Central Belfast Apartments Queen's Hideaway

The apartment was in a great location, about 10 minutes walk from the city centre and just a few minutes from the university and museum. Getting in to the apartment was very straightforward, as I had watched the video provided beforehand. There was a lift up to the apartment, which was very useful. The apartment itself was exactly as it appeared in the photographs. The bed was very comfortable, there were plenty of coathangers and bedside lights, which were useful, as we like to read in bed. The kitchen was well-equipped, apart from a frying pan, but when I phoned up to ask about that they quickly came round to the property with a new one. There was even a teapot, which we found very useful. The lounge area was comfortable and there was a good-sized dining table.

The public areas of the apartment block were a bit grubby and well-used and there was often litter outside the main entrance, which didn't give a great first impression. The main entrance door had a keypad, but for almost all of the time that we were staying there, people kept on leaving the door open, which meant that anyone could gain entrance to the block. The lock on the entrance door to our apartment felt quite flimsy, so we didn't feel that secure. Not sure what can be done about any of that though.

Property was located at a central location and amenities are nearby.

Identification of the property location was bit tough I felt personally. But for others it might be easy.

The location was very nice. Close to Botanic station and within walking distance to the central part of the city. The welcoming wine and snacks were a nice surprise.

The sofa bed was a bit difficult to use. It took us 15minutes to install the bed as there is no instructions. The towels provided were not of good quality as they generate a lot of Lint when used.

The apartment itself is beautiful, really well decorated and looked after.

The £250 deposit is ridiculous and is then used to threaten you throughout your stay. We were perfectly happy to stick to all the house rules (and would anyway) however we did not need the emails to remind us it's a £50 fine to leave the keys in the wrong place or £50 fine for not taking the bins out, or excessive heating usage. It is a lovely apartment but really hard to enjoy when you're so on edge with all of the threats. I am only writing this review now our deposit has been returned for fear that they would take money for leaving a bad review. Emails could have been worded much better and instead of being told where not to leave the keys (for a £50 fine) a friendly reminder of where to leave the keys would have been appreciated. It is also worth noting that the 'cooking facilities' were not great, no frying pan which resulted in us having to waste food and no basics like salt or oil which would be in expected when the listing claims you can cook there. The building the flat is in is not nice, litter around the entrance and the car park and the lift was broken for the stay. The taking of the deposit was also suspicious as we had to block two payments for higher amounts.

Location and room decor was nice

The sofa bed was very uncomfortable and so difficult to open.

Comfortable, clean, warm, nice view from window, quiet; office staff responded quickly when we raised issues

Unfortunately the communal areas were really filthy; dreadful smell of petrol from motorbike parked under stairs;the lift didn’t work (not easy with suitcases) - so not very welcoming. Such a shame

Location was good

The building appeared somewhat neglected, and the entrance to the apartment was notably unclean, with a mop left directly outside the door. There was no internet access and no communication from the host throughout our stay. We also found half a bottle of wine in the fridge raising concerns about whether the apartment had been properly prepared prior to our arrival.