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Review: the Hilton Belfast hotel, newly refurbished

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This is our review of the Hilton Belfast hotel, which has recently been refurbished.

The last stop on my mini tour of Liverpool and Belfast was the Hilton Belfast hotel. The Hilton was one of the first international hotels to open in the city back in 1998 as part of the redevelopment along the River Lagan.

It has recently undergone a £10 million refurbishment of all the rooms and public spaces. It marginally increased its room count to 202 by moving the Executive Lounge to the ground floor.

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Head for Points paid for its room, but at a slightly reduced media rate.

Where is the Hilton Belfast hotel?

You’ll find the Hilton Belfast just East of the city centre, on a little peninsula of the River Lagan. It is next door to the Waterfront Hall and just across the street from St Georges Market. Lanyon Place, one of the train stations, is also very close.

Whilst it is on the fringes of the city centre, Belfast is tiny and very walkable – it won’t take you very long to get into town.

Inside the Hilton Belfast hotel

To its credit, the hotel has done an excellent job in the refurbishment and it looks very smart. Immediately as you walk in you are greeted by a number of reception and concierge desks, with seating on the right surrounded by a feature staircase to the first floor where you’ll find a range of meeting rooms.

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Suites at Hilton Belfast

I was checked in very quickly. The hotel was fairly busy with corporate guests so I was lucky to be upgraded to what I believe is one of the top corner suites in the hotel, on the 13th floor.

This was, of course, complete overkill for a one night stay (I probably spent about 14 hours in the hotel in total!) but I hope it gives you a good impression of how the refurbishment has gone.

This is a one bedroom suite. The first room is an open plan living / dining room:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

On the left is a large bathroom with bathtub with double washbasins:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

This is the larger of the two bathrooms, with the other featuring only a shower and one washbasin.

Here is the rest of the room:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

The minibar is hidden away in the TV stand, which is a bit of an odd choice for it given there are plenty of console tables elsewhere. The mini fridge was empty and there was only a kettle available – no coffee machine, as far as I could tell, which is odd for a top suite.

In the next room is the bedroom. This can be fully private or open thanks to two doors that disappear into the walls:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

The bed is big and there were numerous outlets on both sides:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Next to the bed is an armchair and coffee table whilst in the left hand corner you’ll also find a large corner desk with views across the river:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

To the right of the bed you’ll find the small bathroom. It’s fairly cramped – just enough for one person:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Toiletries are the standard Hilton Crabtree & Evelyn, but the packaging has been rebranded and now looks much smarter:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Oddly, some face soaps were still in the old brand – clearly the hotel is still making its way through old stocks.

Opposite the bathrooms is a large wall of wardrobes:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

The rooms had clearly had a full makeover, although the air conditioning units were prehistoric and in need of user-friendly replacement:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

The rooms also had a dis-ordinate number of light switches which all seemed to do similar jobs. It took me about five minutes to get all the lights off before I went to bed!

Hilton Belfast Executive Lounge & breakfast

I arrived just in time to enjoy the final hour of happy hour in the Hilton Executive Lounge.

As previously noted, this has changed during the refurbishment. It used to be on the 12th floor and has now moved onto the ground floor in the middle of the lobby. Whilst I’m told it is now physically bigger, it has unfortunately lost any natural light and the views it previously commanded.

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

It is still nicely done, however:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Whilst the food is self-service, drinks are poured by one of the staff members. Fortunately, she was excellent and came around multiple times before last orders.

The food itself was basic. The only hot items were quiches and chicken skewers:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

A small charcuterie was also available, plus cheese, bread and various other accompaniments:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Breakfast in the Riverside Restaurant

Whilst a small breakfast is available in the lounge, a more substantial offering is available at the Riverside Restaurant. This is a lovely, light filled space with views across the river and a small outdoor patio which must be great in better weather.

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

The breakfast comes in a buffet format and is fully self-serve. Once you check in at reception you can literally sit anywhere (and fetch your own tea / coffee in the process).

The buffet is in a side room. Hot items include everything you’d want for a full English breakfast, with scrambled eggs, baked beans, (cheap-looking) sausages, bacon and more. The tomatoes were a little underdone I thought.

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

There’s also a number of pastries:

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

Plus cereals, yoghurts and a small selection of other items.

Review Hilton Belfast hotel

To be perfectly honest, it isn’t the most impressive breakfast ever, but what was particularly silly was the mismatching cutlery at each table. It just comes across as cheap.

Conclusion

If you think Hilton hotels are boring and business-focused with no character, it is worth taking another look. We are, slowly, seeing Hilton start to refresh its properties with modern and stylish design, and the Hilton Belfast is just the latest to get it.

