Hilton Hotel, Belfast

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Good location, excellent service, air conditioning in rooms, fabulous views, mini - bar, high speed internet access
Disadvantages:	Few niggles with room, pricey, always full

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My other half's 40something Birthday, a desire to go somewhere we could fly cheaply and somewhere luxurious to have a relaxing few days. Having been to Belfast twice on business, I considered it to hold something of an intriguing quality with its magnificent buildings and friendly welcome, and so the hunt was on for somewhere to stay.

Firstly we booked the flights, through FlyBE for the extortionate (NOT) sum of £37 each, and then it was off to find somewhere to stay.

The criteria was good leisure facilities, fairly central and not too pricey. I vaguely recall LostWitness telling me the Hilton was THE place to stay, and thus the hunt was on to find a deal. It did help that Hilton Honours members get 1,000 BMI Destination miles for each night of their stay, in addition to the accumulation of points for stays in Hilton outlets.

BOOKING
This was through the Hilton website, www.hilton.com, returning a price of £208 for two nights bed and breakfast in a standard room. For a supposed 5 star hotel this seemed reasonable, although not particularly cheap compared with many weekend hotel offerings. Nevertheless, with the memories of my two previous hotel visits to Belfast still ringing in my ears (literally in one case) I decided to go for it, enrolling for the Hilton Honours scheme at the same time.

Confirmation onscreen and by e-mail were instantaneous, and cancellation rules were 48 hours ahead of arrival.

LOCATION
The Belfast Hilton is a 15 storey tower block (the top 3 floors being assigned to Executive guests). It is in a superb waterfront position, next to….the Waterfront hall, a destination for many big bands and plays. It is alongside the city's courtrooms; about 10 minutes walk from the main shopping area. The cranes from the Harland and Wolff shipyard were clearly visible from the upper floor bedrooms, and it was interesting to discover that the Titanic was built there. Most of this area is set for further redevelopment over the next few years, and therefore the cranes will soon be a distant memory.

For anyone undecided on whether to visit this city, it comes highly recommended. It is now judged the second safest capital city (next to Tokyo) for tourists in the world. Belfast has a large and growing shopping area where you cannot fail to find your wants, or any of the major high street names. There is huge financial investment and rejuvenation going on in the city and surrounding areas, and it is becoming a popular destination for Stag and Hen parties. My only gripe (bearing in mind my previous destination) was the bitterly cold weather. Unfortunately this is the curse of many Northern Hemisphere countries, and not really anyone's fault.

ARRIVAL
We flew into Belfast City early in the morning (a distinct disadvantage of getting the cheapest flights), where a taxi will set you back between £7 and £8. There are also regular service buses to the airport and the train station is about 5 minutes walk.

We then discovered that we couldn't check in until 3pm. Having just returned from Sydney (not known about when I booked), exhausted and cursing the British weather, after a quick walk around the town centre, a begging session for a room followed. We were finally allocated a room around lunchtime.

RECEPTION
This was a grand affair with Cleopatra type couches throughout it, making me tempted to lie on one when I was struggling to get them to allocate us a room. There is a concierge for depositing luggage securely, and I even risked leaving my laptop when we went off around town.

Reception has an adjacent bar, selling a range of hot and cold drinks and main meals.

CHECK-IN
The staff could not do enough for customers and were polite and efficient. Despite all 195 rooms being full all week and weekend, we never once saw more than 2 parties queuing at any one time.

Check in required the routine swipe of the credit card, a few signatures to allow us to charge things to the room, and we were despatched to our room with two credit card style swipe cards for access.

The room was on the 8th floor, and had a magnificent view of the city, although halfway through running my bath I realised we had been assigned a "No Smoking Room".

On complaining the room was quickly reallocated, and we found ourselves with a much more open view on the other side of the hotel in room 911, you would think they would have done some renumbering, but there you go.

THE ROOM
Our second room was a mirror image of the first one, except that you could smoke in this one.

There was a Super King-Size (6ft wide), very comfortable bed, a desk-work area, tea and coffee making facilities, remote controlled colour TV and High-Speed Wireless and Wired internet access. Wireless access is through BT Openzone at £10 a day, the wired, £15 a day (noon to noon) through an iBahn connection.

When my registration on the second day failed with the wired access, a quick call to reception established the service was currently free as it was still being tested. That said, apart from the minor blip with registration, the service worked perfectly during our stay, and offered an impressive 2Mb download speed.

