MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center Review | Brussels Budget Backpacking Hostel

August 24, 2019

We wanted a hostel near Brussels city center since we'd spend the bulk of our time there, and MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center was a natural choice for us considering it's only a 15-minute walk away from tourist attractions such as Grand Palace, Manneken Pis etc.

Room

We booked the Standard 10 Bed Mixed Dorm Ensuite. MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center's beds were a bit small but I'm quite tiny (154cm) so it wasn't much of a problem but you might want to take that into consideration if you're taller or bigger. There are a plug and a reading light for every bed, which was sufficient. There really isn't much to complain about except my roommate's snored sounded like the earth rumbling and kept me up all night but that's out of the hostel's control.

On the left of the photo, you can spot a yellow cabinet — not sure why I didn't take a proper photo of it but that's the lockers for guests to use. The lockers fit 20-inch luggage or a backpack so if your luggage is bigger, you won't be able to utilise them.

Toilet

MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center's toilet is attached to the room, which posed a bit of a problem considering 10 people were sharing one toilet but nothing civilised people can't handle.

The shower area was a bit like a shallow bathtub. I found the drainage extremely slow — my feet were soaked in water within 2 minutes of my shower. It took approximately 15 minutes for the water to completely drain, which meant I either had to stand in the toilet for 15 minutes after I was done showering or exit immediately and have the next person enter the toilet to my shower water wtf. Neither was a good choice.

We tried approaching the service counter for help but was ignored. Oh well.

Common Area

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yi Tsing 怡靜 (@pekyj) on Feb 2, 2019 at 3:52am PST

Since MEININGER is a chain hostel/hotel, its common area was beautifully done up and perfect for socialising. MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center had a photobooth for guests to utilise (€2, or S$3.2) and they serve breakfast as well although it's not free.

Service

As I mentioned, we were kind of dismissed when we approached them regarding the toilet drainage system. Our request to stay in the same room as our friend was ignored as well.

Safety

The streets near MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center are perhaps the safest I felt in the entirety of my Europe trip. In fact, I never once felt unsafe on the streets of Brussels even late at night.

Will I return to MEININGER Hotel Bruxelles City Center?

I might look at other options but I'm not completely shutting down the idea of returning.