HotelCrowne Plaza Brugge

[koshkha, 07.06.2007] I returned a few days ago from a conference in Bruges, Belgium - a city known far more as a cheap weekend break destination with its twee lace making, pretty canals and image as the Venice of the North (though admittedly without the smelly water and the £10-a-go espressos). I had no say in where I stayed as the conference organisers had block booked the Crowne Plaza and my room was charged at a rate of €155 per night which I suspect was probably a discount on the normal rate.

Where is it?

The Crown Plaza is one of the best situated hotels in the city and sits on the square known as Burg within spitting distance of the gothic Town Hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Bruges is a bit of a rabbit warren so getting lost is always a risk. However as Burg is just next door to Markt (the big market square) it's easy to find wherever you are: look up, find the Belfry (the tallest tower in town) and head that way. Facing the Belfry, Burg is down a lane on the left hand side close to the tower.

Directly in front of the Crowne Plaza is a small shaded square with a space for old men to play boules and one of the ugliest bits of modern art in the city - a sort of bus shelter meets urinal affair that sits (I'm not sure if it's intentional or just the weather) in a very shallow pond of slightly off-colour water, thus continuing the urinal image in a not entirely pleasant way. The Burg is a pedestrian zone and the only traffic you are likely to hear is from the horse-drawn carriages that are surprisingly less cheesy and touristy than you might expect.

The Hotel

As many readers may know, Crowne Plaza is the posh end of the Holiday Inn brand - a full-service hotel chain that's generally a bit more upmarket and a bit less generic than a standard Holiday Inn and a world better than a Holiday Inn Express - but of course, a bit more expensive than either. When I arrived at the hotel after an interminable two and half hour taxi ride (a long story - blame the weather, blame the rush hour) I was a bit underwhelmed by the sight of the hotel. It's not altogether an inspiring place - red brick, seemingly quite modern. Theres one of those enclosed-but-not-quite sun-room/conservatory type cafes thats so typical of the Benelux countries, which spills out onto the pavement in the summer months with a street café look.

The hotel is better on the inside. Entering through the rotating door or the normal one if you are laden down with too much luggage, you find yourself in a bright lobby with the solid wood check-in desk on the right hand side, floor to ceiling windows in front of you showing a small atrium garden beyond, the Linde Café-restaurant to the left and stairs to another restaurant, the more formal Kapittel, above. The lobby is high-ceilinged and looks suitably classy. The bar (I'll admit I didnt use it as we were so well supplied with booze throughout the conference that I didn't need to) is somewhere tucked away behind a couple of the meeting rooms. The lobby is a bit short on seating - several black leather sofas next to the atrium garden but that's the only place to sit.

The Room

My room was on the second floor at the end of a long corridor. On the plus side this meant almost no noise from within the hotel but on the downside, it got a bit of road noise and with a backpacker hostel a couple of blocks away, the odd rowdy drunk passing by. The room however was lovely. Despite being a modern building, the ceiling in my room was easily 12 feet (4 meters) high, giving an airiness that's hard to find in most chain hotels.

There were two double beds, two tall armchairs and a coffee table, with a small side table holding the kettle and tea and coffee making stuff. The desk/dressing table had a hair dryer in the drawer and a mini-bar to one side with a TV above - complete with three UK channels (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV). I will concede that most people probably don't get very excited by English telly but if you travel a lot, then the little bits of home are very welcome. There was a single bedside table between the two beds but bizarrely all the light switches were on the opposite side so being on my own I had to choose between access to the table or the switches.

In the entrance area of the room there was a suitcase stand and two tall wardrobes - one fitted out with a room-safe and the other hiding a trouser press and a full-sized ironing board and iron.

The furnishings were (at risk of being clichéd) a touch masculine. The room-height curtains were a grey/brown with large squares, the carpet an orangey colour with a muted check and the throws on the bottom of the beds were in the same fabric as the curtains. It was pleasant enough but not the sort of décor I'd choose to live with at home but for three nights it was fine and at least it wasnt chintzy or frilly. There was a lot of mid-brown solid wood both in the furniture and the trimmings.

The bathroom had a magnificently expensive look about it - no fake marble here, this was all big, thick genuine creamy marble marked with veins. The bath had a power shower over with one of those adjustable heads to alter the water flow (ideal for people who have nothing better to do than spend half the day picking their favourite effect). The shower screen didn't fit quite right and dribbled all over the very lovely brown rubberised floor tiling. I have no idea what these tiles were made from but if I could find them and could afford them I'd put them in any wet place; they were warm and had a great grip and probably cost and arm, a leg and a couple of organs. The toilet was tucked discretely away behind a frosted glass door in a space so small that anyone really tall would probably have had to sit sideways. And finally the sink area had lots of clear surface space for all my gear.

The room had an alarm clock but it was on the desk rather than beside the bed so not ideal. The hotel claims to have WiFi internet access in all the room at a cost of €10 per day (a day ends at noon) but despite getting a booster sent up from reception, I failed to get a signal at all. Talking of service, I'd forgotten my toothbrush and one was sent up free of charge in just a couple of minutes. As it was Belgium, the pillow chocs were well worth eating and I'm glad to say that despite booking a single room, both I and my bear got our own chocs each night.

Restaurants

With uncharacteristic efficiency, I made it to breakfast on all three mornings. There was plenty of hot and cold food to choose from although not much that stood out as particularly remarkable in any way. On none of the three mornings was I offered coffee and had to go and hunt down staff to get any which was getting annoying by the final morning. The thought of 'what's a girl gotta do to get a coffee round here?' was starting to spoil my breakfast time.

We had one lunch in the crypt under the hotel although I couldn't find this referred to in the hotel brochure and suspect that it might have been a function room that the organisers had hired and brought in caterers to feed us. The room was apparently part of an old church crypt that had stood on the site long before the hotel. If you want to see it, take the stairs to the left-hand side of the reception desk.

Other Facilities

For a conference of approx 120 people, the hotel was ideal. We had one large room for the presentations (complete with little booths at the back for the translators although they werent as sound tight as they maybe should have been and despite being halfway down the room I could still hear the translators through the booths). The audio visuals were fine and everything went without any hitches. We also had access to a large break-out room for coffee breaks.

There are two computers with internet access in the lobby which are charged at an exorbitant €5 for 30 minutes. On the 8th floor (I couldn't figure out how there could be an 8th floor as it looked form the outside as if the hotel only had about 4 floors) there was a gym, sauna, sunbeds and a pool but I can't comment on them as I didn't use them. The gym, according to the description in the hotel info, looked to be a bit light on equipment.

Anything Else?

It was my first proper time in Bruges, if I exclude half an hour for breakfast when using Zeebrugge about 12 years ago and I found the town to be really pretty and well set up for a weekend. I just wish I'd had time to see more of it. However, the Crowne Plaza was so well placed that even in half hour breaks from the conference I had time to run around and see quite a bit of the town in the area around the hotel.

Any gripes?

It wouldn't be a hotel review without some little annoyance but in this case the only weaknesses I spotted were the ridiculously long time it took to queue for check out and the reluctance of the breakfast staff to let me have some coffee. If I hadn't been there over a weekend I could probably have got pretty pissed off about the lack of WiFi but instead used it as a really good excuse to not check my mail from work. Would I pay £100 a night for this hotel yes, I think I probably would.