Posted by Centrally located close to the historic Grand Place, the Brussels Marriott Hotel Grand Place, offers premium accommodation for business travelers and tourists. As one of the higher-end hotels in the vicinity, we were keen to test this hotel out to see what it was truly like. As part of the Marriott group, a stay at this hotel would also be worthwhile to earn some additional Marriott Bonvoy points.
Ratings rundown
| Accessibility | 8/10 |
| Ambiance | 6/10 |
| Accommodation | 6/10 |
| Food and Drink | 6/10 |
| Facilities | 6/10 |
| Service | 7/10 |
| Overall % | 65% |
Accessibility
The location of the Marriott is pretty good in terms of accessibility. If you are travelling to Brussels by train, the hotel is a short taxi ride (~15 min) from Brussels-Midi/Zuid train station. If you are travelling by plane, the trip is slightly longer — around 30 minutes (depending on traffic) to the hotel from Brussels Airport.
Accessibility rating: 8/10
Ambiance
The hotel has an interesting atmosphere — it certainly attempts to create a grand and welcoming ambiance in the reception through the marble-style flooring and open space. The bright lights in the hotel foyer coupled with the open mezzanine level also help to create an inviting and airy feel.
Though slightly dated in some areas, many guests will find the traditional style of this hotel charming.
Ambiance rating: 6/10
Accommodation
The hotel has various rooms and suites to choose from including family rooms and a Presidential Suite. The room discussed in this review is their simple Deluxe Guest Room.
Accommodation highlights
- Space: despite being one of their more standard rooms, the size of this room was good with sufficient space for working and relaxing.
- Amenities: the amenities, when provided, were great. The Acca Kappa toiletries were fantastic and of good quality, the selection of teas and coffees (although missing milk) were nice and the seasonal mini Easter eggs left in the room were a charming touch.
- Temperature: the temperature controls in the room were super easy to use and not very noisy either, making for a great night’s sleep.
Accommodation lowlights
- Lighting: the lighting in the room was impractical with the master switch being located next to the door rather than the bed.
- Quality: although very clean overall, some of the items of furniture, such as the desk chair looked quite worn down.
- Housekeeping: the housekeeping on the final few days became inconsistent, with amenities not being properly replenished, or water bottles not being replaced.
Overall, you can expect to sleep fairly well in this hotel — whether or not the hotel meets your expectations, will really differ from person to person.
Accommodation rating: 6/10
Food and Drink
As the hotel is in such a central location, there are eateries in walking distance nearby, so there is no need to feel restricted to the hotel’s restaurant. This being said, we did eat breakfast and dinner in the hotel to see how it compared to the options elsewhere.
Breakfast
The breakfast is served on the ground floor of the hotel and is a breakfast buffet. In the buffet, there is a selection of cold meats, cheeses, yogurts, cereals, pastries etc. as well as cooked food including eggs, hashbrowns, sausages, bacon etc. There is a waffle maker and also an omelette station where a chef will make a cooked to order omelette.
In general, although nothing out of the ordinary, the food is pretty good. Bare in mind that the buffet is the same every day, so you may want to consider eating out every now and again if you are staying in the hotel for a prolonged period of time.
Dinner
The main hotel restaurant is the Midtown Grill — an American inspired steakhouse. The steaks are tasty, so would recommend popping in if you have no other dinner plans. Although the service can be slow and orders may be mixed up, the staff are super friendly.
We also ordered room service one evening, and the food arrived much more quickly than expected (<30 minutes). The food was still very fresh and came with bread/butter etc.
Food and Drink rating: 6/10
Facilities
The hotel has a fitness center and meeting space as its main additional facilities. For guests with status or those staying in executive rooms, you can also access the executive lounge.
Facilities rating: 6/10
Service
The service at the hotel is, in general, very good. Upon check-in, the receptionist was very happy to extend our stay at short notice; room service was delivered with a smile; the doorman was willing to go the extra mile to take bags/arrange taxis etc. The only times when the service was lacking was in the restaurant, when drink orders would be forgotten or food orders not quite delivered correctly.
Service rating: 7/10
Summary
Overall, if you are looking for a solid place to stay in Brussels, the Brussels Marriott Grand Place will tick many of your boxes — a clean room with a nice bed, a decent breakfast offering and friendly staff; not to mention the location of this hotel is great if you want to explore the city on foot.
Luxury Jetsetter 