Smartflats Design - L42

The bed was the worst part. We stayed three nights and asked for a refund for the last one because it hurt my back and I couldn't sleep properly. It ruined the whole trip. Their response was that they couldn't do anything for us. After all the emails, the only offer was a 15% discount on a future stay. Who would come back to accommodation in this condition? The rooms weren't as shown in the photos. They were unclean, the bins were full, and there were stains under the covers on the sofa, bed, and cushions. The price was cheap, but guests still deserve a decent place to stay.

The apartment smelled of mold and damp, and the broken elevator meant carrying heavy bags up five floors. There was no electricity in the bathroom. I managed to set up a small lamp, and could then see the sink was full of beard hair. The location is good, but I would never stay here again.

We had to leave early and rent a room elsewhere after the elevator broke down again. My wife and I are disabled, and the stairs were far too steep for us. It was out of order from Thursday through Monday. The room also wasn't ready when we arrived. Even after it was cleaned, the job was so rushed that walking barefoot turned our feet black. The safe didn't work, and we had to ask for help plugging in the TV. After midnight, someone we didn't know kept ringing our doorbell. We called security, but nobody answered.

After Expedia couldn't reach Smartflats, they said they couldn't refund us. We had sent them photos and explained what happened, but got no answer from Smartflats. We ended up staying at the nice hotel across the road for the whole trip. We'd booked the three-bedroom L42 apartment through Expedia. Only when the check-in details arrived did we learn it was on the seventh floor. After a full day of travel, we got to Brussels with our three kids and luggage and found the elevator wasn't working. Management took a while to reply on WhatsApp, so we carried everything up seven flights of stairs. The apartment didn't match the listing photos. The rooms were bare, apart from one painting in one room. The sofas had unpleasant stains, and the terrace seating was missing cushions or had torn, dirty ones. The walls needed repainting, the shower curtain needed replacing, and the place smelled dusty. Management said the elevator had been broken for a while and that this was mentioned in the description. Expedia's accessibility section only said the upper floors were accessible by stairs. It didn't say the elevator was out of order for a seven-floor walk-up. And at the time we booked, we weren't sure how we were supposed to know the apartment was on the seventh floor. We told Smartflats we wouldn't stay in it in that condition and asked for a refund.