Dublin 'Hotel' of the Thousand Welcomes....NOT!

[seafoid]

Ryanair don't provide sausages as standard on their flights so you are off on that analogy Tony.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Maybe there's a genesis of a thread here. Take cost out of it, as much as is possible, and what hotels would you recommend that you've stayed in?

In Ireland I would heartily recommend

Leisure/Holiday

Connemara Coast, Furbo - Galway
Dunraven Arms, Adare - Limerick
Plaza, Killarney - Kerry
Ballygarry House, Tralee - Kerry

Business

Bewley's Dublin Airport, especially if you are flying.

Was at a wedding in the Connemara Coast last year & I thought it was quite dated for the money (near €200 IIRC), great location though and the bar's not too bad.

Stayed in Ahernes in Youghal recently & was quite impressed. Friendly family run hotel, massive double room, only €130 for the night and the food they served up was excellent. One of very few places in the Blue Book that offers value. Stayed in Moy House in Lahinch as well, very friendly but nearly twice the price, worth it as a one off.

[AFS]

Stayed three nights got it stamped by reception still had to pay. It was five pounds per night but it was only a small part of the rip off that Belfast has become. I live in Dublin and find restaurants and eating out far more un-reasonable in Belfast. The Wheterspoon pub beside the movie house was the value for money place i found, but i found the place to be a tad rough to be honest.

You're not wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMPi-jF5iQ

[Tony Baloney]

Leenie, I was half expecting, hoping, praying for....a room in the Gresham Hotel that wasn't facing O'Connell Street. The Gresham  Hotel is a building which, like the majority of buildings, has a back as well as a front.

Another thing which pisses me off about Dublin Hotels in general is the fact that residents/guests now have to pay for car parking, 14 euro a night in the Gresham! This does not happen in any hotels outside Dublin, as far as I'm aware.

I had to pay for parking at Days hotel in Belfast

[ross4life]

Stayed three nights got it stamped by reception still had to pay. It was five pounds per night but it was only a small part of the rip off that Belfast has become. I live in Dublin and find restaurants and eating out far more un-reasonable in Belfast. The Wheterspoon pub beside the movie house was the value for money place i found, but i found the place to be a tad rough to be honest.

You're not wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMPi-jF5iQ

FFS soccer fans  was it Wetherspoons?  speaking of which it's a big pub chain in Britain

[deiseach]

Was at a wedding in the Connemara Coast last year & I thought it was quite dated for the money (near €200 IIRC), great location though and the bar's not too bad.

All part of the charm, sir

[boojangles]

Have stayed in the Regency, Burlington and the Gresham during the last year. If I had paid for any of them I'd be up in arms. From decor to service they were all a big let down. Particularly disappointed with Gresham last weekend. The room allocated was overlooking O'Connell Street, noise never stopped  all night long, practically impossible to get to sleep. Handles on window didn't work properly and even the breakfast had a member of staff serving, lest one might take an extra rasher or sausage. Disaster

Noise never stopped all night on the busiest thoroughfare in the country. Shocking.
Can't get Basil Fawltys picture out of my head now after reading that sentence. Reminds me of that episode where the old bag is giving out about the view from her room.

Basil  " Thats Torquay, madam "
Old bag- " Well its not good enough "
Basil '' Well can I ask what you expected to see from a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House perhaps, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically''

Comedy Gold.

Whoops. Thats what ya get when ya only read the 1st page of a thread. Gimme a great laugh tho.
Great minds Seafoid ha.

[pintsofguinness]

Well I stayed in a decent Dublin city centre hotel over the All Ireland weekend just past....the Trinity Capital on Pearse Street.  Nice hotel and well located.

Firstly, on arriving on Saturday, we went into the hotel bar for some lunch around 2PM.  We had a 6 month old baby sleeping in the pram, along with us.

I thought the waitress was coming over to take our food order, until she proceeded to tell me, in broken English, that children were not permitted in the bar at anytime.  This was news to me, as I had thought children were permitted up until a certain time if food was being served.  Now we're talking a 6 month old baby here, sleeping in a pram, doing no one any harm.  But we had to leave the hotel bar, which was empty by the way, and go elsewhere for something to eat.  So that didnt go down too well with the 8 of us who were staying.

Then to finish off the weekend, I watched in horror as the hotel manager refused to switch the bar TV over from American NFL to watch the Sunday Game at 9.30 on Sunday night!  The bar was full of Down and Cork people who were resident in the hotel, and two Americans who were not resident but had arranged to call in to see the NFL game!

