Grand Central Hotel Belfast — Hotel in Belfast

This was another review on our visits to top Northern Ireland hotels and to try to keep it succinct, I’m going to do it mainly with bullet points

First the good things

[ ] Impressive tall building - reception area rather impersonal but the pleasant Charlotte put us up on the 22nd floor (2207) which gave us great views - thanks Charlotte. [ ] Concierge very helpful [ ] Room normal and adequate size for the cost, clean and comfortable bed/pillows - vague smell of cigarette smoke [ ] WiFi ok but a bit patchy until it settled in. [ ] Bathroom nice, clean and well amenitised - gowns and slippers provided. [ ] There is a real bath - well done GCH. Thats a rarity for a Northern Ireland hotel. It wasn’t the most comfortable bath to lie in but it was there. [ ] plenty of power points - 3pin and USB. Good.

Now the not so good things

[ ] No directory of services - just dial zero for everything - that exercise took ages to get a response

[ ] No mini bar or even a fridge to keep water cold - 2 bottles eco-water provided but a shortage of glasses.

[ ] Ice is £5 a bucket only from room service

[ ] They don’t provide non slip mats for the shower or bath, we asked but they were not stocked. I slipped and fell getting out of the slippery bath which also had no leverage points other than the tap assembly or the basin edge - I managed to save myself with just minor bruising on my forearm. This is the first hotel, anywhere in the hundreds we have stayed in around the world, that don’t provide this basic safety precaution so - bath or shower at your peril and I hope your liability insurers are aware of this hazard, GCH. [ ] We asked if we could book the 1st floor Sea Horse restaurant for dinner. We were told that it was no problem and no need if we went there around 6.30pm - which we did. It was closed!! We were told by a pleasant lady that it only opens for breakfast and that we should go downstairs to the Grand Cafe. If we had known that it advance, we could/would have gone out for dinner. [ ] Bedroom light controls are complex - for example - it’s not possible to turn on the pointless bedside reading light without turning on the entire room. Maybe it was just us but I don’t think so.

[ ] We used the 23rd floor Observatory cocktail bar which was ok. Many tower hotels worldwide have similar facilities. The city views are great but the canned jazzy music was one degree too loud and service was not great. Each cocktail costs around £17 so it’s not cheap especially as no free “nibbles” are provided to encourage drinking. The cocktails tasted very light on alcohol ( I’m a bit of an expert on this) and were served in unsuitable glasses. We also did not like the decor but that was purely subjective. Others seem to like it. The first two tables we sat at “rocked” by 10 degrees - enough rocking to spill a drink so we had to change location. Also some of the sofas were too close together back to back - so close that you could easily knock a stranger’s head behind when sitting down.

The other restaurants we will review separately but for a quick comment: food in the Ground floor Grand Cafe, or whatever it is called, was actually really excellent - photos attached. The 1st floor Seahorse restaurant served an adequate buffet breakfast but can get very crowded, I am told.

In summary, we were not over-impressed, as you can see. It claims to be a 5 star hotel and while it may superficially look like one, it needs a shake up to graduate it from what I would classify as 4...

Having stayed in a few other 5* hotels around Ireland and in Belfast, unfortunately the Grand Central just does not meet the standards expected. The decor throughout the hotel is lovely, and this is possibly what their 5-star rating is based on, but the service we received this weekend from start to finish and the attention to detail and rooms just are not 5* at all. Everything was chaotic and messy from start to finish. Check in was frantic. We tried 3 times throughout the day to go up to the observatory for a drink but each time there was at least a 1-hour long queue (of residents and non-residents). There were lengthy queues for all the lifts just to get up and down from the room. If you're in a rush, expect to be waiting 5-10 mins for a lift every time. Our room itself was lovely but we had been upgraded to a suite (upon request from my husband before we checked in as a surprise for me for our 1st wedding anniversary). Our bathroom smelled of blocked drains and rotten fish - we had to ring reception at about midnight to try and fix it as the smell had started to fill the entire room and was making us gag. Housekeeping did attend quickly and poured chemicals down the drains which helped mask the smell until morning. If we had just been in one of the standard rooms, we would have just checked straight out and gone back home. My husband had phoned the hotel a week before check in to request surprise gifts in the room for me for our anniversary. These weren't in the room when we checked in, and the receptionist asked him for payment for them in front of me at check in, at which point I was very confused why he was being asked for extra money. At that stage my husband had to tell me to go and stand at the other side of the lobby so I couldn't hear his conversation with the receptionist about the presents that were supposed to be a surprise. There was a note on our reservation that it was our 1st anniversary so you would think that staff at Check in would put 2 and 2 together and know the gifts against our booking were an anniversary present and supposed to be kept a secret. This is the kind of attention to detail that wouldn't be missed in any other 5* hotel. The queue for breakfast in the morning was about 40 minutes long. Breakfast service was a disaster and so unneccasrily chaotic. At one point, myself and another guest sitting at the table next to us had to go and serve our own cutlery, tea and coffee because there were no staff to be seen anywhere. There were so many empty that hadn't been cleaned down and a massive queue of guests waiting to be seated that went the whole way round the restaurant and out into the lift lobby area. The staff that were on breakfast service were running round like headless chickens, pushing guests out of the buffet queue to try and get plates etc from the cupboards they were queuing in front of. Nobody seemed to know what anyone was doing or how things were supposed to work.

All in all - nice decor, but expect very lengthy queues for everything and 3* service. There are other 5* hotels in the city centre that aren't that much more expensive and are worth every single penny imho. We definitely won't be back to the...

The Grand Central Hotel is iconic in the city of Belfast and its big glass exterior makes it hard to miss. Our stay was for 4 nights and it was mainly booked as a central walking location for us to tour the city. We spent quite a bit of time in the hotel and got to know the in's and out's of its day to day operation.

What we liked:

Delicious continental / hot breakfast with numerous options of breads, muffins, yoghurts, juices, cereal and a hot section of meats, eggs and vegetables.

All the staff we dealt with were incredibly polite and helpful and it added a personal touch to the stay

The beds were comfortable and the rooms were extremely quiet especially when the hotel was at capacity

Very clean hotel and in good condition, from the hotel room to the lobby

Observation Bar has a wonderful view of the city and is hard to beat

What we didn't like

The drop off area at the hotel is relatively non-existent so when you arrive you are expected to stop on a double yellow out front or find a street parking spot available. A hotel of this caliber should have the front of the hotel blocked off for immediate loading and unloading.

Although all the staff were wonderful in our interactions they are severely understaffed and on busy days service was not anything close to what you would expect at a 5 star. Lots of turnover on staff as most we talked to had started in the last week. The coordination in the cafe, restaurant was all over the place with one server taking our order, another dropping drinks and another dropping food. A lack of attentiveness at the table to the point where we had sat for 15 minutes with menus and had to go find someone to give them our order.

Breakfast line up can we long to sit down. The poor staff in the breakfast buffet could barely deliver people coffee and tea with how short staffed they were let alone clear any plates or cutlery. We never left breakfast without having dirty plates on our table. The addition of more staff in the buffet and designated sections would help to expedite the seating process and provide a more enjoyable breakfast. Understandably some tour groups would come all at once and leave quickly there after but even on days without major tour groups it was still chaotic.

The lack of ammenities at the hotel was also a bit unfortunate. They have ample space in the hotel yet no business center, fitness area or any sort of sauna facilities.

We enjoyed our stay and would go back but it is not worthy of a 5 star designation...