Rocco Forte Hotel Amigo

Review of Rocco Forte Hotel Amigo

BusinessClass.com review by Varun Sharma
Updated 11. Aug 2023

Located in the very heart of historic Brussels, Rocco Forte Hotels’ award-winning Hotel Amigo offers a luxuriously upscale and stylishly elegant retreat, a short distance from all the city’s major attractions. Offering 173 air-conditioned bedrooms including 19 suites decorated in group interior designer Olga Polizzi’s (Sir Rocco Forte’s sister) distinctively understated style, the hotel nevertheless features many Belgian touches for a reassuring sense of place. Examples include a family friendly Tintin Suite and a stylish Presidential Suite Magritte whilst the Royal Suite Blaton has its own private roof terrace offering a view of the Tower of the City Hall, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Beloved of the powerful, the thespian and the affluent, this Belgian outpost also offers a renowned Italian restaurant, a jazz bar full of celebrity portraits, known for its vintage Negronis and a fully equipped Fitness Centre, awash with Technogym machines and free weights, chilled water and towels close at hand.

More hotel reviews

Location

9/10

Hotel Amigo is situated in the heart of historic Brussels, next to the picturesque UNESCO World Heritage Site Grand-Place on a cobblestone street close to the famous Manekin Pis fountain, numerous bars, cafés, restaurants and many other sites of tourist interest. 

The hotel is located just 20 minutes from Brussels Airport (BRU) and ten minutes’ drive from Brussels-Midi Station. Brussels is just over a two-hour journey from London by Eurostar and 80 minutes to Paris by Thalys. The nearest metro station is Bourse (Beurs). 

The hotel offers a private car park with valet parking for local drivers.

Accommodation

10/10

The Hotel Amigo, Brussels offers 173 air-conditioned bedrooms including 19 suites, all designed by Rocco Forte Hotels’ Deputy Chairman and Director of Design, Olga Polizzi. Her style is unmistakable – Italian pared back classicism with a contemporary flourish which nevertheless sensitively includes many authentic local and historic touches which enhance the hotel, anchoring it in its location and giving it resonance and relevance.

Guest rooms are filled with features: Smart televisions with interactive entertainment; a mini bar featuring a selection of champagnes, spirits, soft drinks and light local bites; in room safe; individually controlled air conditioning; Forte Organics toiletries; sumptuous thick terry bathrobes. A healthy option in-room bar can be installed on request. 

Guest suites also offer complimentary breakfast for two; in-suite check in; Espresso coffee machine with complimentary coffee pods, evening wear pressed on the arrival night; a choice of pillows, duvets, mattresses, cottons or linens; late checkout guaranteed until 4 p.m. and a complimentary packing/unpacking service.

Forte Suite guests also enjoy personalised concierge services prior to and during a stay; a full in room bar and tickets to the Bozar Museum and a Brussels Art Guide or a tailor-made suite experience with personalised amenities.

The entry level Classic Rooms marry traditional elegance with the contemporary artistic spirit of Brussels. Prints of Hergé’s Tintin hang in the spacious Carrara marble bathrooms while the bedroom and living areas are decorated with unique Belgian-inspired objets d’art, from ceramics to Magritte prints. The large windows look out over cobblestone city streets or a quiet courtyard, flooding the room with light. This design style carries through all the other categories of accommodation. 

There are three other categories of guestroom: the Deluxe from 32 square metres / 345 square foot, the generously sized Executive Room from 36 square metres / 388 square foot furnished with vibrant textiles with fine metalwork and local art in a nod to Belgium’s past and the Junior Suite from 60 square metres / 646 square foot and featuring wooden pear and apple sculptures, a tribute to Belgium’s famous son, t Magritte.

Suites range from the Classic at 70 square metres / 753 square foot, contemporary in style and Belgian in spirit, to the Deluxe from 80 square metres / 861 square foot, inspired by the rich history and tapestry of the Belgian capital to the Executive coming in at 75 square metres / 807 square foot and enjoying a verdant, arboreal theme winding through their décor.

There are three Forte Suites – the wonderful TinTin Suite, a joy for all ages, the René Magritte Suite celebrating the famous artist and the top floor Grand-Place Suite. 