Talk about ructions, there was a mass exodus from the hotel bar, as people headed to another pub to see the Sunday Game.  I, like many of those who were there, won't be staying at the Trinity Capital again.

So much for welcoming your guests....feckin joke!

A few things....
1. If there's no children allowed in the bar a 6 month old baby (sleeping or not) qualifies, if they make an exception where would they draw the line?
2. Why does it matter if the girl doing her job had broken English?
3. How do you know so much about the boys watching the NFL? You say they weren't residents, friends of the manager, weren't drinking and had made arrangements to see the game? Did someone shine a light in their face and quiz them?
4. You "watched in horror"? Really?  That's a bit dramatic....

Had a good weekend, but that was in no way due to the service and friendliness received in any of the bars we attended.  We made our own craic.  Out of 6 bars, the only one where we received polite service and a bit of chat from the bar man was in Doheny and Nesbitts, and by coincidence the bar man was middle aged and Irish.  Other bars, including The Longstone, O'Donoghues and Mulligans were a mixture of Asian and Eastern European bar service.  Not that the country of origin is of any relevance, just that there wasnt much friendliness about them.

5. I don't understand this at all - did you go expecting craic from the person serving you? If country of origin has no relevance why point it out?

Has anyone got the right to book a TV channel in a hotel bar when:
1: they are not residents of the hotel,
2: they are not even having a drink,
3: it is All Ireland Sunday and 99.9% of those present want to watch the Sunday Game.  The reason they filled the hotel on a Sunday night was because of the All Ireland.

As I found out later, the American couple were friends of the hotel manager ... so say no more.

The hotel manager/owner can put whatever the f**k he wants on the tv...

[Peter Solan the Great]

Well I stayed in a decent Dublin city centre hotel over the All Ireland weekend just past....the Trinity Capital on Pearse Street.  Nice hotel and well located.

Firstly, on arriving on Saturday, we went into the hotel bar for some lunch around 2PM.  We had a 6 month old baby sleeping in the pram, along with us.

I thought the waitress was coming over to take our food order, until she proceeded to tell me, in broken English, that children were not permitted in the bar at anytime.  This was news to me, as I had thought children were permitted up until a certain time if food was being served.  Now we're talking a 6 month old baby here, sleeping in a pram, doing no one any harm.  But we had to leave the hotel bar, which was empty by the way, and go elsewhere for something to eat.  So that didnt go down too well with the 8 of us who were staying.

Then to finish off the weekend, I watched in horror as the hotel manager refused to switch the bar TV over from American NFL to watch the Sunday Game at 9.30 on Sunday night!  The bar was full of Down and Cork people who were resident in the hotel, and two Americans who were not resident but had arranged to call in to see the NFL game!

Talk about ructions, there was a mass exodus from the hotel bar, as people headed to another pub to see the Sunday Game.  I, like many of those who were there, won't be staying at the Trinity Capital again.

So much for welcoming your guests....feckin joke!

A few things....
1. If there's no children allowed in the bar a 6 month old baby (sleeping or not) qualifies, if they make an exception where would they draw the line?
2. Why does it matter if the girl doing her job had broken English?
3. How do you know so much about the boys watching the NFL? You say they weren't residents, friends of the manager, weren't drinking and had made arrangements to see the game? Did someone shine a light in their face and quiz them?
4. You "watched in horror"? Really?  That's a bit dramatic....

Had a good weekend, but that was in no way due to the service and friendliness received in any of the bars we attended.  We made our own craic.  Out of 6 bars, the only one where we received polite service and a bit of chat from the bar man was in Doheny and Nesbitts, and by coincidence the bar man was middle aged and Irish.  Other bars, including The Longstone, O'Donoghues and Mulligans were a mixture of Asian and Eastern European bar service.  Not that the country of origin is of any relevance, just that there wasnt much friendliness about them.

5. I don't understand this at all - did you go expecting craic from the person serving you? If country of origin has no relevance why point it out?

Has anyone got the right to book a TV channel in a hotel bar when:
1: they are not residents of the hotel,
2: they are not even having a drink,
3: it is All Ireland Sunday and 99.9% of those present want to watch the Sunday Game.  The reason they filled the hotel on a Sunday night was because of the All Ireland.

As I found out later, the American couple were friends of the hotel manager ... so say no more.

The hotel manager/owner can put whatever the f**k he wants on the tv...

