The hotel is stylish, innovative in its use of materials such as the shining metal skirtings in the restaurant, whilst the award-winning bedroom designs extend the vocabulary of luxury evident in hotels such as the Ritz in Paris. The instincts and intuition of the hotelier have blended well with the stylish assertiveness of the designer. Detailing is strong throughout, but for me the best example of the synergy of Client and designer is in the wonderful luxury bathrooms. Created within a small space, inevitable within an existing building, the use of a mixture of limestone and coloured marble has created a luxury and warmth missing in may other hotels. There is humour too in the pictorial reference to one of Brussels’ heroes – no, not someone from Nato or the European Commission, this hero is Hergé’s TinTin, as Belgian as chips with mayonnaise, who is used with his dog Snowy as a recurring reference to locale. Also used pictorially, although less subtly used than the gentle hint by umbrellas at the NH Hotels at Brussels airport (see a previous Review), Rene Magritte features in the bedrooms. The surrealism of Magritte sits uneasily within the luxurious and evolutionary design of the Amigo, the teasing images jarring against the calm understatement of the leather topped desks, deep stained wood veneers and carpets.

There is real confidence in the design work throughout the hotel, and in the public areas the art contributes greatly to this, with strong portrait drawings powerfully mounted providing clear contemporary referencing with their challenging boldness. In the restaurant the pictures provide a strong accent and demonstrate how important this element of an interior can be when boldly handled. Here they reinforce the understated modernism of the finishes. More traditional art would have contradicted the understatement sufficiently to have perhaps undermined the calm contemporary feel of this space. Although low ceilinged, there is no feeling of this being a cramped space due in part to the clever use made by RDD of the lighting. Large leather cubicles provide semi private areas whilst still being part of the main restaurant – enabling people to be seen whilst still feeling they have their privacy. With its own street entrance ‘Le Verlaine’ stays up-market whilst succeeding in capturing the continental feel, helped by immaculate service.

Function rooms and the Bar have also been upgraded in a thorough refurbishment of the entire building; but bedrooms are the heart of an hotel and it is here that the strength of the design, its subtleties and richness of textures and materials are seen to best advantage. The new Royal suite, with its balcony with spectacular views over the Brussels rooftops, the intelligent and subtle lighting, shows the skills of the designers to great effect. One lovely little touch was the use of Snowy as the handle to a desktop box for notepaper. The suite is full of such little subtle details, and again the strong use of contemporary sculpture and painting helps the design to flower, complimenting the subtle use of wenge and leather, ebony and ash, rich fabrics and rugs. The suite is the best expression of contemporary interior design, which respects the past and builds on it to provide an environment that delights yet provides the ultimate in luxury and comfort.