Holiday Inn Express GENT

The hotel was really impressive. A Holiday Inn Express is not some place where you expect to find the highest levels of cleanliness, service, and good food, but I found all three. I was extremely pleasantly surprised. In particular, the staff were very helpful, and master linguists: Flemish, French, English and German were spoken well by all that I met. The staff were so helpful, I'm at a loss to describe in detail what I liked best about them. They gave me good advice for tourism, restaurants, mass transit, etc... Unfortunately, one day I got extremely sick and needed a doctor. They found someone willing to make a house call !! And then they arranged a car to take me to a pharmacy so I could get my prescription filled while I waited. Really helpful people. The only thing is that the hotel is located very far from the center of Ghent. So you just cannot walk. You can take a bus if you like, but the taxis are very cheap and highly reliable. Probably the best bet is to rent a car, or to drive to the hotel, because then you have total freedom. The hotel has its own protected parking lot.

The hotel is neat, clean and the staff is cordial. For business visit it is most suitable. Breakfast is included in the tariff. There are no shuttles but you could order a taxi. Very close from the University hospital and not too far from the center of the city.

The hotel is clean and tidy and a good price for Belgium with breakfast and (slow speed) internet for free. Ideal for business travellers with meetings in the neighbourhood as it is close to highway. Nice running outside for those wanting some exercise.

The hotel is too far from Gent in an industrial park. Nothing nearby, and the public transportation consists of a bus that comes about once every 40 minutes. It's service stops at 11pm and will take you only to the tram station, where you must change a pay for a tram. Total time using public transportation to downtown Gent is about 1 and 1/2 hours and 5 euros. Additionally, the hotel nickel and dimes you to death. The free internet includes spotty wireless limited to 128K speed. For broadband speeds, expect to shell out some money! Also, expect to pay 8 euros for the luxury of parking your vehicle in their outdoor parking lot. (The only place to park!)The rooms are minimalistic and not very soundproof due to the cheap construction.The best feature in the hotel is the morning breakfast, that was surprisingly good.On checkout, expect to pay more euros per person as the hotel collects "city taxes", [...]. It doesn't make sense to be paying city taxes since you are so far outside the city...All in all, I would suggest this as a hotel to be left as a last resort. I would, however, recommend the quaint city of Gent.