The “Tintin” signature suite featuring the fictional reporter created by Hergé in 1929, has been created in partnership with Moulinsart and the Hergé Museum. The Hotel Amigo is the only hotel to offer an experience through the stories of Tintin and the colourful characters imagined by the famous authors such as Captain Haddock, Dupond and Dupont or the incredible Bianca Castafiore. Perfect for couples, there is a connecting room for family stays with a drawing signed by Steven Spielberg during his stay at the Amigo during the release of his Tintin film. 

Bringing the books to life, upon entering the children’s bedroom, Snowy the dog stands guard whilst bed linens, towels and images immerse young guests in a world of adventure with an array of exciting, themed activities to choose from. In addition to colouring books and comic books, children can enjoy an unusual “treasure hunt” on the City of Brussels’ comic book trail. 

Named for one of Belgium’s most celebrated artists, the René Magritte Suite is spacious at around 110 square metres / 1,184 square foot with vibrant colour used throughout, with a little touch of wit used in the décor too. There are original Magritte lithographs as well as themed espresso cups found on the bar with a collection of objets d’art and classic tomes lining bookshelves. Large windows let the light shine in and overlook the historic cobbled streets and the Town Hall. 

The Grand-Place Suite on the hotel’s top floor offers around 180 square metres of space 1,938 square foot with an additional 60 square metre / 646 square foot private terrace overlooking the city complete with loungers and a dining table. The space also features a well-appointed kitchen and a dining room and can be connected with a Deluxe room to create a lavish two-bedroom suite. There are wooden floors, an open fireplace and stunning paintings from the Blaton family’s private collection in the sitting room.  

Service & Facilities

9/10

The fully equipped fitness centre offers options for both cardiovascular and resistance workouts with a range of Technogym equipment and a full set of free weights. Amenities include chilled bottled water and towels. 

As this is an Italian hotel company, families are welcomed and there is even a Hotel Amigo mascot called René - a naughty chocolate-loving baby squirrel. There is everything needed for visiting babies from babysitting services to baby meals, squirrel teddy turndown services, crockery, highchairs, bottle warmers, cots and linens. Motion mobiles, night lamps and play mats, nappies, nappy cream and wipes, etc, are all available on request whilst in the bathrooms, there are baby bath products, hooded towels and rubber ducks. 

For kids, there are check-in cards, colouring books and a special Rocco Forte Kids’ passport. Pint-sized robes and slippers, rubber ducks and kids’ bathroom products are offered as standard and parents are offered 50% off all kids’ meals. Welcome amenities are offered along with milk & cookies at turndown. Rooms are set up with kids’ linen, a kids’ laundry bag, a kids’ backpack and kids’ hangers. The concierge team can arrange bespoke city activities and programmes on request.

Style

9/10

Once, the Forte family name was a byword for the world’s largest hotel group, and today, the smaller, more exclusive Rocco Forte Hotels are known for their discreet luxury and their exceptionally high standards of personalised service – the Forte name a powerful hospitality dynasty. 

A family concern with the group’s interior design overseen by Olga Polizzi, Rocco Forte’s sister, the style is clean-cut, contemporary and always stylish with local touches thoughtfully intertwined to lend each hotel a sense of location. 

This is indeed the case with the Hotel Amigo where the history of the property is allowed to shine through Olga’s décor with antique tapestries, period furnishings, original 17th century flagstones and local artworks mixing with a pared back contemporary luxury. 

Dating back to 1522, the building on the site was sold to the city and turned into a prison and therein lies a story. Sixteenth Century Spanish soldiers are said to have mistaken the word “vrunt” meaning prison for “vriend” meaning friend – thus “amigo” became the hotel’s name, the Spanish for friend. 

The current hotel dates back to the 1950s, built by the Blaton family to host the world’s royalty and visiting nobility who came over to Brussels for the World’s Fair in 1958. Rocco Forte took it over in January 2,000 and the Blaton’s impressive collection of fine art and antiques, from original Magritte works to 18th century Flemish tapestries, are still on display today.

Restaurants & Bars

9/10

The hotel offers Ristorante BoCConi for all day dining, serving authentic Italian cuisine using the very best local ingredients and treating them with respect. Envisioned by chef Fulvio Pierangelini and enacted by Head Chef Igor Rosi, the restaurant has an intimate, cosy and fun atmosphere with prints and plates by Piero Fornasetti strikingly set against a deep blue backdrop. The restaurant also features a terrace surrounded by fragrant herbs and bay trees which looks across the cobblestones towards the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Grand-Place.

