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Rocco Forte Hotel Amigo Brussels
For years, I have wanted to stay at a Rocco Forte Hotel. If you’re unfamiliar, Rocco Forte, operates 5 star hotels across Europe and their reputation is superb service nested in personal, boutique properties. Most of them are not just luxury hotels, but found in architecturally significant buildings in superb locations.
This was the case of the Rocco Forte Hotel Amigo Brussels, and was a great spot to spend the night exploring Brussels after flying Emirates Game Changer First Class from Dubai to Brussels.
Stay Details:
- When: January 2023
- Where: Brussels, Belgium
- Rate: 300Euros
- Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts
- 100 Euro property credit
- Breakfast for 2
- 4pm late check out
- Room Upgrade
Booking
My buddy Dave booked this hotel with via American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts, and utilized his $200 hotel credit to offset the room rate which was just under 300 Euros.
Location:
We chose this property due to it’s location.
Not only is it a 10 min uber from the train station, but only a minute or two from the Manequin Pis, and maybe 60 seconds from the Grand Place. Truly an extraordinary location.
Check-in
The hotel feels boutique and 5 star; however, my first impression was that it could use a bit of a refresh. It’s not tired, but this grande dame is starting to show its age, and I’d say that carried over to the rest of the common spaces and rooms.
Room:
The room was quite small, nice, but small and cold. In fact, we couldn’t raise the temperature of the room despite adjusting the thermostat and we surmised this was because of the limitations by the Belgium government on energy usage. We ended up sleeping in heavy pajamas and throwing extra blankets on the beds.
I enjoyed the stay, but my teeth were clattering a bit.
We requested 2 twin beds, but as you can see, they were a bit close together lol.
The closet and safe along with slippers
Bathroom:
Small but the water pressure was excellent!
A few of the amenities:
Gym:
The building is old and you need to wind and weave your way over to the gym. It’s nice, but small…are you noticing a running theme?
Dining:
Lobby Bar
We ate in the lobby bar, which is comprised of two rooms, and used up our $100 credit. It was notably cold regardless of room we sat in, and in all honesty, I thought the food to be quite unremarkable. I did order an American style dish vs something more traditionally Belgian so perhaps they would excel more on items within their own wheelhouse.
Bocconi
Breakfast in the morning was beaufitul and very good. Not only was the buffet quite extensive, but you could order hot items as well…like a Belgian waffle.
Overall:
I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again if the price were right. The location can’t be beat, within 10 to 15 minutes walk of the Brussels Palace, St Michele Cathedral, and roughly 30 minute walk to the European Parliament.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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