I stayed at the hotel as part of a birthday celebration. From arrival to departure the service was excellent. We left bags and car off around 1130 and headed off for some shopping. Got a call shortly afer 1pm to say room was ready even though official check in was much later. All the bars were very busy - it was a Saturday night and a great atmosphere - wonderful tall cocktails. Our room overlooked the street but we had no noise issues and room was pure luxury. Definitely worth every penny and be sure and enjoy a great breakfast followed by a relaxing time in the rooftop hot tub. Expensive yes but worth every penny.

I stayed at the Merchant Hotel last week as a special treat for my girlfriend and the whole experience could not have been better!

On checking in I was greeted by a very friendly concierge who arranged to park my car nearby. Our room was very luxurious, we opted for the 'victorian room' which seemed to be full of antique like furniture, heavy draped curtains, and a very rich bathroom covered in a dark green marble and with a huge deep set bath and powerful shower. We visited the hydroptherapy pool on the rooftop which has views of most of Belfast, nothing nicer than sitting in a bubbling hot tub while it rains!

For our meal at nice we visited Bert's Jazz Bar which had a bustling atmosphere, dark walls, jazz music, and every table full gave it a great ambience for a meal and a few drinks. The meal itself was nice but is on the fancier side and some of the sauces and sides with the meal itself my girlfriend or I weren't particularly fussed on. After the meal we headed into the bar and played some snooker in the billiards room. Breakfast was outstanding in the Great Room with excellent service and top quality food on offer (I had pastries, fresh fruit, and then salmon and scrambled eggs for the cooked breakfast).

Worth mentioning that while checking in and checking out, I managed to bump into, one extremely well known Irish comedian, a world famous book author, and a very well known Belfast actor.. so keep your eyes open when you're staying here! Will definitely return in the future.

Booked this hotel on the strength, largely, of reviews on this site. Then wished I hadn't.
Love Belfast, but would give the Merchant a swerve next time. Over-rated, over-priced, a triumph of style over substance. You can get much better value elsewhere in the city.

My new wife and I called in for afternoon tea one Saturday. Even though we hadn't booked the staff were delightful and managed to find us a table. The food and tea was top notch. There was another group in the room, who were having a renunion and didn't want to sit down as they didn't really know eachother which bothered us as they were all standing right behind us, but we didn't want to say anyting because they were so nice about it...but we didn't have to as when we went to pay the bill the staff apologised and gave us a discount.

Would really reccomend this experience and will be returning.