Hotel in zona Sankt Rochus, Raeren

We were nicely surprised by this new (or recently refurbished?) family-run hotel. It is very cozy, laid out in a ”motel” style where each room is entered from either the courtyard or a courtyard balcony. We did not use the swimming pool but its use was offered. The courtyard garden and surroundings are beautifully kept and fit well with quite picturesque neighbourhood of Eynatten. There are five restaurants within a walking distance if you happen to arrive, like us, on Sunday night when the hotel restaurant is closed. The breakfast was very good and when there was a slight confusion as to the time the brakfast started, the family started running around and managed to start the breakfast within minutes after our (early) arrival to the breakfast room. The location close to the highway makes it a nice place to stop on a long journey.

I have stayed in this hotel quite a number of times and consistently the quality of my stay has been high. This time was no exception. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The room and the bathroom were spotless and had everything I needed. The WiFi was complimentary and worked really well. The signal was strong and stable. There was one thing that I'd like to see changed though. You need to register every day, but the login process is confusing. After you've agreed to the terms and conditions and clicked on the button to get the free WiFi, another window pops up and it wants to know things from you. This is however not needed to sign up for the WiFi and seems to be purely for marketing purposes. By clicking on the right link, you can skip it. The room was not all that large, but the space was definitely adequate. There was more than enough space for my clothes and other things. The water boiler plus complimentary tea and coffee was convenient, just as the very large safety deposit box that easily fit my 15” laptop, plus other belongings. The work desk was small and especially with a regular chair, not suitable to work at for a longer period of time. The TV was small and had a limited set of channels, but that was not so relevant for me. A detail, but really useful, is that there are sufficient power outlets and at the right place. This makes it very easy to charge your devices. The bathroom was on the small side, but fully functional and the water pressure from the showerhead was more than sufficient. Only minor thing that I've noticed in the past too, is that it requires some engineering creativity to keep the showerhead in the right position. This should definitely be improved. It is annoying and unnecessary. Last, but not at all least, was the breakfast buffet. I really enjoyed it. This is mostly a continental style buffet, but with an amazing amount of choices, including various types of fresh and very tasty breads, yoghurts, fruits, cheeses, juices, cereal, etc. This is a great example to other hotels how to serve a healthy, yet delicious breakfast.

L'albergo si trova in una zona molto trafficata e non ha uno spazio dove parcheggiare l'auto per scaricare e caricare i bagagli. Bisogna fermarsi a proprio rischio di tamponamento, multa e insulti. La stanza per fortuna dava sull'interno (vista su scala antiincendio e tuie morte in vaso) e quindi era silenziosa. Però era minuscola e zeppa di due poltroncine e un tavolino. Questi erano gli unici luoghi dove mettere le valigie, visto che l'armadio ne poteva contenere una insieme a qualche indumento e noi, per un viaggio di tre settimane, che prevedeva una breve sosta ad Aquisgrana, di valigie ne avevamo quattro. Il frigo era spento per motivi ecologici, diceva il cartellino che si trovava al suo interno, e nessuna richiesta avrebbe potuto farlo riaccendere. Se volevate acqua fresca potevate andare a piano terra e prelevarla a pagamento da un distributore, ma solo dalle 7 alle 24. Il bagno era grande, ma, in tanto vuoto, la doccia era aperta e i ganci per gli asciugamani erano posti in modo da essere facili bersagli del getto d' acqua. La stanza era pulita, ma questo è meno del minimo.

Anche se non ci aspettavamo che le nostre camere fossero nel Castello stesso, l'alloggio nei moderni blocchi era corporativo e disgustoso e, sebbene descritto come ”deluxe con balcone”, non avevano visione della vecchia pila o di qualsiasi altra cosa di particolare interesse. Per essere onesti, sono rimasto in più interessanti Travel Lodges nel Regno Unito e ho pagato la metà del prezzo. L'intero posto ha oso la medicrittura, dal cameriere di check-in che non ha fatto alcuna raccomandazione su come sperimentare il Castello che, in effetti, è stato sigillato a il nostro bagno, che non aveva luce naturale o aria e doccia nel bagno. Tutti molto deludenti. Il pranzo nella vecchia Milla d'acqua è stato disgustato da un ritardo di 25 minuti prima di vedere un menu e distanze estremamente lunghe tra i corsi che abbiamo messo sotto la mancanza di personale della cucina o forse la mancanza di menù inglese, entrambi sembravano plausibili. Il cibo stesso era di alta qualità/medio range, anche se certamente non gourmet o di buon cibo. Insomma, i vini Limburg non erano inclusi nell'elenco, ma un numero molto limitato di bottiglie provenienti dal vigneto migliore promosso nella regione erano disponibili per il vetro su richiesta. Il servizio aveva i suoi guai, come chiederci cosa volevamo bere prima di essere stati forniti un elenco di bevande/vini, ma è stato generalmente caratterizzato da uno sforzo sincero di fornire un servizio attento. Abbiamo scelto di non avere il buffet per colazione a 23 euro a getto e, sebbene il direttore di check-out abbia riconosciuto verbalmente che non avevamo partecipato, in qualche modo ha incluso un articolo sulla fattura ”consegna di colazione esclusa”. che ha aggiunto 46 euro alla fattura (sì, aggiunto) che abbiamo scoperto solo quando siamo pronti a partire. È assolutamente stupido e un simbolicamente adatto per finire la nostra avventura sbagliata a Kastel Vaalsbroek.

We stayed at the Mercure Aachen Europaplatz for one night in May 2023. This was an overnight stop on our Journey from the UK to Bonn. The hotel is in a good location, very close to the motorway and with easy access to Aachen. Check in was quick and very efficient. The staff where extremely helpful and pleasant and made us feel very welcome. We had 2 rooms including a disabled room. Both where very well laid out. Clean, Functional and very comfortable. The disabled room was a wet room style which was perfect for my sister with whom I was travelling. Plenty of space, and well laid out. The only downside if anything was that the bed was a little lower then expected. We ate in the restaurant in the evening, the food was very enjoyable, the staff extremely helpful especially with getting a table set up for a wheelchair and overall seemed to be good value. Breakfast was included in the morning but had very limited choices however this may have been as we arrived close to the finishing time. Overall this was a very nice hotel with easy access, good parking, friendly staff, nice rooms and offered good value. I would not hesitate to stay here again if i had the opportunity.