Kirstin L
Google
Pacific Cafe Hotel was better than sleeping outside, but you might end up sleeping out there anyway. I arrived around 9pm, and pressed the call button on the door. It really shouldn’t have been labeled as that, because no one was watching it for travelers like myself. Instead, I had to dig through my email to learn that I was supposed to receive an arrival email before I got there. Spoiler alert, I didn’t get it before I arrived. I did get it at 3:15am of the second morning of my stay though! I had to call the number listed in my email to get information to get in. They eventually gave me the door code and told me the room I was in (101) and the combination for the lockbox outside my door. FYI, the elevator that takes you to the first floor takes you to an unlit entryway to room 103. All other 100 rooms can only be accessed by the stairs.|Once in my room, I was pretty surprised to see that you accessed the bedroom via the bathroom, which was attached to the entry. It was definitely startling. But there were sliding doors that provided privacy between the bedroom and bathroom and entry and bathroom, so I appreciated that you could separate the spaces. Additionally, it wasn’t the cleanest. The red carpet had tons of stains on it, and the counter next to the sink had stains from before I arrived. I was exhausted, so I quickly got into bed, where I discovered that one of the outlets next to the bed did not work, as well as one of the lights next to the bed did not turn on, and one of the switches did not seem to control anything. The phone next to the bed turned out to be purely decorative. I picked it up and there was no dial tone despite the phone being plugged in. The bed however, was fairly comfortable. Though I did wish I had a top sheet, but I recognize that’s uncommon in Europe.|The next morning, I decided to deal with the Wi-Fi situation. When I arrived, I didn’t see any Wi-Fi information, so I opted to leave the problem for the next day as I was exhausted. I called the desk that morning and was told that they “didn’t know the name of the network as it can change, so try the one with the strongest signal”. I tried every network possible with the password I was given, and none worked. I tried variations of the password. It didn’t work. I reached out via WhatsApp and was told that a technician would be working on it that day. No one did. The next day, there was still no Wi-Fi. They said a technician would be working on it that day and it would be taken care of by the end of the day. It wasn’t. After at least five calls to Booking.com to try to resolve the situation and many different answers, they never resolved the problem.|The morning after I arrived, I went out to explore Brussels. When I returned that afternoon, the key card reader for the door was not working. I called and was asked to send a video to the number on WhatsApp. I sent the video and waited about 20 minutes before I received a response. After another 20 minutes of back and forth and waiting outside in the cold, I was told to use the door combination from my email (the one I didn’t receive until the next morning). They eventually provided me with the door code so I could get in. Once I got to my door, my card key was not working. I reached out again, and was again told to send a video of me trying to open my door. I provided the video and waited for a reply. After another 20 minutes, they said they were escalating it to the “necessary department”. I was sitting outside my room waiting this entire time. About 30 minutes later, I was given the combination to the safe, where they kept EVERY KEY to get my own key and let myself in. I’m sorry, but this is so beyond unacceptable to me. I find this to be a huge security issue, as I could’ve easily accessed any other room with the card keys in the safe.|I had been speaking with representatives at Booking.com during this debacle, and they were working with the hotel to get me out of my reservation. After the hotel initially said that I was able to leave early and be refunded, they reneged on their earlier statement after I was able to access my room, stating that the problem had been solved. I find this unacceptable, as I would’ve needed to access the room before I checked out regardless in order to gather my belongings. Their statement that I was now able to access the room (not to mention the already existing Wi-Fi issue), meant that they had upheld their end of their contract, is untrue, as I was not given everything I had been promised in my booking (specifically included Wi-Fi).|When I went to take a shower, I was excited to use the rainfall shower head. Don’t worry if you don’t like them, it didn’t work. I had to use the handheld nozzle, which ended up leaking out the side of the tub because the glass barrier was not actually attached to the tub, leaving a nice gap for water to get all over the floor.|A minor inconvenience was the lack of soap at the sink. I would’ve loved to be able to actually wash my hands, but compared to everything else wrong, that’s only a small issue. I also would have liked to have a cup for when I brushed my teeth, but that likewise was not provided.|The TV did work, and I was happy to enjoy some of the World Cup from bed. As anticipated, no broadcasts were in English, but that’s unsurprising, given that English is not a main language in Belgium. So if you hope to enjoy TV while visiting, be aware that you will need to either watch something in a different language, or watch on your own device. I didn’t see any issue with this, as I was still able to get the gist of what was going on, and there was even an episode of Property Brothers (dubbed over) that I was able to pick some of the English out of.|I will NEVER return to this hotel, and will be telling everyone I know (and people I don’t know) to stay FAR, FAR away from this hotel if they value their sanity while on vacation.