Bar A is the ideal place to enjoy a signature cocktail, a cognac or a glass of Italian wine while relaxing to live music. Many a star of stage and screen has crossed its parquet flooring, with their signed portraits making their presence felt, hung next to contemporary local art. Give in to temptation with Pierre Marcolini’s rich, silken chocolates in their Afternoon Tea or sample Fulvio Pierangelini’s fine Italian cuisine for lunch or dinner. When the lights go down, enjoy a jazz quartet in the leather seating whilst sipping a vintage Negroni.

Sustainability

Rocco Forte Hotels understand their responsibility to champion and protect the environment by taking greater steps to monitor and protect their consumption of energy, water, paper and food waste as well as moving towards eradicating single-use and non-recyclable plastics.

Initiatives include for energy reduction: in-room key card system automatically switching off electricity when a guest room is vacated; individually controlled air-conditioning systems in all hotels; energy-saving PCs; energy-saving and Energy Code-certificated kitchen appliances; LED bulbs installed throughout the hotel; movement sensitive lighting in back of house areas.

For water consumption, initiatives include serving guests a local water choice to reduce their carbon footprint; option for guests to have linen and towels washed every second day; dual flush toilets installed across hotels; time-sensitive water taps in Back of House areas; exploring a rainwater harvesting system.

For waste reduction: Separate plastic, paper and general waste management bins are placed throughout Back of House; recycling initiatives are used such as using equipment to dewater, shred and/or compress organic wastes for re-use as compost in parkland; kitchen oil, ink cartridges and coffee capsules are recycled.

For paper reduction: offering guests a Press-Reader to enjoy online newspapers; use of QR codes and mobile apps for restaurant menus and digital directories; invitations sent by e-cards; reusable metal tags are used rather than paper tags in cloakrooms; recycled paper is used across Back of House departments; sustainable reusable drink coasters across Food and Beverage outlets are used; recycled toilet paper is used in Back of House areas; bamboo toilet paper is used in guest rooms.

Plastic reduction: Rocco Forte Hotels use biodegradable or washable straws, stirrers and fruit picks throughout their bars and restaurants; provide glass bottled water to guests in-room and throughout their bars and restaurants; in-room bathroom amenities and dispensers across public WCs are made from post-consumer recycled plastic and the company works with Clean the World to recycle old containers; plastic-free in-room amenities, including corn starch razors, bamboo toothbrushes, corn starch shower caps, corn starch sanitary kits, straw sewing kits and wooden combs are offered; laundry is returned in hessian covers and folded laundry returned in tissue paper; the group promotes the use of recycled plastic water bottles; hotels offer an in-room bar selection of plastic free products; gyms are to be fitted with post-consumer plastic or vegetable plastic water bottles; the group use biodegradable cups, cutlery and plates in staff canteen.

The group also uses eco-friendly cleaning materials; sources seasonal, local produce; chooses fish suppliers chosen for their sustainable practices; meat is supplied by farmers using non-invasive farming practices; reusable or recyclable food packaging is used; all new suppliers must complete a supplier form and adhere to strict regulations. The group is also exploring certifications such as Green Globe and other sustainable five-star tourism programmes.

What We Love

  • TinTin: the hotel’s connection to this fictional Belgian icon is brilliant. Love him or hate him, the Suite named after him and guarded by his faithful dog Snowy (Milou) is one of the best in the city and hugely popular among younger guests!

  • Ristorante BoCConi: it serves some of the most delicious Italian fare in Brussels. In a delightfully designed room, diners can expect authentic pasta – with fish and meats sourced locally.

  • Location: right in the heart of historic Brussels and close to the world famous Manekin Pis (statue of naked boy relieving himself) and the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site Grand-Place

BusinessClass.com helps you find the best offers on any hotel by comparing the prices of all leading hotel suppliers in a single search.

About the author
Varun Sharma
Editor-in-Chief
With over 25 years of experience in luxury travel journalism, Varun is responsible for all the content you see on BusinessClass.com. He works closely with all the hotel and airline brands that appear on the website. BBC-trained, Varun has appeared in print, on radio, television, and now online media - having worked for outlets including the BBC, Telegraph (UK), MSNBC, Travel Channel and Cond...
Read more
More hotel reviews