I travel quite a bit for work, and have recently decided that the hotel loyalty thing – always staying at the same chain, and collecting loyalty points – wasn’t doing anything for me. I wasn’t using the room nights, and don’t seem to get any perks.

But everywhere I go, I see cool weird hotels that I think wish I had stayed at.

So I’ve started actively seeking out these weird hotels, rather than the usual Marriott or Hilton. I’ve ben eyeing Hôtel Mozart, in Brussels, for years, and this time decided to stay there.

It was quite an experience. It appears it was build by a drunk architect, with winding stairs going in all directions, not-square corners in all the rooms, strange acloves everywhere, positively stuffed with art. All of the walls are elaborate moroccan tiles. There was a fountain outside my room, just because. The doors are all gorgeously carved.

The guy who owns it used to live in California, and moved to Brussels years ago to run this hotel. There are photos in the lobby showing his extensive world travels.

My room was tiny, but that’s fine. I mostly view a hotel as a place to sleep, rather than as a destination. But the door to my bathroom was also elaborately carved, and had stained glass windows!

It’s maybe a minute walk from Grand Place, maybe 3 minutes from Centraal (the train station), and surrounded by all manner of great restaurants – Greek, Korean, Indian, Peruvian, and so on, not to mention a zillion chocolate shops, bars, souveneir stores, and so on.

The staff was attentive and friendly, the beds clean and comfortable, and the (Free!) breakfast every morning delightful.

I will definitely be staying here again.

More photos on Flickr, including full-sided versions of all of these ones.