If you have visited several Novotels, you are used to certain standards, from both room, staff and bar/restaurant. In Charleroi, unfortunately, only the room was made: the mine was super-sized, clean, modern and handy furnished. The shower was the best ever, and the (separate) bath was faster than I had ever seen (and that at the highest floor!) The choice of breakfast buffet was quite limited: especially fruit and vegetables were missing. The coffee machines were outside the breakfast room (best unhappy) and one of the two was defect every four days of my stay (very unhappy). The quality of coffee was consistent with the quality of the other breakfast products: moderate to average. The staff, which is very much praised in the reviews, must have been on holidays in a collective manner. The receptionists I found were uninterested, unpleasantly turned up their standard dresses and bloated out only in the active non-health of the guests when they passed. Even eye contact was too difficult, but the city itself was much more beautiful (or less ugly) than expected: in particular the centre and station area are very beautifully decorated in an invitation style. The majority of the people have not yet developed, and I have not yet met so many underdeveloped people in any Belgian city as this. If you want to visit any city in Hengegouwa, then Mons (Bergen) is a more wise and safer choice. You can walk on the street after ”closure time” without being contacted (by bearers) or called (by hang youths). In Charleroi you will be best inside at 19.00 hour, with the door closed. ;-)
- Guest User
Fantastic hotel, really couldn’t fault it. We changed our booking to this hotel from one that we had booked in Brussels centre, as our flight got into Charleroi at 10pm and the reviews for transport from the airport were poor. So glad we did, it worked out cheaper and we had a great stay. It was really easy to get to from the airport. The hotel is modern, clean, welcoming, and the staff were fantastic. Our room was huge and so comfortable. We felt that the bar prices were very reasonable and the atmosphere was relaxing. The train/bus station is a 5 minute walk away over the river, and the return train into Brussels was €20 return for 2 of us. Lots of eating options in the shopping centre and close to the hotel, although nothing seemed to be open very late. We found the little supermarket at the bottom of the escalator in the shopping centre really useful. We would definitely stay here again!
- Guest User
