The Ripley Court, is next to the railway bridge on the eastern end of Talbot Street, which if you follow it only a very short & direct walk westerly, will bring you out on O'Connell Street, directly at "The Stiffy on the Liffey", or Dublin Spire, (to give it it's more uninspiring official name)!
It's handily very close to both Busaras the central bus station, and just round the corner from Connolly Train station.
They do the "longer you stay the less you pay" thing, with discount on 3 nights or more. Five of us stayed a week in 3 rooms, one twin, two doubles, all good sized rooms with nice en-suite. I think it worked out about €34 per person sharing, which is good for a 100 room 3 star hotel in Dublin.
It was all very smart and the day reception staff reasonably helpful, and the rooms were well looked after, although the complimentary tray of coffee, tea & water wasn't always replenished!
Disappointingly there was no broadband connection in the rooms we stayed in, and the hotels only wifi hotspot in the lobby proved to be a dud, for myself and a couple of harassed looking Japanese business types!
In the sizable breakfast dining hall, (which was ok apart from a relentless taped loop of "diddley-dee music"), it's a canteen like queue up and they dole out a very good selection of cooked breakfast items, even for a veggie like me.
My mate got a bit cross with the cross examination every morning as to our room number, from the stern looking eastern european girl, doling out his sausages. He even considered self-tattooing the number on his forearm, which wouldn't have been very funny! But she couldn't quite grasp the concept of 2 seperate people with the same room number.
More irritating to me was the night reception man.
If you return back after 11pm for security you have to buzz in & speak your name & number to him. This was always a far too lengthy procedure, and even when he answered in not very good english, or Irish, you'd have to repeat everything at least 3 times. Now I like a drink, and frequently look like I do, but it always surprises me how coherent I remain, so he had no excuse!
We were there 7 days, the same guy, the same routine every night, and we never once made a fuss, or appeared lairy. The last night after another painfully long interrogation, we'd convinced him of our identity only to have him pursue us half way up the stairs with more questions!
All in all I recommend this place for cost, location & surroundings. However broadband/Wifi in all rooms, a more relaxed demeanor from some of the staff & certainly an efficient night door policy would make a lot of difference. read more
