With my trip to Travel Magic 2013 in Brussels, I face the usual dilemma of hotels (after feeling cheesed off with the Saturday away rule with Brussels Airlines)
And it boils down to three choices for me:
- Stay at the Host Hotel
- Stay at a Chain Hotel and boost my points
- Try a new experience and stay independent
The Host Hotel (The Hotel) isn’t that bad an option – it’s convenient to most of Brussels, but is a touch expensive at €99 a night (~£85/$131). Whilst breakfast is thrown in, I’d never be up in time for it (me? Up before 9am on a Sunday? On which planet are we on?), which takes away from the value proposition slightly.
Looking to the chains and who I’m aligned against, the Crowne Plaza priced up nicely at £68 (€80/€108) a night… which is all good – except it’s near Brussels North. A quick read of WikiTravel indicates that Brussels North isn’t exactly a place to hang around (indeed, the last time I passed through the Brussels North Area, I was off a coach from London and straight onto a train to Brussels Airport), so I took that out of the equation. Yes, I could had stayed at a Holiday Inn, or gone SPG and tried something different.
But if you’re going to try something different – do it with a bit of style I say.
With weekends in Brussels, a lot of hotels are reasonably priced for a capital city (as most of the EU government doesn’t work a Saturday/Sunday), so it gives a chance to break free of the chains – and do something different.
Which is what I’ve done this time.
There are lots of options in Brussels – some hot, some not, some odd, some different. I’ve gone along the line of “different”.
The option I’ve gone for is £59 for the night, with £7.11 cash-back via Quidco. Heck, it’ll throw in a few nectar points and Avios too since I booked it through my legacy BMI Credit Card.
Value is where we see it. Whilst the convince of a host hotel can’t be beaten sometimes (for example, when finishing at a conference at 2am at in the morning), that isn’t the case this time (unless I get into a big hotel drinking session – unlikely as it seems).
Where I’ve ended up of course… well – you’ll find out in the trip report… or maybe sooner at my Twitter feed 😉