We stayed in Oostende, in a different hotel to our usual one, our favourite was booked on the dates we wanted and so we opted for a "four star" hotel, believing that it would be a good alternative.
We couldn't have been more wrong. Here is the review I posted about the dump on Trip Advisor (with no apologies to Hotel Europe in Oostende!)
Four star hotel? No star hotel more like!
When we selected this hotel, we believed that, as it was advertised as being 4 star, it would be a very good choice. How wrong we were.
We were in a "standard" room, which should still be a very good, above-average standard in a four star hotel. What we actually got was a room smelling of stale cigarette smoke, with cracked plaster around the door, dingy decor (including chairs with stains on and holes from cigarette burns), a shower fixed to the wall approximately two feet above the very narrow bath, so taking a shower was impossible, a bath which took around an hour to empty owing to the fact that the plug hole was clogged up with hairs (how often is this actually checked and cleaned?)
On the bathroom wall was a notice about re-using the towels to save energy, all very well except there was no heating and so once a towel had been used it was very wet and had to be replaced with a clean one every day - not very environment friendly but essential in a hotel with no heating on!
The bar was the most poorly stocked of any hotel I have been to in Belgium (I have been to Belgium many times) and the furniture is a real danger - the floor in the bar is polished wood, which causes the chairs to slide alarmingly and in some instances almost crash into other guests as soon as you sat down.
There was no evening meal available unless you were part of a pre-booked group, this is contrary to the Channel 1 on the hotel's T Vs which states that the restaurant had a choice of four menus including one vegetarian!!
The hotel lobby has two lifts - one going to the badly-kept section we were unlucky enough to be staying in, and another to the section which is obviously much better cared for. If this was a genuine four star hotel ALL the rooms and corridors would be in good order and quite plush.
If you are considering a holiday in Oostende, don't make the same mistake as we did and think that, by booking into this "four star" hotel you will be getting something special - you might get something special, but it will be especially awful!
We won't be going back there again.
