De Watermolen

Average hotel surrounded by beautiful environment.
When I was checking out the director of the hotel was in the reception.
He left and inmediately rang the receptionist to tell her that she has to charge me extra night cost because they have cleaned the room and I have left there my suitcase. Right and I did not complain about that although it seems exaggerated the cost of an extra night just for leaving there my belongings when the hotel was completely empty.

Anyway what I did not like was how the director of the hotel did not want to face me and used the receptionist as a shield while he was hidden in the next room
In a short term you earned easy 123 euros but I do not think it will be a wise decision for long term.

during a sunne autumn day we went biking in the Kasterlee, Retie neighbourhood and ended up having 30 minute stop in this wonderfull romanctic place . We had a great Tripple from Westmalle which we enjoyed next to the watermill..wow what a beer

We visited this hotel in August. The room was a little disappointing and had a damp feel to it. The Television had no reception, so we couldn’t watch it and the beds were small, very low and too soft. Breakfast, on the other hand, was great. The staff are very helpful and friendly. I would go back for the food, but not the rooms.

This well maintained hotel is located on the country-side. The surroundings are beautiful which is great if you want to go for a walk. The room is just okay. The restaurant however is very good. Lovely.

This is a lovely hotel in the most beautiful of settings. It is flanked on two sides by the river, one part flows through the mill race. The staff were friendly and very attentive and could not be faulted. The breakfast was very good and of excellent quality served in the restaurant on white linen covered tables. This quality is reflected in the €20 charge. Our room was on the ground floor. There is a first floor too, but there is no lift. The room was poorly equipped for a four star hotel. The beds were too low and too soft, time for a replacement to higher firmer ones, suitable for persons of limited mobility. The desk had no usable socket, unless one pulled the plug from the TV, on hands and knees! There was no tea/coffee making facility, so bring your own! The bathroom was a good size and nicely equipped, but what let it down was an 'over the bath' shower and total lack of hooks to hang your clothes. Over the bath is just no good if you are infirm! This needs addressing and walk in showers are a must. The hotel needs to brush up on how four star hotel rooms are expected to be and definitely needs a lift!! It is a fantastic place to stay but it's gourmet reputation maybe not enough for the whole four star package, especially ,as guests, we were unable to reserve a table for dinner! We had to go elsewhere! Overall... yes, we would return. We did have a fantastic two days in a nice hotel, in a beautiful spot, in Kasterlee.

This is a family run hotel that provides up to date hotel rooms and 2 restaurants (one more formal and the other more casual).
It is a bit out of the way from the town center so a rental car is strongly recommended.
The breakfast is not free. I believed the charge is quite high (more than 20 Euros).
Free WiFi but the signals are not strong enough to cover the entire hotel ground. For example, the WiFi signals are strong in the hotel room, OK in the courtyard but no signal at the reception area.
In general, I found this hotel acceptable for the purpose of my stay. I will stay here again.

Stayed three nights in the hotel on a conference. The rooms are fine, clean, quiet with minibar. Bathroom was ok (you have to take a douche in the bath, not always convenient but it works). Wifi in the rooms (which are located in an annexe) is rather weak, but free. The conference rooms I saw (two) were fine, IT equipment available etc, accomodates up to 20 participants. Snacks during break were really pleasant. Nothing but friendly faces in the hotel, at the reception, bar, restaurant. Had dinner two evenings in the hotel's restaurant and that was a great experience. Top cuisine, delicious with swift service. Recommended

I stayed here over one week for business. The staff is very friendly, the room is really nice, yet on the smaller size. Breakfast is good, but quite expensive, not something I would usually pay privately. Our group also had a business dinner in the restaurant which was fantastic. Any food really is great.

The hotel is located in a quite residential area, but about 1 km away there are still some really nice restaurants around if you want to venture outside.

Overall a great stay, especially for business or if you choose for pleasure.

I stayed here one night, en-route to Switzerland.

The grounds and facilities are lovely and check-in was very friendly and efficient. I was taken to my room by one of the associates.

The room was very nice, with a good cable TV, very comfortable bed and a modern and clean bathroom.

Unfortunately for me, I could not find any in-room dining, despite the hotel having a very well-known restaurant on-site.

I had to leave early in the morning and was surprised to find the reception is not staffed until 0900. That makes payment a challenge.

However, when I phoned later, the hotel were very helpful and helped me pay over the phone.

We were here for a business stay. The rooms were good. Just took a while till the heater started working properly (as it was quite cold outside).

The best was the evening we enjoyed in the restaurant. The variety of starters, the delicious main course and the self made icecream for dessert... It was great! Thanks for this nice experience Hotel Watermolen!

Nice location and peaceful. Rooms are standard and without blemish, bathrooms modern. Nothing pretentious, and clean. Slept well here. Rooms spacious enough. Two wings of hotel each has a ground and first floor. Rooms a few yards away from the restaurant. Good location.

