller’s top tips (any areas for improvement?):

  • Bathrooms (though spectacularly clean) were dated and could benefit from updating.

  • Some minor housekeeping issues.

ThePrivateTraveller’s absolute highlights:

  • Location, location, location.

  • Breakfast - fantastic buffet choice, great quality and service. A great start to the day.

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