I am planning two weekday nights in Brussels in late September (4+ months from now). I am having difficulty finding affordable lodging. First I contacted Hotel Noga. Booked up. Then I tried Hotel La Legende. 175 euros per night for a single, no a/c. I am puzzled, having just booked lodging in Paris and Amsterdam for under 100 euros per night. Should I change my itinerary and stay in a different Belgium town, perhaps Bruges or...?
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7026 posts
I stayed at Hotel A La Grande Cloche in Brussels. Convenient location between central and midi train stations, a couple of blocks walk to the Grand Place. Nice hotel with very good ratings on booking.com and TA. Single rates well under €100, not sure about double rates but I'm sure it's quite reasonable. Don't think they had A/C but I know I didn't need it when I was there in late June. I have recommended it before and I know others who were happy with their stay there. It's nothing fancy but good, clean, nice staff.
Posted by
Laveen, AZ, USA
39 posts
We stayed here last year at 120 euros a night w/breakfast. Nice place and nice owners. B&B Taptoe.
http://www.mybedinbrussels.com/en
Posted by
OP
10 posts
Thanks, but Taptoe B&B is full, and all singles or doubles with private bath at A La Grande Cloche are gone too. :(
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7026 posts
I plugged in dummy mid-week dates in late Sept for A La Grande Cloche and there was available rooms. What are your dates? How many of you are there?
Posted by
Nutley, NJ
5 posts
I had considered easyHotel when I was looking for a hotel. You can get a room for around 70 euros a night. https://goo.gl/ef0uyH
The only reason I didn't book it is because I decided to get an airbnb place in Ixelles. Were you planning on using Brussels as a base and visiting other places? I don't see why you couldn't consider staying somewhere else in Belgium. Is this a two night stop on the way from Paris to Amsterdam?
Posted by
OP
10 posts
I had looked up A La Grande Cloche previously through a 3rd party travel site. Now I know it misled me when it said it was booked. When I just looked up rooms via the hotel's actual site, I found a double room with shower within my budget. I wonder how accurate those 3rd party travel site searches are or whether they only have access to a certain number of rooms to sell. Does anybody in the business know the answer to that question?
Posted by
Corvallis OR
7026 posts
It pays to look around at different sites and at the hotel's own site before giving up. You are correct in thinking that 3rd party sites only have access to a certain number of rooms. Most hotels keep some rooms that they only book on their own sites and then may release them to 3rd party sites if they don't fill them in a timely fashion themselves. Glad you were able to find a room there, it's a nice hotel in a good location for a reasonable price.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Yes, third party sites do not have access to all rooms. How many a hotel holds back for "themselves" seems to vary. In addition, hotels often hold back the last few rooms from even their own online booking engines. I've had several situations where the hotel's own website showed no availability for the room I needed, but e-mailing them directly got me the room. This appears to be particularly common in Switzerland (at least, I encountered it in all three places I stayed), but it's worth remembering for anywhere.