PRESS
THE TELEGRAPH
"In a magnificent townhouse once owned by a department store magnate, owner Melanie Harrison has created a funky, eclectic, entertaining and unique boutique hotel where each room pays witty homage to the great and the good of Northern Ireland... Harrison trained as a scientist, backpacked around South America and India and worked in the United States, New Zealand and France. She should really have been an interior designer: the furniture, artwork and assorted bits and bobs she’s picked up all over the world and at auctions, including salvaged Victorian railings and mahogany and rosewood floors, create a style which is brilliantly eclectic, inspired and humorous..." CONDE NAST TRAVELER
"Belfast: city of riveters, inventors, linen mill girls, boxers, pamphleteers, revolutionaries, Lambeg drummers, Irish bagpipers, mission hall preachers, and mustachioed burghers with pocket watches... Now you are more likely to find cocktail creators, urban farmers, NGO officials, tech specialists, muralists, political tour guides, ravers, and Irish-language teachers... The Harrison Chambers of Distinction, an act of flamboyant self-expression by owner Melanie Harrison, is possibly the most entertaining hotel I’ve stayed in. Each room is different and named after an Irish writer, artist or musician. The talk flows, and Harrison’s presence is inimitable."THE TIMES
"While things can get fairly lively in the centre of Belfast, down in the southern part of the city it’s much more laid-back. Stay here and you can stroll through the Botanic Gardens, potter around the Ulster Museum or browse the bookshops scattered along Malone Road. Keep the literary theme going in the Harrison, a delightfully bonkers guesthouse that is all class. Each of the 16 rooms is individually styled, with Victorian antiques, standalone baths in the bedroom and chaises longues in the giant bay windows..."SQUARE MILE
"It’s a terrible cliche but true here: returning to the Harrison felt like catching up with an old friend. In case, an old friend who’s experienced a massive glow-up and become incredibly popular. Music videos, TV shows and films have been shot here in recent years; multiple celebrities are returning guests. The hotel has doubled in size since my last visit; the building site has transformed into a bar and breakfast conservatory. Over the years, Mel has expanded across five townhouses – navigating the place is an adventure unto itself. There are maps on each floor to assist but honestly, it’s more fun to wander the stairs and corridors, encountering all sorts of weird and wonderful things along the way – oh look, it’s a frog in a tricorne..."ESCAPISM
“If you recoil at the thought of staying in a grey, identikit chain hotel, then The Harrison Chambers of Distinction could very well be your refuge of choice. This boutique Belfast hotel feels like the bowels of your mad auntie wardrobe (in the best kind of way), crammed with a cornucopia of leopard-print paraphernalia, crystals and trinkets. At The Harrison, no two rooms are the same, and each is named after a person of distinction who has a close connection to Belfast and Northern Ireland. You may find yourself with the keys to the Ruby Murray suite, listening to music on the retro record player as you sink into the four-poster bed. Or equally soaking in the freestanding tub in the Hans Sloane suite while you lock eyes with the wallpaper behind, decorated with perky-bottomed cherubs…”
THE IRISH INDEPENDENT
If there’s one thing The Harrison ain’t, it’s boring. Wherever you turn, there’s bold wallpaper, or cheeky art (I particularly like the print of a girl drinking champagne from the bottle, while sitting on the loo). Every corner has been carefully considered and each piece of art has a story, whether it’s the octopus light fixture made by Melanie’s artist friend, Gill Morrow, or the grandfather clock from a house around the corner. All of the pieces were personally sourced, and the style may not be to everyone’s taste — it’s a minimalist’s nightmare — but it gets top marks for originality... In every room, there’s a wonderful map of Belfast that details points of local interest and their connection THE TRAVEL MAGAZINE
"To really enjoy The Harrison, you have to keep coming back to stay in a different room each time. The Irish theme runs through the hotel, with everything sourced as locally as possible. Original floorboards from a historic Belfast hospital make up the bedroom floors, and the thick wool carpets in the common areas are a Victorian copy made by the company that supplied carpets for the Titanic. The chunky solid grey industrial metal Arroll radiators are an Edwardian replica from an old school. Believing the hotel to be a place for rest and relaxation, there are no televisions or radios. Instead, Melanie has tucked playing cards in the drawers and placed board games in the writing desks."NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
"Belfast’s arty alumni inspire this brilliantly bonkers 16-room boutique hotel in Queens Quarter. There’s a wardrobe hung with fur coats in the CS Lewis Suite, books within reach of the rolltop tub overlooking the treetops in the Yeats Suite, while in the attic, the Grand and Petite ‘Booboirs’ come with voluptuous wallpaper by local designer Grainne Maher. Here, record players, typewriters and steamer trunks reign, and evenings hinge around complimentary drinks, cheese and charcuterie boards and lively chat in the lounge that doubles as the breakfast bar..." ELLE
“When The Harrison opened last summer, Belfast finally got the design-led town house hotel it was waiting for. Owner Melanie Harrison has meticulously restored a 19th-century merchant’s home (with a little help from her builder father) in the university district, filling it with Northern Irish artefacts including ornate cast-iron radiators and Victorian chaise longues. Each of the 16 rooms spotlights an icon with links to Belfast, including poet WB Yeats, the Brontë sisters, CS Lewis and singer Ruby Murray.”