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Located in South Belfast’s fashionable BT9, this family-owned and run hotel is a much-loved Belfast institution. Its location is in the centre of Queen’s University studentdom, but it’s also very much a daytime business hotel. The large over-stuffed sofas of the Arts Café are the ideal location to people-watch at any time of the day and a good range of local cuisine is served in the Piper Bistro. It is close to the Ulster Museum and 10 minutes from Belfast City Centre. Weekend nights are lively outside “The Welly” with students socialising at two adjacent bars, known colloquially as The Bot and The Egg, but families are also very much part of the Wellington Park’s clientele.
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A new city-centre hotel, located just off Great Victoria Street and within reach of all the Golden Mile entertainment. It overlooks Belfast’s historic Sandy Row area. Complimentary parking and eight meeting rooms are available, and the high-spec rooms offer good value.
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Express by Holiday Inn is popular with the budget traveller and has a number of business meeting rooms. It is situated close to the city centre and is a good value no-frills option with a spacious foyer and meeting area.
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The Culloden is a 10-minute drive from the city centre, on the City Airport side of Belfast. It was once the residence of a bishop and has the beautifully appointed gardens and stone-built elegance that one might expect from such a pedigree. Stars like its secluded grandeur and it knows how to cater for its five-star clients. It is just the place to take afternoon tea or an early evening gin and tonic on the terrace overlooking the manicured lawns, which sweep down towards Belfast Lough. It’s a favourite hangout for the Gold Coast ladies who lunch and live in the nearby mansions of North Down. The Culloden is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group and its Helipad and Elysium Health Spa rubber stamp its celebrity status. It’s just the place for a romantic dinner or clandestine meeting, but also has an up-to-the-minute conference centre for more everyday professional encounters.
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The Europa has been the hub of Belfast life for decades, and is cosmopolitan and internationally known. It is in the heart of the Golden Mile, beside the Grand Opera House, and has a vibrant interaction with the local community. Stars from the Opera House rub shoulders with visiting big showbiz [name]s and family groups out for birthday celebrations, while local and national politicians hold off-the-record briefings with journalists. The grand dame of local hotel life, the Europa can deal with most eventualities and still hosts glamorous black-tie media and charity functions most weekends. Public areas are spacious and the first-floor piano bar overlooks the bustling Great Victoria Street shopping and social area and serves a mean late afternoon post-shopping or after-work cocktail.
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Hilton is Belfast’s only five-star hotel in the city centre. With its location adjacent to the Waterfront Hall its bar tends to be the watering hole for the theatre and concert crowd, as well as visiting artistes. It manages to cater well for both business and leisure in a sleek modern environment. It is within easy walking distance of the city centre, but the up-and-coming riverside area can still be a little isolated at night. Executive bedrooms have Hilton Lounge Club facilities. There is a Living Well health club with pool, gym and health and beauty salon. The Sonoma restaurant has an ideal location overlooking the river, offering the best night-time view of the new Belfast.
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A modern hotel that has become very much a part of the Belfast landscape. Situated opposite the BBC, the Junction restaurant and bar has become a favourite meeting place for executives and a growing tourist clientele. It has a bustling business centre and a popular and well-equipped gym and health suite with sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi, something of a mecca for the 30-something singles set. The 15-metre swimming pool is a relaxing way to unwind and the Jacuzzi could be the place to make your next business contact. There’s certainly plenty of insider talk there and in the steam room.
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The clientele at Jury’s Inn is an interesting mix of professionals and international tourists from the coach parties, which are a regular feature on the street outside the hotel. Infusion restaurant, the Inn pub and the foyer area are popular city-centre business meeting places and there is modem connection in all rooms and disabled facilities are available.
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Busy from morning to night, with a friendly staff, rooms are compact, but have TVs with Sky, tea and coffee facilities, hairdryers, trouser press and safety deposit box. Madison is located on Belfast’s Golden Mile within an easy stroll of restaurants, bars and shops. With its central situation, it is a buzzing low-budget contemporary hotel with an imaginative approach to modern art and design in its public areas.
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The Malmaison is one of the newest kids on the Belfast block and a stylish addition to local options. It occupies a landmark building in the emerging Cathedral Quarter in the heart of the city, close to the river and Waterfront Hall. McHugh’s Bar, an old bar with a funky young crowd and good bar food, is just round the corner. The hotel has sleek styling and moody, minimalist black and silver interiors—especially in the rock ‘n roll suites. Other features are great big beds, power showers, plasma screen TVs and CD/DVD players, data ports for fast and free Internet access, naughty nibbles, seductive toiletries and va va vroom room service.
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Opened in autumn 2004, the Radisson SAS has already set a new record with its Suite 7, which is the largest one-bedroom suite in Belfast. Well-placed as a media hang-out halfway between the BBC and UTV studios, it is situated on the old Gasworks site, which is tipped by insiders to become the techno-park of Ulster. Business facilities surround the site by the river, close to Central Station. The Radison SAS is just a five-minute taxi ride from other entertainment locations.
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Located in the picturesque Lagan Valley Regional Park, 15 minutes by car from Belfast city centre, the more rural location allows for a certain spaciousness in both the public areas and the bedrooms, which come in a range of junior suites, king doubles and double doubles, with two queen-sized beds. The conference, business and banqueting facilities are exemplary, catering from 6-900. Restaurant facilities cover a range of tastes from the fine dining of the Belfast Bar and Grill to the newly opened Spice Club for Indian cooking. The Indian-owned facility is noted for its good service and attention to detail. Suburbia has a more informal atmosphere for day-to-day dining. The hotel has an LA fitness suite with a 20-metre pool and gym. There is also an Ayurvedic health and beauty centre.
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Ten Square, standing right behind City Hall, couldn’t be more centrally situated. It has recently modifi ed its very minimalist style with a chic Asian fl avour. The bar and grill is very popular with an eclectic crowd from hard-to-please fashionistas to girls and guys out on the town. It is a regular celebrity haunt, particularly with visiting rock bands. Upstairs, there is fi ne dining in the cool Porcelain restaurant, secluded drinking in the China Club, and the elegant Pudong-style bedrooms provide the setting for luxurious relaxataion. A hotel full of imagination, which was fi rst to catch the re-invention of the city Zeitgeist, it has a simple ethos: eat, drink and sleep!
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