There are many things to love, and many things to dislike about this hotel. First, it's REALLY not close enough to Dublin to be an excellent hotel for those visiting Ireland for their first time. You definitely want to be closer unless you want a 30 to 40 euro cab ride in and out of the city, or you want to take public transit (walk one mile to get to the train).
The hotel staff is why I give it four stars. The girl who checked me in (don't remember her name), and Kryztof, the night auditor, are incredible. Extremely friendly, conversational, and incredibly warm. The staff at the restaurant were incredibly friendly, as well.
I am a Director of Housekeeping for Marriott Hotels. There were many things upon my arrival and during my stay that bothered me - things my graveyard team or evening staff would take care of that were clearly ignored here. Wait one moment, and I'll return to this.
Check-in was swift and friendly. Lady at the desk was wonderful and informative. She explained to go to the underground parking garage, so we did. You press a button for the intercom, and someone in the hotel opens the gate. However, nobody TALKS to you through the intercom, meaning someone wanting to rob a bunch of cars just needs to drive up and and press the intercom button to be let in to the garage. Not SECURE. Same with the intercom to access the guest elevators - nobody responds to check name and room number - you press a button and get buzzed in. NOT secure.
Once arriving on my floor, I noted the carpet is in extremely bad shape. Massive stains (blood or Guinness, not sure which) cover the carpets. They look old and in massive need of extraction - a very simple process of spraying with very hot water and running an extractor over it to suck up the water. I would be absolutely happy to recommend an extractor for your hotel. It is a simple process, and has no learning curve to learn the art. Carpet shampooing after the extraction would work wonders. It doesn't take much effort - but they haven't put it in. As a director of services (housekeeping), my goal is to be sure that public areas and guest rooms are spotless. That means cleaning baseboards, cleaning carpets frequently, and doing Rooms Preventative Maintenance in all guest rooms once a quarter - ensuring deep cleanings and carpet treatments are handled. Any obvious issues are to be handled faster (blood/Guinness stains).
The TVs are TINY in the room (about 22 inch) and have no inputs except for USB. There are HDMI inputs, but because of the how the TV is mounted, they are not accessible to any users without tools.
The rooms were well maintained, and our housekeeper has been doing an incredible job (I'm here for a few more nights). To this, I give much credit. But before I got to my room, I felt as if my shoes were too filthy from the hallway carpet to even wear in my room. Perception is 99% of the truth in the hospitality industry - the moment I saw the condition of the hallway carpets, I thought I had made the wrong choice.
The hotel bar is limited, but awesome. Cheers! Well-priced!
- The hotel does not have an ATM. This should be a standard.
- The hotel does not provide ice buckets in the room, nor ice machines on the guest floors. You must call and request it.
- The hotel restaurant is very expensive for the food it produces. I paid 24 euros for a ribeye that I asked for BLOODY. It was brought to me medium-well. The prices are far more expensive than it is worth. All of the beers on the menu I wanted were "out" at the time ordered, leaving me with beer styles I don't care for. A simple comp beer for the inconvenience of not having the two beers I wanted would have been grand, but it was not done. No empathy shown, more of a "yeah, we don't have that right now...." As a manager at a hotel that requires we learn empathy, I did not see that here.
Overall, I'm enjoying my stay. I need to sleep with white noise and requested a fan - they had one and had it brought up QUICKLY. This, I greatly appreciate with any hotel. My ice buckets arrived within 5 minutes. Questions are answered quickly and with knowledge (with the exception of someone who sent me on a real JOURNEY to pick up some beer and snacks, when there was a Tesco open until 11PM just a ten minute drive from the hotel). The security for the parking area needs to be modified, and housekeeping/maintenance needs to take care of problem areas in the public spaces. The carpets are absolutely filthy, and it shows.
Highlights:
Kryztof. By far the best hotel host I have met in a very long time. After a few nights here, he began to treat me like a comrade. Staff service from everyone makes up for all of these issues. Price is great, but you see why. They are not spending money on important items like public space cleanliness, or a simple ATM. For foreign travelers, this is a REQUIREMENT. Especially given there are no ATMs close by.
Problems:
Location, Maintenance, Amenities.
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