Sofitel Brussels Le Louise

Excellent hôtel et personnel serviable et courtois. J'y retournerai lors de mes prochains séjours à Bruxelles ( 3 à 4 fois par an).

Overall a very decent hotel ~ staff friendly, room size moderate, comfortable and quiet. Though not close to Grand Place, Hotel just next to Louise Metro Station and easy to access to Grand Place and Midi Train Station (South Station). No hesitation to recommend. If I travel to Brussels again, I will stay at Sofitel again.

Went to Brussels for a weekend city break, wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary. Fed up with airports, been to Amsterdam and Paris before, so what's left? Booked the hotel on the basis that I thought it was near where I wanted to be (it wasn't particularly), was a good rate (it was - £200 for 3 nights with [...]), was 5* (it was, with 5* prices) and had a gym (in the loosest possible sense - it didn't have a treadmill so how it could call itself a gym I'm not sure). The hotel is very near to the Louise Metro and the main shopping area of Brussels. The rooms are immaculate, not overly large though. I believe we stayed in a superior room but would have felt uncomfortable in a smaller one. It was the price of things which was the killer. Breakfast would have cost an additional 180E and a drink in the bar - an irish coffee and a tea was 17E. It's reasonably well located for the palace and the Sablon but for a tourist would recommend staying nearer the Grand Place than here.

I stayed for three nights at this hotel and had high expectations. It is newly and stylishly renovated with funky acoustic music piped through the lobby and bar. You feel that you are someplace special and different but there is a real side to the appearance of luxury. Generally, the desk is staffed by very efficient looking and well groomed young people. It is clear that they are programmed to provide good service but there is not much warmth. I requested an extra cot for my room three times - each time the person at the desk said "yes, no problem" and it was finally brought just past midnight on the night we needed it. A friendly and slightly flustered young woman brought the cot to my room and we discovered that it would not fit so we tilted it sideways and carried it in. Strangely, the mattress was tied to the frame with the belts of several bath robes. The first night that I arrived I found all the lights in the room blazing and music playing on the radio (turn down service). When I wanted to go to bed I was unable to turn off the hall light and could only switch it off with the main switch near the front door. This meant that I could not read myself to sleep but had to get up and shut off the main switch to turn out the lights (remember the days when there was no remote control on the tv!?). The next day I told the front desk and they said that it would be fixed but it was not. It was finally fixed on the last day of my stay after I called again. One night my friends and I went to the bar thinking that we would have a drink or some dessert. We suffered sticker shock and decided to leave. It is very pricy. The Hagen Daaz around the corner was an adequate alternative. Eggs are not served at the breakfast buffet, one must request them. On the second morning I requested eggs and they never came. On the last morning they came but the boiled egg was almost raw and inedible. All in all, these things probably would not matter to me or a normal customer if the price were lower and if the hotel did not aspire to be a "luxury" hotel. They probably also would not have mattered if someone at the desk were more of a real person than a polite, programmed automaton. I would have preferred a real response rather than a "yes, of course" every time. Nice hotel but there was a real world side to the "luxury".

Excellent location. Helpful and friendly staff. What more could you want.