I booked a one night stay at the Aristote on the 3rd of January 2009. The reason I chose the Aristote was simply that it was the cheapest I found in Brussels at short notice.

Despite the cheap price, I found the hotel to be conveniently located, within a 10 minute walk from the city centre. The staff were friendly enough, the room clean and comfortably warm at night, the breakfast was very filling and I quite liked the general look and feel of the place.

My only criticism though - and this is quite a large criticism - was the fact that the corridors were exceedingly dark. I took the lift up to the 4th floor, the elevator doors opened, and I stepped into what might as well have been a black hole. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all afraid of the dark, but I literally had to use my phone to light up the hallway, where found I was standing in front of a closed door and a flight of stairs. I had no idea if I was supposed to go through the door or take the stairs, so I took the lift back down and asked at reception - yes, I was meant to go through the door, and there was apparently a light switch to the right hand side of it. It would have been nice to have known that beforehand; better still, it would have been nice for the hallway lights to already have been on.

It doesn't end there, because I opened the door and was greeted with another pitch black corridor. At least the light switch here had a little orange glow light on it, so I didn't have to go searching through the dark for it. However, they were timed lights, and before I even found my room right down the end of the corridor, the lights went out.

My concern here is for safety - both physically and personally. Although I didn't have any immediate problems with the darkness, I do think that if you are elderley or are anxious about dark / unsafe areas, then stay away from this hotel.

If this doesn't worry you and you're looking for an affordable, convenient place to stay, then I highly recommend it.

I was visiting one of my clients with a work colleague. Our Travel department booked us into this hotel.

The flight to Brussels from London Gatwick was excellent and my client had organised us a taxi to take us to from Brussels Airport to this hotel.

The taxi driver was horrified that we were being located in a very dodgy area of Brussels and he was concerned about our safety, so much so he advised us not to leave the hotel at night.

The hotel was dirty, dated with no restaurant. It says on the web site that it is 3 star, but it is the worst hotel I have ever had the misfortune of staying in.

My work colleague did not want to use the bath in her room as it was so dirty with lots of mould.

Our travel department & management team are now aware not to book anyone into this place.

I thought this hotel was well positioned, a 10 Min walk to the square and a 10 minute walk to the Train station.
The room was clean, tidy and quite roomy for the price.
The breakfast was basic but good to have included in the price.
I found the people at reception very nice.
My only concern was the shower leaked in the corner making the bathroom floor quite wet. Other than this small problem i found the hotel to be pretty good.

The Hotel Artistote is further from the Grand Place in Brussels than their description would lead you to believe. As I walked past dozens of hotels on the way to the Aristote this became obvious.

It is in a bad neighborhood - I was robbed by two men posing as Belgian police who accused me of selling drugs and demanded to see my passport. While one distracted me with accusations, the other lifted the money in my wallet - about 250 Euros. When I reported this to the desk clerk, his attitude was "it was only money - you didn't get hurt." He then told me of the several times he had been robbed and even showed me his Mace for when it happened again! When I reported it to the police, they had the same attitude - no blood, no foul I guess is the attitude there - they did not even seem upset that the robbers had impersonated police officers.

I decided to leave and not stay at the hotel, so I cannot comment on the rooms. I certainly will avoid that part of Brussels in the future!