Europa Hotel — Hotel in Belfast

I booked my room by telephone, when booking I requested a superior double room. When my wife and I arrived, we were allowed to check in early. This was very nice of the hotel staff, but when we went up to the room we found out that we had been booked into a smaller classic room and not the room I had asked for. I didn't make a scene and just went with it. The bathroom also had a large grass window looking out into the room. There was an unrestricted view of anyone sitting on the Ioo. To be honest I found this very bizarre and off putting. The glass front on the bathroom made my wife uncomfortable.

The room itself was tiny and did not offer value for the price. I have stayed in bigger rooms in nasty, budget hotels. The hand basion was only about 30cm x 20cm. There was hardly enough room to walk around the bed. There was enough space to hang about six items or clothing, but no drawer space.

We unpacked, when I tried to use the hot water tap, but it was broken. The tap was hanging, swinging off the wall.

I called reception and we were moved to another room. The heating in the second room was broken and the room was very cold. I also noted that the tea spoons in this room were dirty. I went down to reception to ask if someone could please look at our heating. It was by now approximately 10.45pm. The reception then moved us to a third room. This time we were given an upgrade to a small suite. This was very spacious and beautiful. The staff were extremely kind to do this for us and this gesture was greatly appreciated.

The hotel staff were all very nice and they tried to help us through all our issues. We also ate dinner in the restaurant. The food was very good and the service was excellent. However, our stay was spoiled by the many issues with our rooms. This was supposed to be a romantic break with my wife to get away for the night. I had been very sick over Christmas and I was so much looking forward to the break.

Things like broken taps, dirty spoons and faulty heating should not have happened in a hotel like the Europa. I also question how housekeeping cleaned the room with no hot water. I am sure that the management will look into all the issues that we had and they would totally agree that the things that we encountered were not acceptable.

When I booked, l expected a high level of excellence and luxury, but my wife and I were very disappointed.

With that said, the staff did everything they could for us in the circumstances, but by 11am we were settling into a third room, we were both very tired and we were both very stressed. By now we had unpacked three times.

Again, l would like to point out that this last room was a £400 a night suite and fabulous, but we were too tired and stressed to enjoy it.

I want to stess that the staff did all they could for us, but none of this should have happened and it really spoiled our stay. By the time we got to the suite we did not have time to enjoy the luxury because we were by now both shattered.

When I checked out we were advised that if we ever stay again at the Europa, to email and we would be issued a discount. I want to be fair and say that the staff did not quibble or make excuses, they said what happened was unacceptable for a hotel like the Europa. They were friendly and tried to help us every step of the way.

I have so many mixed feelings about our stay at the Europa and to be totally honest I don't know what to think. The staff were lovely, but we encountered some major problems and our stay was spoiled by all the problems that we...

Sadly the reputation of the hotel far exceeded the experience we had. Unfortunately it also seems like the hotels responses to these reviews are written by an LLM or otherwise automated, generic reviews with no care to improve or reconcile. Looking at other recent reviews, there seems to be a theme of poor service and rooms so I do hope they take this on board.

I stayed in a twin room for two nights / three days. The hotel was chosen based on its unique history and superior reputation. The service was poor in two ways, and based on this we tried to spend time outside the hotel:

Room cleanliness: On surface level the room was fine, but after turning a few things over it was pretty dirty. The carpet had not been vacuumed and was covered in dirt, a few small pieces of string and tissue. The turndown service was poor. I dont expect the staff to hang clothes, tidy luggage, put personal items away etc etc. I wouldnt not expect staff to clean excessive guest mess of course. But aside from straightening the beds, the toilet / bathroom was untouched, the carpets still dirty. They did resupply the tea / water, but otherwise it was pretty minimal.

Service desk response: Upon mentioning the aforementioned issues, the reception desk staff seemed unconcerned and if anything offended that we had mentioned this, as if we were unwelcome and if we didnt like the service received we should leave. Nothing changed.

We did not want these issues to dominate our limited time in Belfast, so did not raise the issues more than once, take that as you will, but for a reputable hotel, I would expect that one request is enough.

OTHER POINTS: A. Concierge service There is a separate concierge desk. The staff at this desk were always friendly when we approached. From what we found out, they were well experienced in Belfast hospitality, so could likely make good recommendations, although (and perhaps this is me being slightly cynical) I got the impression that recommendations were in part commission based. Particularly the bus tour; there are two main bus tours in Belfast, I believe the "city tours Belfast" is superior to the one they recommend "sightseeing Belfast", although they look identical.

B. Meals and breakfast Because of the other issues, we tried to stay out of the hotel. Breakfast was not included in our initial booking, I think its around £15, maybe a little more. There are plenty of places in the city for breakfast or dinner. Coco being a great restaurant.

Final remarks: Reviews are obviously written through the eyes of the author, and readers must be careful to read between the lines. This hotel is what you would describe as "alright" or "meh". If you stayed in a hotel like this in a much smaller city or somewhere more remote, then you might be content. But for a hotel with such a reputation, it was quite disappointing to receive such...

I Had an amazing first time during my stay at the Europa hotel. The staff were lovely and my room that was booked was amazing, with a fantastic view. I recently attended a formal event and it was a really amazing time. However, I did have a bit of a negative experience when it came to security I knew alcohol into the event wasn’t allowed from outside and I tried my luck and was caught, I’ll hold my hands up for that it’s totally understandable. On the other hand, it’s how the protocol with the security went was a bit bothersome, it was with my understanding that they were supposed to ask permission to pat me down which is fine from the outside but when the item was found on the inside pocket of my blazer, instead of asking me to take it out for him he just opened my jacket, reached in and pulled it out himself without saying a word the entire time during the search. I wouldn’t have minded at all as it’s not something significant, but it kept eating away at me, I didn’t care for the drink inside just the item Holding the drink. I went back after about 30 minutes to ask for just the item back and to leave it in my room as it was still technically my personal property. When I did approach the same security guard he was talking to someone else which is fine we all do that and I stated “Excuse me mate, is there any chance I could get my flask back? So I can just leave it up to my room?” Of course I got it back without issue but it seemed like it was a bit of effort for him to hand to me. He leaned over the desk, lifted it up and slammed it on the desk in front me without saying anything. I won’t lie, this really didn’t help how I already felt early but I didn’t say anything, I collected my belonging that was now emptied (to be expected) and went to leave it in my room as I said. I the returned to go back into the ballroom, expecting to be searched again, this time by the same security guard with the fella he was talking to also still present and this time another security guard, which of course isn’t any issue. Again, without saying a word he patted me down and let me on my way, after knowing I didn’t have anything on my person this time. Aside from this issue the rest of the night was fantastic and would do it again, although it was a bit hard to feel...