Casa Borsalino, Gent, Belgium

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Stayed for a long-weekend in late October 2009, for the incredibly cool and well organised I LOVE TECHNO - festival.

Pros:

Centrally located near the historical centre of town.
(For the younger/studenty parts of town, try the area around the main cinema)

Large rooms with lots of space under the ceiling.

Bathtub in the main bathroom, separate toilet/shower room.

Large double-bed, single-bed in separate room.

The Italian restaurant/pizzeria on the ground floor looks inviting, but we never ventured past the breakfasts.

Cons:

Sewage-smell from shower-room pipes. This may have been a city-wide problem as there were major road works with accompanying odours across large parts of Gent.

Ramshackle interior, seems like the owners only show a bare minimum of attention to this apartment. No working radiators, 3/4 of lightbulbs not working.

No change of towels or anything else. We didn't really care, others might. I'm sure the staff would provide fresh towels if asked.

No working wifi even if the signal was excellent, gave up asking the staff after a while.

No elevator.

Unremarkable breakfast. Bread, cheese and ham, but plenty of it. My English accomplices complained about the selection in teas. Italian coffees.

Surprisingly tenacious mosquitoes at night, again not necessarily specific to this establishment.

Adjusting temperature of water in sink and shower works opposite to common doctrine (Red = Cold). The temperature in shower would suddenly drop or rise.

...

Could possibly be recommended to those whose requirements are limited to central location and spacious rooms with no extra mod-cons. Although described as a Bed & Breakfast, I would rather compare it to hiring a low rent apartment. That said, with very little effort the place could be a whole lot better.

You receive a key to the front door and the apartment, so have full access 24/7.

TV with some English-speaking channels (BBC1, BBC1, Eurosport etc.)

It should be stressed that the above can only be verified for the 3rd floor flat, and that we got the impression that other rooms in the building could be of a higher standard.

Overall

2

Location

4

Cleanliness

2

Value

3

Facilities

1

Service

2

jkolderup stayed here in Oct '09