Best Western Orchidee ****

In het hotel hebben we niet verbleven, maar het restaurant hebben we wel met vrienden bezocht. Hierover dit: De keuken is bijzonder middelmatig en de kaart getuigt van zero inspiratie. Op mijn opmerking dat de carpaccio te koud/quasi bevrozen was kwam de repliek voor de ganse tafel 'dat dit onmogelijk was'. Moet het gezegd dat ik dergelijk antwoord totaal niet kon smaken... letterlijk, nog figuurlijk Ik kom hier dan ook nooit meer terug!

I can't understand why other reviews spoke about this being on an industrial estate, they must have entered it from the wrong direction. The hotel was easy to find, we parked up and did not need our car for the duration of our stay. We had booked the trendy room with booking.com and were disappointed to find that it is exactly the same as the standard room, but the manager was kind enough to upgrade us for free to the suite. I would return to this hotel but would book the suite not a room as to my mind the rooms are NOT 4 star standard. The suite was very comfortable. On our first day we asked the concierge to direct us towards some restaurants, we simply had to walk down the side of the hotel, 50 yards and were in a square. Only problem is they still smoke in bars in Belgium so we had to avoid a few due to sons asthma. From the square if you go down the high street all the way to the end on the right is the train station. Children travel free. It cost us 8 euros return to travel to Bruge and the same for Ghent. Breakfast was as one would expect, don't expect a fry up and you won't be disappointed, the usual suspects were there, juices yogurts cereals bread, cheeses hams, pastries and boiled egg and a few belgium dishes. It felt small and friendly and my son got to play with the owner's son who was very well mannered. My criticism would be that we could not get food before 8 pm on week days and there was some problem with food on sunday. Also the smoke from the bar travels up to the room. We did not experience any problems with outside noise and for value and location (half hour drive from ostend) it is a brilliant base to explore bruge and ghent.

We were looking for an independant hotel for a night while travelling to southern Germany from UK, wanted to be easy to find and close to our route. Just couldn't find anything in our price range so opted for Hotel Orchidee which was close enough to easily get to Gent for half a day's sightseeing. The public car park was just a couple of minutes walk from the hotel and felt very safe. Staff were great. Room was clean, comfortable, modern, quiet. After checking in we took some cycle brochures from reception, jumped on our bikes and followed completely flat cycle routes around the area for an hour or two, found some superb houses in a big forest. Later checked out the town, very small, several attractive bars on the square, can't remember the name of the one we chose to sample two or three local beers, good service again. In the end we decided to miss Gent on this occasion as we were afraid of getting stuck in Friday afternoon traffic round Brussels. We'll definitely stay here again.

Booked this hotel for an overnight stay on the way to Germany. Car parking was public & 5 minute walk from hotel. Room was tired, scuffed & not very good, there was damaged flooring by window & a very noisy fridge ! Bathroom was basic, overhead shower with inadequate water flow, cheap shower curtain which was pulled in by the extraction system, poor lighting and a basin that did not retain water due to a loose fitting plug. Also the towels were cheap & very small. Have stayed in much better rooms in 2 star hotels. On the plus side the staff were very helpful & both the bar & restaurant light & bright with very good service. The menu was small but adequate & reasonably priced by Belgium standards. Breakfast was continental buffet with a fairly good choice. Why does the hotel not train staff to check out the rooms properly, most things can be corrected with very little cost & effort. This hotel really does not warrant a 4 star rating even allowing for Best Westerns optimistic approach to grading. Will not stay at this hotel again.