Novotel Leuven Centrum 4 estrelas

I regularly stay at the Novotel Leuven - typically every other week. Hotel is generally excellent. It is the staff that make it - great welcome from the Front Desk team. However the highlight is the restaurant and bar - where Domenico's friendly attitude and great service is outstanding!

Selection of hotels in Leuven is not extensive so we opted for Novotel as I hold Platinum with Accor. This status did not give me much though, no upgrade - we got room on second floor although they had executive floor. I got drink voucher but only for one person in a room (usually we receive it for no of people on reservation) and we were handed one small box of biscuits and water carton. Location is definately outside of city centre despite what hotel calls itself. It takes about 20 min of brisk walk to get to the old town and 15 min to the train station. Hotel is in more of industrial area with Stella Artois factory opposite. Breakfast was average but my highlight was freshly made waffles. Room was one of the better representation of the Novotel brand, it had their newer concept. Layout was practical with adequate storage space. Bathoom had bathtub but shower water was leaking through the glass to the floor. Bathtub had skin residue and somebody’s hair in it. The rest of the room was clean. TV was small with limited selection of channels. Window does open wide which is a plus but hotel is by the main, noisy road so we had to keep it closed for the night. Bed mattress was firm, not great for me but other people may prefer it. Parking is called Indigo, has direct access to the hotel via lift but you pay by the machine not at reception (22 Euros per night). Check in and checkout was indifferent. Seriously smile and some courtesy to be welcoming to guests won’t hurt. Overall judging by Novotel standards it is good and safe hotel to stay while visiting pretty town of Leuven.

I booked a 3 day stay in the Novotel in Leuven. Whilst making the booking, it was clearly noted that the stay would be non-refundable however it was not clear that it was prepayable. Novotel took the full payment for the stay upfront which was on the wrong card and very inconvenient. However, as a result, we only needed to pay the city tax at the end of the stay. Due to car issues, we could not arrive on our arrival date, Friday 17/02, but only managed to get to the hotel on Saturday evening, 18/02. In my opinion, the hotel made good money as the night we were not there was already fully paid even though we did not use the room nor did we have breakfast with 4 people saturday morning. As a courtesy, we even called on Friday to let the hotel know we would only be arriving Saturday. On Monday morning, when we wanted to check out, the staff announced we had to pay 27euros. I was surprised as on our account city tax was not as high. So I asked for an explanation and the hotel was just trying to make us pay an additional fee of about 25euros for the no show of Friday on top of the already paid rate of the room including breakfast. I had to argue for 20+ minutes at the desk and ask for the manager, who turned out to be one of the women I had argued with already during that timeframe. She arrogantly showed me that we had a non-refundable rate, something I was not debating. At no point in time, I asked for a refund of the first night, I just refused to pay an additional charge on top of the price I had paid for the room with breakfast. This is the first time an hotel tried to charge me more than the room rate for not showing up, I am completely shocked about this practice (How on earth can you ask people to pay more for their stay when they did not show up but paid the stay fully including breakfast they did not eat?) and also about the way the manager spoke and the overall level of English, Dutch and French. (yes I did try explaining in all 3 to see in which one the message would get across). In the end, they did cancel the additional charge and I only had to pay the city tax but the experience was dreadful and definitely not what you would expect of a 4**** hotel. On top of that, the hotel did not honor the welcome drink voucher given to us as advantage due to our customer status.

Not a fan of this place, it’s worse than ibis budget and they’re terrible themselves. Room was pokey, sockets not working. Never replaced paper cups (yes paper cups) for the tea and coffee making facilities. The parking is virtually non existent and it’s on the road (free) or crammed underneath at public car park which is expensive! Staff on hand to serve evening meals are disorganised and you have to wait an age for anything. So won’t be coming back again to this hovel

We stayed at this hotel whilst on a trip to go to the Belgium Grand Prix. The hotel was modern, very clean and comfortable. The room was great and as a bonus I had a view of the Stella Artois factory! Great staff and a lovely bar with plenty of food choices. Strongly recommend a stay.