Clayton Hotel Belfast

The bedroom was clean and comfortable, with a big TV, tea and coffee, biscuits and water. The corridors and carpets were nice, and reception was good, with easy self check-in. But for the price we paid, the stay was only okay. The bathroom needed a deeper clean, with mould on the grout and a dirty white door. At check-in we were asked to pay for keys despite having paid online, so we had to get a refund. It was sorted easily, but shouldn't happen. Breakfast was uneven: the black and white pudding were excellent, mushrooms and tomatoes good, and sausages fine. The bacon was very thin, hard and cold. The green-looking scrambled eggs didn't look or smell great. Continental choices were limited, and there were no fried eggs, only boiled. Not the end of the world, but I expected more for the price.

The staff were the one saving grace, very friendly and helpful. Although we paid a discounted rate, it still didn't feel like good value, and we wouldn't stay again. When they saw we'd booked through a discount partner rather than directly, they moved us to another room, which I can only assume was one of the older ones. It was clean enough, but needed updating. The shower had only two settings, very hot or freezing, no matter how often we adjusted it. The temperature turned hotter by itself while I was showering, and I was burned, which is a serious safety hazard. The room was always cold, even with the heating turned up. Cold breakfast options were lovely, but the hot ones were very greasy. We ordered a pizza to the room for £14.50, and it tasted like a cheap frozen pizza. The room facilities and food were disappointing.

I spent 6 days here, and the stairs were never cleaned once. The same dirt stayed there throughout my stay. The cleaner didn't clean the room all week either, and I had to call reception every day for fresh towels. The noise outside was disgraceful, and it sounded as if I'd left the windows open. Staff were badly dressed and lazy. The bar area was so dry, the dinner menu was awful, and the food was no better, with 45 mins waiting for a starter. The TV had few channels and wasn't a Smart TV, which every hotel has now. This has to be the worst hotel in Belfast.

Staff were very friendly and helpful, and reception arranged a taxi when we needed one. We arrived early and had no trouble leaving our bags. The location is good. Our room was big, but cleaning wasn't good: there were stains and lots of dirt on the carpet, plus a piece of an earring, which made it seem it hadn't been hoovered properly. There was also a lot of thick dust around the bath. The restaurant food was very overpriced and took 40 minutes to arrive, even though our group was the only one there.