Begijnhof van Hoogstraten

Two major flaws, unfortunately: 1. The rooms facing the square are unfortunately not sufficiently sound insulated. You'd hear the garbage trucks & the pavements being pressure washed a dawn, and loud music and bar noises in the evening. Three star chains with rooms facing airport runways do a better job installing triple/quadruple glazing. Somewhat disappointed to see that nobody at Sofitel thought about this. Eventually changed rooms and settled for a smaller one with a rather underwhelming inner courtyard view just to be able to sleep. 2. There, I had to find out that the AC cannot be switched off. No matter the setting you chose, air just keeps blasting. Not a bug, but a feature apparently - as told when I inquired. Everything else was perfect, but those two building planning shortcomings would make me chose a different hotel for my next trip in Brussels.