Say Aloha to Aloft
Metro, London 22 October 2010New era: Brussels says aloha to Aloft
Aloft’s new hotel in Brussels offers young crowds a no-frills place to rest their heads while still managing to cater to the needs of the nearby European Parliament.
Just like Girls Aloud, I can’t speak French. Or Flemish – which is a bit of a handicap when visiting Brussels. Unfortunately, since the entertainment highlight of my whistle-stop visit was watching U2 live in concert, there was no chance of ‘letting the funky music do the talking’ either.
If that wasn’t thrilling enough, the next item on the itinerary was a quick trip around the city on a Segway. Days later, the millionaire businessman who owned the Segway company fell off a cliff on one of the devices, so perhaps this particular sightseeing excursion isn’t as popular as it once was – especially as this particular tour involved a terror-packed trip across four lanes of busy traffic on a road which had faulty traffic lights. Whoo!
This expedition was to check out the new hotel Aloft Brussels – the first hotel in the Aloft chain to open in Western Europe. It’s branded as ‘a vision of W Hotels,’ the fancy design-led chain which arrives in Britain with a huge development in Leicester Square early next year.
It’s certainly very colourful. Upon arrival at the Brussels joint you can’t help but notice the huge Gorillaz-esque cartoon heads adorning the walls. The staff also slap you in the face, metaphorically, as they trill ‘Aloha!’ at new arrivals. Cringe. It’ll be interesting to see how receptionists at the soon-to-open Excel Centre branch in Canary Wharf deliver this patter.
The Aloft hotels bill themselves as mid-market but seem to compensate for basic service with flash gimmickry. There’s no restaurant, which keeps the costs down, instead there’s a corner of the open-plan lobby/bar with fridges full of sandwiches, salads, soft drinks and booze, which you pay for at the reception. It’s basically the sort of thing you’d find in a garage service station but is branded as a ‘grab-and-go’ café called Re:Fuel.
It’s fair enough if it’s aimed at a young crowd which doesn’t expect unnecessary frills if they’re getting a good deal – and €90 (£80) a night at weekends is great value. However, mid-week, because of the hotel’s proximity to the European Parliament, rates can go up to €350 (£307) a night, which seems pricey if you’ve got to pay for your own sandwiches, too. A further innovative cost-cutting feature is an in-room voucher for €5 (£4) to spend at the hotel’s W XYZ bar. To redeem it just put a sign on your door telling the maid not to bother cleaning your room.
The bar hosts DJs most evenings and the owners are hoping it will lure European Parliament boozers over from their traditional after-work watering holes.
It seems like a bit of an unusual combination though. The youthful design and no-frills aesthetic courts a twenty-something market of weekend breakers but the mid-week room rates and location caters to older business travellers. The London branch repeats the same formula. Still, after massive success in the US and Asia, it’s likely we’ll be seeing more from Aloft in Europe. Aloha!
Rooms at Aloft Brussels Schuman start from £77 and from £129 on weekdays. Tel: 00800 325 25638, www.aloftbrussels.com. Eurostar operates up to nine daily services from London St Pancras International to Brussels with return fares from £69. Tel: 08432 186 186, www.eurostar.com