Appalling hotel in Oostende

It was nice to actually have a holiday this year, and fly rather than trying to rely on the unreliable, appalling Eurostar train.

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.

Oostende for Christmas

Having spent the last two September holidays in Oostende, and the last three Christmas ones in Brugge, we are having a change for this year, and spending Christmas in Oostende. I will miss having a summer holiday in Belgium, this will be the first time I've not had a summer holiday there for years - we had our first in 2000 and have had one every year since.

Oostende is a great place to spend a summer holiday - on a summer evening it is very pleasant to walk along the sea front and the pier and watch the ferries, and the marina near the Mercator is also a nice walk.

I have very happy memories of our holidays in Belgium - the hot one we had in September 2006 when the heat hit you when you left the pub in the evening and visiting new places such as Veurne, Mons, Eupen, Lier and dearest Zeebrugge(!)

I have enjoyed each holiday I have had in Belgium - truly the most under-rated country in Europe, and certainly my favourite holiday place.

Holiday Update

We had a great holiday in Belgium, though the weather could have been better, we got serious soakings in Oostende and Zeebrugge. 

We had some great food and equally great beer and I will be posting more detail soon.

Holidays 2008

We have just booked the first part of our annual Christmas get away to Belgium. Normally we would not consider any other transport but the plane, but this time we plumped for the ferry, and we leave Hull on 23rd December on the "Pride of Bruges". We arrive in Zeebrugge the following morning and then we get a bus into Brugge (easier than getting from the ferry terminal to Dorp station!) We leave on 28th December and arrive in Hull on 29th December. It saves the hassle of overnight hotel stops because we can get trains or a bus straight from Hull to Scarborough.

Our main holiday will be in four weeks - we go down to Derby on 31st August and then fly from East Midlands to Brussels on 1st September with bmi. I like bmi, we flew on them last year on an ERJ135 - the smallest airliner I've been on, the Fokker 50 is a wide body in comparison! This time the aircraft is to be an ERJ145, the bigger cousin of the 135. We have 10 days in Oostende, and hope to have a trip to Dunkerque in France as well, we can get a cheap day ticket from Oostende on the Kust Tram and then the bus.

I'll also get to see my beloved Zeebrugge (at sunrise and sunset in December!) a few times this year.

Travel

Travel is one of my passions. There are so many places I would love to visit, and sometimes I will just go and get a travel brochure from the travel agents just to browse through.

I would like to see Japan and go on the Bullet Train, visit Singapore, Australia and New Zealand again, Canada, South America - the list goes on.

Pity I can't afford to actually see those places, but I like to see them on TV and read about them.

Currently my favourite holiday spot is Belgium - we have had holidays in Brussels, Brugge, Mechelen and Oostende, as well as visiting many places by train while we are there. We have spent the past two Christmases in Brugge, where there is a big ice skating rink in the market square, stalls selling snacks and very welcome hot drinks (the chips are very good too!) and a fabulous atmosphere.

We are going to Oostende again this year, and hopefully the weather will be good. When we had our holiday in Brugge in 2006 it was very hot (especially when we went to Zeebrugge) but in Oostende last year it was not as good for weather and we saw more rain.

When we go on holiday we always fly.