Reviews of Amigo, Brussels, Belgium

Review of Hotel Amigo, by Jamie Dunford Wood

Well positioned just a few steps from the Grand Place, in a pedestrianised part of old Brussels, the Amigo Hotel is, primarily, a business hotel. Like most of Brussels business hotel trade, the Amigo Hotel relies on corporate business in the week and heavily discounts rates to attract tourists in search of a luxury hotel at weekends. Following the Rocco Forte look, the style of the rooms is modern and elegant , full of solid detail, subdued colours and spacious marble and limestone bathrooms. And like the others, there's a running motif in the pictures. Here it is Tintin, a famous Belgium resident in a country in dire need of them.

The facilities

The Rocco Forte style, though elegant, is somewhat minimalist in tone, a perfect backdrop or stage set for the beautiful people its luxury hotels attracts in places like Florence or Rome. Other facilities are slim - for example there is no spa or pool here. But models and the glitterati are more discreet in Brussels, there's not the same excitable buzz about the place, so there's a briskness and efficiency at this luxury hotel that appeals to a business clientele. Their absence at the weekends allows for great rates and a high level of service.

The rooms

The 174 rooms at Amigo Hotel come in various shapes and sizes, and the categories can be inconsistent. If you can, choose a room on the first two floors of this luxury hotel- the fifth and sixth are in the eaves (though you may like this cosiness), with small windows, while other floors have smaller windows and lower ceilings. The most spacious are executive rooms and junior suites, though confusingly some executives are actually larger than junior suites. Next comes deluxe, with standard smallest - but not overly small - of all.