You Nordies really are cranky fellas, could you ever relax a bit. One thing i noticed from my time in Belfast is the lack of a smile. If you could smile a bit more you'll enjoy life a lot more.

[Peter Solan the Great]

Pints of Guinness this is for you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mACqcZZwG0k

[gallsman]

Pints, I don't think I've ever agreed with you so much in my life. As previously stated what happened the original poster is bad practice, but to talk about having "rights" is ridiculous.

Rois, you're right, Russell Court isn't just linked to Diceys, it is Diceys - all part of the one complex, much like Jackson Court and Coppers.

Stayed three nights got it stamped by reception still had to pay. It was five pounds per night but it was only a small part of the rip off that Belfast has become. I live in Dublin and find restaurants and eating out far more un-reasonable in Belfast. The Wheterspoon pub beside the movie house was the value for money place i found, but i found the place to be a tad rough to be honest.

You're not wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMPi-jF5iQ

FFS soccer fans  was it Wetherspoons?  speaking of which it's a big pub chain in Britain

Ross, wtf are you on about?!? It was clearly Wetherspoons, seeing as the original post contains the words "The Wheterspoon pub".

Speaking of which?? Speaking of what? What are you actually speaking about??

Balladmaker, have you complained that the Wolfe Tones weren't on the stereo system?

[muppet]

Balladmaker, have you complained that the Wolfe Tones weren't on the stereo system?

They were the ones asking for the American Football.

[Lone Shark]

Just for the purposes of the thread, I had cause to stay up in Dublin for long spells back at the start of the year and I stayed at the Harding Hotel in Christchurch. Cheap as they come, and everything was fine in the place. I wouldn't recommend it for a fancy weekend away, but for one of those times when all you want is a bed close to the city centre, you could do a lot worse - though no parking either in fairness.

By comparison, Jury's in Christchurch was double the price, no better, and you had to pay for parking as well. No contest there.

Around the airport, hard to argue with Days hotel in Ballymun again for value. Secure parking, shuttle to and from the airport and the option to park for €5 a night, which beats the rates in the long term car parks. Easy find as well.


In Belfast myself and the good lady stayed in the Malone Hotel since we had a voucher for their group and that turned out to be good value and a good buzz around the place in the evening, albeit with a small crowd. A bit out of town was the only thing, but if you don't mind a walk in and a taxi back, one could do a lot worse. We'll probably head back when we do the pre-Christmas shopping run.

Around Ireland then, gold stars to: Knockranny House in Westport - a bit expensive but excellent service and facilities, a real treat. The Ferrycarrig in Wexford was a nice spot for a good price, Patrick Punch's in Limerick was very decent for a very affordable price, Murphys in Tobercurry was great value and good service if you ever needed to stop over in that area, while the Villa Rose in Ballybofey was outstanding value for a very good hotel. I love that town too. The Abbey in Donegal town is grand for to knock a bit of craic out of a weekend, it's a bit country and western but no less good for that, and I had a few good nights in the Dolmen in Carlow too.

In terms of ones I wouldn't rush back to, the Radisson in Sligo was a lot of fuss and cost for feck all, I wasn't too impressed with the service in the Silver Springs in Cork, though that could have been a one off, the Abbey hotel in Roscommon is overpriced for what it is, trading off reputation, and though I've never stayed there, the food in the Tullamore Court Hotel was brutal the two times I ended up dining in there, so I'd suggest the Bridge House or even Days hotel as the first port of call for anyone staying in Tullamore - though again, things could have improved since then.

[ross4life]

[/b]

FFS soccer fans  was it Wetherspoons?  speaking of which it's a big pub chain in Britain

Ross, wtf are you on about?!? It was clearly Wetherspoons, seeing as the original post contains the words "The Wheterspoon pub".

Speaking of which?? Speaking of what? What are you actually speaking about??

Not my post but Peter Solan the Great & everyone is allowed a little typo now or then Mr Perfect

The video says... A BAR ON THE LISBURN ROAD & not clearly Wetherspoons as you say

[gallsman]

Stayed three nights got it stamped by reception still had to pay. It was five pounds per night but it was only a small part of the rip off that Belfast has become. I live in Dublin and find restaurants and eating out far more un-reasonable in Belfast. The Wheterspoon pub beside the movie house was the value for money place i found, but i found the place to be a tad rough to be honest.

You're not wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMPi-jF5iQ

FFS soccer fans  was it Wetherspoons?  speaking of which it's a big pub chain in Britain

See what I'm getting at?