Overall, I would stay at the Hilton Belfast hotel again. Whilst there is still some room for improvement, it boasts stylish rooms (although I’m not sure why the AC controls were missed during the refurb) and some lovely views across the river.

Room rates start at around £120 per night, although they can occasionally dip lower. Redemptions start at 28,000 points. You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.


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Comments (53)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • John says:

    When was the refurbishment?
    I’ve been a few times since 2020 (on the whole it’s a great hotel, I’d recommend it!) and I couldn’t spot any differences.

    • PeteM says:

      I was wondering the same – because it looked great in June 2021 when I stayed there, so thought it would be a bit odd to have redone it again…?
      When we were there the Republic was still locked down, so Belfast was the place to be. It was heaving, but they did a great job managing the crowds.

      • Rob says:

        These days, anything we call ‘new’ potentially means ‘anything completed late 2019 but which no-one visited for 2 years after that’.

  • Chabuddy Geezy says:

    The Hampton in Belfast is also pretty nice. Its relatively new and walkable to the city centre. The free breakfast was also better quality than other Hamptons I have stayed in.

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

    Good grief, that air con control pad looks like something used to power Jurassic Park’s fences.

    “Hot items include everything you’d want for a full English breakfast, with scrambled eggs, baked beans, (cheap-looking) sausages, bacon and more.”
    – English? I see potato farls and soda farls and Irish (not cheap) sausages. If black and white pudding were also available, then I think you mean full Irish breakfast.

    • John says:

      They are indeed Irish sausages and are probably the most redeeming part of the breakfast (the eggs aren’t great)!

      • John says:

        Irish sausages are the best, even the ones at Holiday Inn Expresses on Ireland (the whole island) are edible, unlike HIXs in GB.

    • EdForPoints says:

      Arguably the presence of the farls makes it an Ulster Fry, rather than a Full Irish. All subjective though and presumably not universally agreed-upon!

  • AC says:

    I oddly like the aircon control pad (on the caveat that it actually works).
    Kind of nice to have a really modern room but then have this antique thing to make things a little different.

  • AJA says:

    I actually like that aircon control panel. It is clear which buttons operate the various options

    That suite was definitely an upgrade and nice for more than one night, but really a waste for a one night stay. Saying that I’d not turn it down if offered it.

    Just one minor grammatical correction, you mean inordinate and not disordinate which means obsolete, opposed to or violating moral or legal order. Lacking order in this context relates to moral or legal order rather than an arrangement or sequence of physical items.

    Good review though – I’d be happy to stay there on the basis of your review.

    • Rhys says:

      It’s clear, but no actual temp indicator….just hotter/colder/more/less

  • lumma says:

    What’s not “user friendly” about the air conditioning control panel? It has an on/off button and controls to turn the fan up and down and the temperature up and down.

    • Andrew. says:

      It looks nice and chunky with tactile clicky responsive buttons that appear to have a clear function. Better than faffing about with touch screens that have locked out controls.

      The only downside I can see is that I bet the Green LED needs a big knob of blu-tack at night.

  • Liam says:

    Personally I like the Air Con panel – it’s simple to use and one can easily figure out what each button does unlike many more modern ones. It’s also less likely to have a motion sensor which turns it off at night during sleep.

  • ianM says:

    What do ‘cheap looking’ sausages look like?
    It might have been more helpful to try them !

    Stayed there several years ago and thought it was pretty good – other good option is the Doubletree at Templepatrick.

    • Ryan says:

      Worth noting to readers that the Hilton Templepatrick is around 13 miles from Belfast.

      The Hampton in Belfast as noted above by others is an excellent choice in the city centre and walkable to all amenities.

    • Tracy says:

      I’ve stayed in the Templepatrick one a lot. Last time I stayed was October 2022 and vowed not to return until all beds had new mattresses. We were put into an unrefurbished room and I lay on the bed and immediately went to reception to ask for a room change as the mattress was so bad I was shocked. By far the worst mattress I have ever lay on…they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite. Again unrefurbished. Mattress again wasn’t great but better than the first room. Not sure if all rooms have been refurbished yet…
      I have stayed at Hilton Belfast instead when visiting family even though the location isn’t as good!

      • Yorkieflyer says:

        I guess the honeymoon suite mattress had seen a bit of action?

    • Fred Crimea says:

      Definitely not an option. I am from Belfast and Templepatrick is way too far. Like suggesting staying in Luton if you are visiting London. As it happens I have stayed in Hilton Templepatrick many many times as it is convenient for family visits, definitely not an option for Belfast visits. The Templepatrick Hilton had recently been refurbished (2022 so actually new) but unfortunately this was done while guests were in the hotel. It was a sh1tshow.

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