On Christmas Eve, we booked a stay at the Malmaison Belfast. Aside from the fact that we love staying in fabulous hotels, we had pretty much planned this visit to avoid an extremely early Christmas Day wake up call from very excitable nieces. Nothing messes with Zoe and a good night’s sleep – Especially not Santa!

The Malmaison Belfast is a dog friendly hotel and this was extremely important to us because we had Betsy the Chihuahua tagging along. I emailed the hotel in advance to double check and they confirmed that Betsy was indeed allowed. They also said that they could even provide a dog bed and bowl for £10 if we needed it. We had Betsy’s bed with us so didn’t need to pay any extra, but a very useful option if you are aiming to travel light. Both the Mal and Hotel Du Vin allow dogs, so we’ll certainly be making more use of both in 2013, whilst we travel for our blog.

As we were staying on Christmas Eve, we decided to treat ourselves. We booked a spacious superior double room with dinner, bed and breakfast included – This all came in at £150, which was more than reasonable for what we got. Nearly everything about the Malmaison Belfast was fantastic – From the welcome at reception and the exceptional decor, right through to the food at dinner time. Our room was gloriously spacious and the bed was oh. so. comfy! The bathroom products also came in unusually large bottles and all smelt divine. Alex usually takes the hotel products for his wash bag, but this time there was a bit of a fight! The mini bar was well stocked and all the items in it were reasonably priced. They also offered a bottle of red wine for about £13, which is pretty unusual for a hotel of this standard.

So, was there anything wrong with this marvelous hotel? Just a few things really… The service at dinner wasn’t quite as good as it could have been (but not overly shabby) and my breakfast of eggs benedict arrived on the table a tad cold. I didn’t want to complain (due to it being Christmas Day) and I’m sure they would have changed it for me had I asked – I’ll just presume this was one off festive hiccup as the rest of the food was great. One other problem was that the rooms were a bit dark. If you wanted to work at the desk in the bedroom then you really would be straining your eyes, and you definitely couldn’t get any decent light for make-up application before dinner! However, on the flip side, the dim lighting really made the hotel feel sumptuous and romantic – Who wants to be working in a place as nice as this anyway?!

We loved every minute of our stay at the Malmasion Belfast and Betsy the Chihuahua loved the fact that she was allowed to join us in the bar area after 8pm. What a lucky dog she was! We’ll all be back, that’s for sure.

We give Malmaison 9/10 – Very suitable for dogs with plenty of space in the room for us all. Just around the corner from the hotel is Custom House Square if you need to take a quick stroll before bedtime.

(Bar pic from Mal flickr page)

Date Of Stay: 24th December 2012 (First reviewed on seebyzoe.com)
Cost for a Double room: £150 (Inclusive of Dinner spend)
Hotel Dog Charge: Free
Dog Extras: Dog basket and bowl for £10 if requested
Dog Friendly UK Rating: 9/10