We were travelling In Belgium and the Netherlands and stayed 2 nights here in early April. I knew of the hotel, and had stayed here many times in the 90's and early 2000's and the their reputation for excellent food and good rooms is still of the highest in Northern Belgium. We experienced a warm welcome and very friendly staff throughout the hotel. We stayed in the junior suite which overlooks the 'Kleine Nette' stream with a nice balcony, spacious sitting area, good sized bathroom and a very comfortable large bed. We ate both evenings of our stay in the main restaurant and the food was outstanding, complemented by attentive and knowledgeable service. Breakfasts too were excellent with a good range of hot and cold food, pastries and fresh breads, fruit and smoked salmon. We will be going back. The position of the hotel is good, being a few kilometres between two key East-West highways making it a good base from which to explore North Belgium-Southern Netherlands.

I stayed here for just one night this week and the highlight was a fabulous meal which started in the lounge in front of the warm designer style fire. The service was immaculate. My room was reached by walking through stylish gardens and was very comfortable. Breakfast too excellent, I really enjoyed the selection of fresh breads.

I arrived and left in the dark so I was unable to look around the outside areas of the hotel.

I stayed for three nights recently, having breakfast and dining in both the a la carte and brasserie restaurants. Yes the hotel is not cheap, but I did enjoy my stay, so I was interested to see the somewhat negative reviews on Tripadvisor. The room was not especially cold, nor did I think it old fashioned. The staff are clearly locals and not particularly young, and I found this refreshing after staying in chains where any conversation has to be prefaced with an enquiry after my health ("how has your day been so far sir?").
Breakfast is served as a buffet in the restaurant, so fine crockery and a silver service. The choice was as expected - eggs/bacon/sausages in a bain marie, breads and croissants, cold meats and cheeses, cereal and fruit.
I shall review the restaurants separately but as for the hotel I was very satisfied.

I was in the Watermolen for an all day meeting and I was surprised to see what it became to be. During the years it normally was a steady and reliable hotel-meeting-restaurant establishment with continuous service and quality. Today not so much anymore.... the rooms and halways are outdated, the meetingrooms seriously outdated and the equipment and materials up to a serious renovation! The meetingrooms still had an old small white fridge with an old lamp on it, the projector makes a lot of noise, you get 2 sheets of blue paper to write on (recycled from a previous meeting), as a break we got wrapped cookies in a tin can eg., 1 old dated toilet in the hallway for both men/women.... just to mention that with all the meetings we have during the year, we see a lot and this is not the standard of 2015 anymore. The service we had was not good, nobody was there to greet us in the morning and point out where we have to go, they all look like they drank vinegar, the people not friendly and never smiling and our overall experience is that we will not come here for meetings/dinners anymore (group decision) . In the Kasterlee area it used to be the place to be but you can eliminate that from your memory definitely!

Especially the restaurant serves excellent dishes... some small improvements in the behavior of staff could take it to another level. The rooms are good, though a bit old fashioned. Breakfast was OK, we would like to see fresh 'pistolets' and at 10 AM all food is removed... so not for late birds :-) The location is green and ideally to walk or bike.

The best in this hotel is its location - very beautiful place, the pictures on the web do not do justice to it. the whole garden is also very nicely maintained. it is great to have the ceiling-to-floor window of the room facing lots of greenery and water.

but this is about all that is nice about the hotel, especially considering its 4-star rating and very high prices (to its location)

the rooms are very simple and not decorated in any quality way; the corridors are cold and in order to get between your room and the lobby/restaurant you need to go out - not so pleasant in the colder seasons or rainy weather. they do not heat the corridors (for the rate they really should be able to afford corridor heating); and when you enter your room it is freezing. it heats up pretty fast, but still not the nicest feeling to get into a cold room.

the desk has NO electric outlets anywhere near, except if you unplug the refrigerator/minibar in a hidden place. is this reasonable in Holland in 2015...?

there is no elevator so if you are on the higher floors you need to carry your stuff up.

the restaurant is VERY overpriced and really not so great food. the food is heavy, unimaginative (even though it tries to pride on exquisite cuisine), has mostly unhealthy choices - and extremely expensive. i could not sleep after the meal (I had their montly menu or whatever it was called) because it was just so heavy on my tummy for hours after having it. the breakfast has also very limited choice (e.g. no plain yogurt, only sweetened ones; no vegetables, few fruits), and very expensive.

they charge EUR 20 PER NIGHT for a baby cot - I have never seen such a crazy price for a baby anywhere in the world for 16 years of traveling with babies. they knew I was coming with a baby but they gave me a room or the second floor - without an elevator.

We stayed at this hotel for a family wedding. It was a nice little hotel, but the staff needed some work. Also, since we did not have a car, the location was difficult to get to anything, though we made due. The green area and trails around the hotel were beautiful for walking on a pretty day.