Apologies for the lack of updates over the past few days, i’ve been away in Dublin, plus my other half was off work so i couldn’t slip away to a PC much 🙂 Mind you, i’m glad i didn’t have much time online to due the whole pagerank shenanigans that’s going on with my blog 🙄
It’s great to get away.. it just gives you something to look forward to, something different, something new..
Although i hate leaving my blog and laptop behind for a few days, it does actually do me good as i’m able to clear my mind and relax a bit more. It also gives me some stuff to blog about when i get home 😈
So how did it go? Well, we went to the Zoo, then shopping to Dundrum Town Centre, then just chilled out in our hotels. I’ll review the two hotels seperately..
The Clarion hotel was ok. Modern, clean, pretty, but lacked any x factor. At €150/night, i was disappointed to be honest. It had a leisure centre, ok, must hotels in the city don’t. But apart from that, it was overpriced imo.
On the other hand, The Hilton Kilmainham was without doubt, one of the top hotels i’ve ever stayed in, and believe me, i’ve stayed in quite a few 😉 It’s only open 6 months or so, so everything is super clean/modern/cool. It’s out of the way a bit, but only a 5 minute stroll to a LUAS stop so no big deal.
We arrived to find the hotel had no rooms free, this was at 3.30pm 😯 I wasn’t impressed as check in is normally 2/3pm so they had no excuses. Receptionist was sound. No bullshitting, he basically said “Yeah, we fecked up, hands up, i’m sorry”. I respected him for that and this stuff happens, so i told him it was no problem, we’d grab a snack in the bar as we were starving anyway. So he then offered us free drinks AND a free meal 
So that was a good start. About €40 worth of food/drink for free, plus our room was free in like 15 minutes, so we didn’t have to wait long at all. Up we went to the room after about 5 minutes of fecking about trying to get the lift working 🙄 It’s one of those lifts where you have to put in your key card to activate it. Very fancy 😎 I found out you weren’t supposed to leave it in, just insert/remove quickly, THEN press the button. Ah… simple mistake.
The room was fabulous. No complaints. Big, modern, airy… nice big LCD, loads of lights, marble bathroom, leather headboard… luxury. One of the nicest rooms i’ve had the pleasure of staying in. The hotel also had a leisure centre, so we went down to the pool. It’s not actually a pool, more a hydrotherapy pool/series of pools with loads of jets and power sprays. It was different, but nice.
So overall, we felt wanted/appreciated by the Hilton hotel and just another number by the Clarion hotel. And that’s the big difference. Little things like not having the mini bar fully stocked (even though i’d never buy anything out of it) annoyed me about the Clarion hotel. The lack of plasma/lcd also annoyed me as it shows a real money saving attitude. An LCD might cost €400. Over 3 or 4 stays you’d make it back, plus leave a consumer like me with a better experience.
Clarion IFSC hotel is an overpriced hotel that doesn’t deliver. In fact, i’d say the Comfort Inn Smithfield was a nicer/reasonable hotel for almost half the price. 7/10 for the Clarion. You seem to be paying for the location (on the river liffey and in the heart of ‘suits’ as i call them – the financial areas).
The Hilton Kilmainham is top notch. A bit of a spin out of the city, but well worth it. I’ll be heading back there should i need a hotel in Dublin in the future. Simple as that. Reasonably priced, large, spacious, nice and modern with that touch of luxury throughout and of course the nice staff. 10/10