Raphaëlles Boutique b&b

Some people shouldn’t be in the hospitality business. The property is attractive and well located, but the management is so poor that it spoils the experience. We arrived at 3:20 for a 3:00 start time and rang the bell. Nothing. Rang again. Nothing. Spent ten minutes looking for special instructions on *******. Nope. There are two phone numbers on a card in the window. Leave messages at both. Stand in the hot sun for another ten minutes or so. Try the bell a few times. Call again. Suddenly the door opens! “Yes?” They say, as if they’ve been there the whole time. They let us in. No apology or mention that they’re not answering the bell or phone. They grimly show us the room but don’t offer to help with our bags. The staircase is terrifying. Like you might fall through at any moment. There are holes in the treads and the railing feels like it’s going to pull off in your hand. A sign at reception says no outside food or drink. You may only consume things you buy from the bar or mini bar. Very Flemish. We’re a few minutes after 12:00 leaving and they knock grimly on the door. We rush downstairs by 12:15 and ask if we can leave our suitcases for a few hours since our train leaves at 17:00. No they can’t accommodate that. Our train ticket says we need to bring a printed copy. We ask if they can print the ticket for us on their printer. Nope again! They’re too busy. But still had time to print our receipt with us standing there. Miserable place.

Such a beautiful property, we loved the modern but cosy design. Exceptionally clean and finished to a high standard. The room we stayed in was spacious and we found it very comfortable with everything we needed. I liked that once checked in, we had a code to access the front door and our room so we could come and go as we pleased, much like in a hotel. Husband and wife team at the property were friendly, helpful and not intrusive. We were given a mobile number to call if we needed anything. We had a mini tour of our room on arrival to show us how the lighting, heating, and air con worked. Rooms have a chargeable mini bar with drinks and snacks and and pricing was clear in the room. There was a coffee machine in the room also. We stayed for two nights and had a wonderful time exploring the city, it’s a beautiful place and we’d love to go back again in the spring. Everything just a few minutes walk away and so many lovely shops and great places to eat. We parked in one of the city’s multistory car parks, Zilverpand, only a 5 minute walk away and it cost us around 30 euros for two nights which we thought was reasonable. Would definitely book to stay here again, it was perfect to us!

They took every opportunity to charge an extra few euros, staff weren’t particularly friendly in particular the old chap. How can a luxury hotel not have hand soap? How can the tap water be undrinkable but then charge €3.50 for a small bottle of water? Breakfast somehow went from €25 euro per person to €28 on the bill, and they charge for any extras!