SUMMARY
An expensive hotel in an expensive area. You get a high class product, commensurate with the area and you more or less get what you pay for but you certainly do have to pay!
SITUATION
This is just up the road from the Pavillon du Zoute, which I reviewed a couple of years ago, so the location stuff applies here, too. Think: Dulwich Village meets Bond Street.
ARCHITECTURE
Peculiar, in a word. Looking at the back of the building, it seems that an old building had a new wing tacked onto it in the 1970s. It's none the worse for it - just a bit odd.
VFM
Tricky, this. It is an expensive hotel - well over a hundred notes a night, B&B. There's no restaurant (but a dining room for breakfast) though there is a kind of a bar. That said, our room was as good as almost any in which I've stayed. Thinking about other places, I don't think this represents VFM but add the 'Het Zoute/Oosthoek' factor and it's bang on the money.
SERVICE
It’s an independent hotel run (I think) by a family and service was spot on. Check in was seamless. We were expected and the extras that I'd ordered were provided. I mention this, as I booked online (via a site with an Ozzie domain, oddly) and I don't trust robots. We had drinks there (at the hotel, not the Ozzie website, you understand) occasionally and these were served promptly and with a (genuine) smile. Breakfast was a well organised affair, too. Mr Hotel was very happy to help when asked for advice and assistance (my Dutch doesn’t pass muster).
THE ROOM, DECOR &c
Others have described it as a living, breathing advert for the Scapa style house. It is but there's nothing inherently wrong with that. It certainly gives the place a distinctive style. A major pastime for the folk round Het Zoute is looking trendy and generally beautiful, as much as being seen to be looking trendy etc. Over-priced shops like Scapa happily feed this obsession. Google them and clock the prices!
I level no criticism against the hotel but this must be the hottest room we've ever known. We ROASTED almost every night, despite leaving a window open. I never did work that one out. My only minor carp is that it was very slightly frayed around the edges. Panels missing under the eaves, raw plugs left in where appliances had been removed, broken patio light and damaged wallpaper not made good. I don't want to dwell on these imperfections. It was a very good room, make no mistake.
The room was large with (joy of joys) a decent sized bed - I think it was a super king. I get fed up being asked to share a three-quarter bed masquerading as a double, so this was very welcome. The bathroom and lavatory were in a separate part of the room, behind their own door. The bathroom was a good size, with separate washbasins for him ‘n’ her. Bathrobes were included. We had a private patio, which was a perfect delight on sunny evenings, ample wardrobe space (almost unheard of) and one of those pod coffee machines, which turns out a drinkable brew. The TV had about a million channels on it.
FOOD 'N' DRINK
Breakfast was the usual Flemish affair of meats and cheeses. Fruit, pastries and so on were also available. All were superb quality. We ordered coffee a couple of times when we got in after dinner. Ordering a brandy produced a bathful of the stuff. No complaints, mind, but you do need to prepare your liver for this.
...AND FINALLY
If I can save up all my pocket money for the next five years and if we stay in the Oosthoek again, we'd like to go back to the St Pol. It's a charming little hotel that could teach its larger neighbour a thing or two.
- Hotel St Pol
