Overall this was a good hotel. My partner picked it out and we went for our 2 year anniversary. It was our first time in Genk.
The Carbon Hotel is modern and a "design hotel" which means it does lack a bit in terms of practicality. The bathtub in the middle of the room for example is nice for relaxing in but it is surrounded by a concrete wall which comes down to about head level (yes I do have a bump on my head still!) Also, the bathroom light is automatic so it comes on when you go in, waking up your partner. If you try to close the bathroom door it scrapes along the floor (at least it does in room 414). Also, the area where you change clothes is in the main bedroom (the bathroom just has a toilet and shower, no mirrors etc) so you don't get privacy.
The room was clean and nicely furnished. The lighting system was rather complicated and they give you a paper (in Dutch) with instructions of how to work all the lights. The switches are impossible to find in the dark (but the step up into the bathroom isn't!).
The bed was comfortable. The shower is nice although there's nowhere to put shampoo, conditioner etc, just a tiny shelf for a bar of soap and nothing else. The circular thin toilet seat is really uncomfortable and you only get 2 medium towels and 2 tiny towels so if you want to wash your hair, ladies, you'll need to ask for another one. I did that and received 1 "clean towel" with dried blood stains on. Yuk!
The "free minibar" consists of 1 orange juice, 1 Coca Cola and 1 still water, but there is a refrigerator so bring your own drink if you want. You also get a robe and slippers. You can keep the slippers. When you pay they charge 5 euros "city tax" per day plus 11 euros for parking per day. The car park is underneath the hotel.
The restaurant is expensive but the dinner was very good overall until the end when the waiter forgot to bring my drink and it was hard to get service. Strange really since it was good until that point. Also, the forgotten drink was on the bill.
Breakfast was good. There was bacon and scrambled eggs, toast, croissants, sweet pastries, ham, cheese, 2 kinds of cereal, yogurt, orange juice, chocolate milk, tea, coffee and fruit salad, buffet style. It's 19 euros each which is a lot so you might prefer to eat breakfast somewhere else, but it's unlimited so if you like a hearty breakfast you'll like this.
We booked a couple's massage in the spa. My partner opted for the hot stone massage and I opted for an aromatherapy massage. When we arrived they hadn't heated up the stones so we had to wait for 20 minutes. The massage room was FREEZING cold and the girl who did my massage had cold hands. The oil was also cold so even though it was meant to be relaxing all I could think about was my goosebumps. They wouldn't turn up the heating. The massages were 85 euros per person for 55 minutes which is on the high side and we were both really cold at the end of it. So much for relaxation! The hallways are really cold too, as is the wine bar downstairs. The rooms have air conditioning or heating so you can control that, although the cleaner does like to leave the windows wide open so it's like getting back to a refrigerator, brrr.
There isn't anything to do in the immediate area apart from a few shops but we drove to the Maas-Mechelen to have a look around and also to Aachen.
I would recommend this hotel if you want something a bit different. I wouldn't recommend the massage because the room is so cold. We didn't use the sauna. There is no pool. I'd recommend eating in the Gusto restaurant at least one night because the food is good quality. But I think spending a few more cents heating the massage room and hallways wouldn't break the bank.
- Carbon Hotel Genk
