de Gulde Schoen

Many things were broken in de room, the AC which made an strange noise the entire night, the shower, the remote to the fire place etc.. the rooms look amazing, but functionality wise it wasn't what we expected.

This place is no longer a hotel! It has been transformed into an airbnb-style managed place but still claims itself as a professional hotel with a front desk on many booking sites. If you try to call the number they provide during the "welcome email", it is no longer active, and they do not respond to their email address, at least not within the duration of a several day stay. When we arrived, the hotel had "for rent" signs on the front window and looked completely abandoned. We ran into one guest who was staying here through airbnb and showed us how to enter, via a small side door. We then had to do the same for an older couple who were outside the following evening bewildered. They didn't even have a room number and had to go around to each room trying their access code since that is all that you are provided 48hrs before your stay, without clear instructions of what to do with it. The room itself, at first glance, was as beautiful as the photos showed, because it used to be a luxury hotel. However, they have not been well-maintained since the transition and are starting to lose some of their grandeur. Our room was incredibly dusty, the toilet leaked on the floor when it was flushed, one of the windows had been repaired with tape, and the heat/AC unit did not work. It seems like even when it does work, you are "restricted" in what you can set - nearly every button we clicked led to this - and whichever mode we tried to turn on, the unit would go on for a few minutes, make a lot of noise, blow zero air and then turn itself off. Despite it being several beautiful summer days and evenings in Antwerp - highs of 23C, lows of 10C - our room was unbearably hot at night to sleep. We had one window that could open and even with this, the room temperature only lowered by 1 C. Overall, the only positive about this place was its location. But at the prices they charge, if you were specifically looking for a real hotel like we were, (in order to avoid just these sorts of problems!), you will be sorely disappointed.

We had stayed at this hotel before and had a lovely experience, so we decided to return. How disappointed we were to learn that it’s no longer a hotel, but just rooms for rent. The restaurant and reception have been fully demolished. During our three-night stay, there was no room cleaning at all. Nobody replied to our WhatsApp messages, and we couldn’t leave our luggage after check-out because there was no lobby or staff available. It wasn’t communicated to us that the hotel had transformed into an Airbnb-style operation upon booking. When we checked their website, it stated that this transition would begin on May 14th, but we arrived on the 11th. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. I don’t think they should still represent themselves as a hotel at all.