The Merchant Hotel in Belfast is about to launch Ireland’s first dedicated ‘luxury’ water menu. The menu includes an exclusive collection of 13 bottled waters handpicked from countries including Fiji, Canada, Italy, Iceland, Finland and the Faroe Islands.

Each bottle comes with a full description of the water and its mineral content as a guide for guests. Many of the waters on offer are rarely found in the UK.

Whilst the menu at The Merchant Hotel features waters from the depths of a Fijian rainforest to the Georgian mountains, its most expensive offering, at £26.45 for a 750-ml bottle, is harvested from the icebergs floating off the coast of Newfoundland.

The Merchant Hotel has also appointed two new ‘water butlers’ to help guests to choose the water that is right for their palate, explaining the unique benefits, tastes and attributes of the different brands. If guest don’t want to splash out on luxury water, the hotel is still offering a glass of ‘Belfast water’, free of charge.

The five-start Merchant Hotel is situated in the heart of Belfast city centre’s historic Cathedral Quarter - a short distance from the Ulster Museum, the Titanic Quarter and The Waterfront Hall.

Details: www.themerchanthotel.com

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Published: 31 July 2015

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If you are looking for a hotel with a difference then let us point you towards Bert's Barges.

Bert’s Barges has just opened its first one-suite hotel barge in Hackney on the Regent's Canal in central London. The barge hotel offers the ultimate city suite with a matt black exterior and a Scandinavian vintage interior - 'the perfect blend of sophistication and simplicity.'

The barges comprise of a large living and dining area with fully fitted kitchen, flat screen television, coffee machine, wood burning stove, underfloor heating, a large bathroom with walk in shower, bedroom with king sized bed and private roof terrace.

The bedroom includes a king sized bed, ample storage and a further pull down bed in the living area.

Three other boats will be launched shortly - another in London in Little Venice, followed by York and Bristol.

Details:  www.bertsbarges.com

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Published: 09 July 2015

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Amid the hullabaloo surrounding the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, we came across the following advertisement which appeared in a newspaper in June 1815.

Family Hotel and Boarding-House: on the Beacon, Exmouth, commanding views not surpassed in the kingdom for picturesque scenery embracing a noble expanse of ocean, the River Exe with its celebrated beautiful banks studded with gentlemen’s seats, the city of Exeter and surrounding rich and cultivated country.

R MARE respectfully acquaints ladies and gentlemen frequenting the Devonshire coast that he has fitted up and ready to open on a liberal extensive scale, an establishment of the above description which has long been a desideratum at that place he trusts by unremitting assiduity to merit public support and patronage.

It makes you wonder what people 200 years from now in 2215 will make of modern hotels promoting their ‘flat-screen televisions with satellite channels and free wi-fi’?

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Published: 17 July 2015

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Three hotels have joined the new Best Western Premier Collection just three months after the brand was launched in the UK. The three hotels are: 81-bedroom Winchester Royal Hotel (pictured left), the 152-bedroom Richmond Hotel in Liverpool and the 67-bedroom Bank House Hotel, Golf and Spa in Worcester.

BW Premier Collection brand was launched in March 2015, together with a second brand – ‘Vib’ - which is aimed at the modern, urban traveller.

The three BW Premier Collection hotels will not be members of Best Western, but they will be associate hotels. They will retain their identity and won’t take on the Best Western branding. The only evidence that the hotel belongs to the brand will be a small plaque on the outside of the property.

Details: www.bestwesterndevelopers.com

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Published: 22 June 2015

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