I just arrived back to the states from my stay in Europe where I stayed at Hotel Ustel for two nights. I feel inclined to review this hotel in the hopes it will help someone else with their decision. I have never written a hotel review before but I couldn't let this slide. I wish I would have done more research on this hotel before booking through the website I used (GTA Hotels) as their only reviews raved about the hotel. As a single woman travelling in Brussels I have to say I feared for my safety by staying here. The area is EXTREMELY shady to say the least. It is only a 5 min walk to the station but those 5 minutes are not fun. You will encounter desolate streets with questionable characters hanging around. The hotel itself was awful. I was given a room next to the elevator which was really noisy (old elevator which sounded like it was on its last leg). The room was not clean. The floors had not been vacummed, the bedspread was dingy and old, the curtains were half fallen off. When I pulled the bedspread back, I found hairs on the pillows which told me they had likely not been changed from the previous customer. I slept with a t-shirt over my pillow and walked with socks on. I would have left in a heartbeat had I not already paid for two nights. Furthermore one of the nights coincided with a big event in Brussels therefore was not able to find a better hotel. I HIGHLY recommend you do not stay here. The staff was more concerned with their phone calls and smoking then with helping you. I recommend spending a little extra and staying in the center of the city which will provide you safety and security, not to mention other ammenities.

We went to spend a couple of days recently in Brussells and stayed in the Ustel hotel. The lobby is clean and presentable but you cannot check in until 3pm and we arrived after an early flight at 10am and so had to waste our first day walking around to waste sometime. The room was really basic - no kettle facitlites etc..Fine for somewhere to put your head down. The hotel is a 10 minute walk from the main centre but you have to walk through (in my opinion) quite a run down part of the city, which is quite intimidating when you are new to a city. There is a restaurant attached to the hotel but this was never open (we arrived on wed and it didn't open until fri - our last night) - so there was no where close to pop down to to get a bite to eat or even a drink at a bar. We were quite thirsty one night and they literally had no facilities to cater for this (even when I asked) and so I had to go out to a newspaper shop to get a drink etc..... The staff weren't really helpful either .. they would anser the phone whilst you were enquiring about something and if they couldn't help you they weren't very good at offering you alternative answers - it was the belgium version of "computer says no!" The only good things is that the hotel is close to the train station but my advice is to get something more central - or go to Bruge as that was beautiful!

I stayed at the hotel Ustel in Brussels when on a business trip. After having read the reviews I wondered why my secretary booked this hotel but after arriving I soon realised that there was nothing to worry about. The hotel is just fine. Good, clean, spacey room, very large bathroom with shower and bath, lots of hot water, quiet environment, conveniently close to the south station. Yes, it is basic. But I would stay there any night, no problem.

Our travel agent gave us a few options and recommended Ustel for its location. Afterwards I read reviews for the hotel and so could make some informed decisions. We requested the "new" part of the hotel which was quite acceptable, huge bathroom, comfortable bed and television. Being winter the room was very warm all the time and as a note I would not recommend staying there in the heart of summer as there was no fan in the room (though they may put in portable fans - worth asking the question) and we were on the top floor (7th) and when we opened the window we could hear a substantial amount of traffic noise from below. All the reviews noting that the staff are not helpful were correct in my opinion. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed - we fortunately had no issues. We were well catered for at breakfast with a lot of choice and plenty of food. We also got the room for a bargain, £50 a night, if I had paid rack rate (~£120) I would not have been impressed but for the rate we paid it was fine. Initially I was excited about there being a bath but with the hot water barely showering the two of us at a time there was no chance of that! I wouldn't be worried about the area as wherever I have travelled in the Europe, the cheaper areas are inhabited by middle eastern nationalities and there I have never been bothered! Location was brilliant - we walked around all weekend, didn't use public transport once and being a 10 minute walk from the station and a 15 minute walk into the Grand Place, how could you complain?

Yep, this felt very much like staying in the ghetto. The people in this area did not seem to take kindly to tourists, they stared at us constantly and we felt very uncomfortable and threatened at times. As for the hotel itself, HORRIBLE staff at the desk. They were very rude and made us wonder if they actually wanted customers at all. The room was okay. Decent size and the bathroom was clean with plenty of clean towels. The bedsheets were a bit dated and there was a burn mark (!) on them. The bed itself was fairly uncomfortable and the pillows very hard. To be fair, with all of this in mind we wouldn't have minded staying here if it was a HOSTEL but for the price you would expect much better. This is not a three star by any UK standard. Also, if we had been given friendlier service we wouldn't have cared as much about the other stuff. On a brighter note, if you get to breakfast early you can take loads of bread and pastry to keep you going for the rest of the day!! Breakfast was quite decent if you like croissants.