... but Leuven is not a good place to look for a hotel. It seems this charming university town doesn't have many possibilities for accommodation, and so, prices for *** match what would go for ***** in other places. The New Damshire is, I think, the best hotel in the mid-range, so if one wants to pay around € 100 a night (rather than € 150), which most visitors to Leuven dom, because they tend to be on the academic side, then it is a good choice. (If € 150 is okay, then Het Klooster is the best, following by the hotel in the Groot Begijnhoof, the UNESCO world hertitage site.)

It is a small hotel over a corner pub, with modernized rooms. Still, rooms to the front will be loud, also during the night, in spite of the good windows. The mattresses were lacking in quality and comfort, the curtains don't keep the street light out, the heat is electric and therefore loud during the night (automatic switch on/off), the hangers in the closet are instable and fall down, there is no hairdryer in the room (as it says on the website, but you can get one at the reception), the shower is not easy to handle, and so on.

But there is friendly staff, the location is convenient for tourism and academics, there is a garage across the street where one can park the car (rare in downtown Leuven), the breakfast is limited but certainly adequate, there is one free internet terminal in the bar, it is not a standardized chain hotel, and so on.

In short, for the € 100 price range, this is as good as it gets in Leuven, and if one does not expect more than a low-end *** pub hotel, it is actually fine.