The room had a wardrobe, well-equipped sensor driven minibar, iron and ironing board, lamps in abundance, 3 telephones (2 in the room and one in the bathroom), and very effective air-conditioning (hot and cold). The latter came in handy as the room was warm and the windows did not open, are these high-rise hotels nervous about the risk of customers jumping? It seems that non-opening windows is becoming a common feature of many British hotels.

The bathroom offered the usual fare of bath with over shower, all thermostatically controlled, sink and toilet. Towels were substantially sized although the heated towel rail didn't work. The usual offerings of shower-gel, shampoo and conditioner were provided and were replaced daily, irrespective of whether they were empty. There was also one towelling dressing gown available.

There were a couple of niggles that you simply would not expect from a 5 star outlet, the bathroom door wouldn't close properly and the bathplug operator was broken. We complained at reception on our way out for an evening meal, and when we returned three hours later, the problems had been sorted, now that is what I call service.

I would have expected a safe in a hotel of this type, however, these are only available in the Executive rooms, and although you do get a few extras, an extra £30 a night for a safe is a little steep.

LEISURE FACILITIES
I would demand, rather than expect, leisure facilities from a 5 star hotel, and the Hilton complied with this, although the pool was small and seemed almost like an afterthought. There was also a small spa, and very effective steam room and a well-equipped gym. Use is free for hotel guests and members, although if there had been more than around 8 people in the area it would have been decidedly crowded.

The club was open from early morning until around 10pm daily, although reception is not always manned during these hours. Towels are freely available and guests are required to sign in / out, and are warned not to use the facilities if they have a range of medical conditions.

Don't worry if you forget your bather, the hotel has a range of outfits available at prices to compete with most high street prices, c£16 for a Speedo

EATING
There is a restaurant in the hotel, and a separate bar near to reception. The bar alcoholic prices were reasonable, and spirits were served in 35ml measures rather than the usual 25, although this was not made clear to me until I was on my third drink and staggering back to the room. A double G&T and pint of Guinness cost £10. Similarly the minibar tariff offered a double G&T for around £7. On the downside, non-alcoholic and hot drinks were extortionately priced, over £2 for a small black coffee or a coke.

We had an evening meal in the hotel bar on the second night. This cost around £35 for steak and fish. The food was freshly cooked and the steak literally melted in the mouth, although they struggled with the concept of us having garlic bread as a starter.

BREKKIE
As with most large hotels, this was buffet style, and offered various cereals, juices, rolls, pastries, waffles, yoghurts, cold meats and cheeses. On the hot front, there was bacon, sausage, hash browns, soda bread, mushrooms, beans, scrambled egg, pancakes and syrup.

If not included in the room rate, it would have set us back around £16 each, somewhat higher than many competitors. As well as the buffet, there was a chef on duty cooking fresh eggs to your preferred style. Although he did struggle with the concept of a well cooked ham omelette, why is it that both Chefs and hairdressers often seem to think they know better than the customer? I have a total loathing to any sign of a not fully cooked egg within several metres of me; needless to say he got it back.

OTHER FACILITES
For the business traveller all rooms have high-speed internet access, and there are 8 dedicated meeting rooms, all of which were in use the day we arrived.

SERVICE
To be fair, although there were a few niggles with the hotel, NOTHING was too much trouble for hotel staff. Problems were dealt with immediately, which for a weekend was pretty impressive (not quite as good during subsequent visit to the Hilton Milton Keynes, but will save that for another time).

SUMMARY
In fairness, a nice hotel with good service and a superb view, it couldn't be faulted and therefore gets 5 stars from me. Would I return? Definitely, although I would check the weather forecast first.

If you do decide to stay here, you could find yourself in good company. The Hilton Belfast has played host to quite a few stars and high profile political figures over the years, and pictures of said guests are proudly displayed in the reception area.

This is my third visit to Belfast in as many years, and the Hilton is undoubtedly the best. There is also a Radisson SAS hotel opened up a short distance away, but talking to the barman, he indicated that many of their regular guests who had tried it, quickly returned to the Hilton.

To Book for yourself:
4 Lanyon Place
Belfast
BT1 3LP
United Kingdom
Telephone: 0 28 9027 7000
E-mail: reservations.belfast@hilton.com

www.hilton.com

Despite a few niggles, probably the most efficient hotel I have stayed in for dealing with issues, and therefore

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED