Ireland Travel Guide
Hotel Amenities / Hotel Toiletries / Holiday Inn Express Hotels / Dublin Hotels / Airport Hotels / → All Tags
At Holiday Inn Express, There's Free WiFi, Free Breakfast and Free Toiletries
Normally when we think of the toiletry offerings at Holiday Inn Hotels, we think of soap, shampoo, lotion and if we're lucky conditioner. But at the Holiday Inn Express at the Dublin Airport, the hotel offers guests additional amenities like shaving cream, disposable razor, toothpaste, comb, toothbrush, cotton wool and even special stuff for the ladies.
This "Forgot Something" was snapped by HotelChatter Flickr contributor (UggBoy♥UggGirl) and we've found out that all Holiday Inn Express hotels now have the "Forgot Something" extra amenities program (and have been for a few years now.)
Country House Hotels / Ireland Hotels / Donegal Hotels / Hotel Awards / Solis Hotels / → All Tags
Comfy Beds But No Marmalade At 'The Best Country House Hotel In The World'
It was when news popped into our inbox of Lough Eske Castle winning the title Best Luxury Countryside Hotel In The World at the Luxury Hotel Awards that we had two burning questions. What is Lough Eske Castle? And what are the Luxury Hotel Awards?
According to the website:
The World Luxury Hotel Awards are accepted as the pinnacle of achievement for Luxury Hotels worldwide. This Award was established as a celebration of ultimate achievement in hoteliering. It is about congratulating hotels that have taken the extra step & such differentiated themselves from "good hotels" to "exceptional hotels".
The list of this year’s winners is here, if you want to take a look. But in the meantime, what’s more interesting to us is a peek at Lough Eske Castle – especially as, apparently, it’s won the same award for the past three years.
St Patrick's Day Hotels / Hotel Amenities / Ireland Hotels / → All Tags
The Lodge at Doonbeg Will Find Your Long-Lost Irish Relatives for St. Patrick's Day
In honor of the upcoming holiday, we'll highlight a few wacky St. Patrick's Day packages that must have been thought up by a leprechaun.
Do you get a little green with envy when you see people sporting "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons and shirts on St. Patrick's Day? Find out if you have any Irish in you at the Lodge at Doonbeg in Ireland.
If you need help learning more about your family tree, the County Clare hotel recently added on-site genealogists to help you research your Irish heritage, coordinate visits to villages where your ancestors once lived and even connect you with a long-lost relative.
International Hotel WiFi / Hotel WiFi / WiFi Heaven / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Ireland Hotels / → All Tags
The Ritz-Carlton in Ireland is Giving It Up for Free (The WiFi, That Is)
If you've been reading our Annual WiFi Reports, then you know how we feel about International Hotel WiFi (If you need a refresher, go see about our recent WiFi Hell at the Sheraton Frankfurt.)
You also know that the more you pay for your hotel room, the less likely your internet connection is to be free. And the repeat offenders who make our naughty list year after year are the luxury brands like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carltons. But there might be an exception to that crappy rule.
Check out this amenity listing at the Ritz Carlton Powerscourt near Dublin, Ireland:
St Patrick's Day Hotels / Dublin Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
St Patrick's Day in Dublin Is Way More Affordable Than You'd Think
The Dylan: nice beds, no dubious rockers. We could deal with that
Well oi’ll be damned (say that in an Irish accent, it might make more sense). It’s St Paddy’s Day coming up (17 March) and if you want to go ultra-authentico and spend it in Dublin, you’d better get your planning skates on.
But here’s the good news – pricewise, places seem to be less than extortionate, considering Dublin is an extortionate city, even on the off season. We just checked out two of Dublin’s poshest hotels: the Clarence, which is owned by Bono and his greasy chums, and the Dylan, which is so sleek it has no need of dodge celeb booking.
The Clarence has double rooms starting at €189 ($256/£168), and the Dylan’s even cheaper at €179 ($243/£159). If you don’t want to travel on a hangover, it even has a stay two nights, get one free package going down at the moment. Who’da thunk it? That leaves plenty of euros left to spend down Temple Bar.
Anti-View / Dublin Hotels / Business Hotels / → All Tags
Dublin Strikes Again with a Hotel Anti-View
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing, it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
This rather grim view was what greeted hotel fan uggboy during a stay at The Crowne Plaza Hotel Dublin-Northwood. We know—when you think of Ireland, you think of rolling green hills, or lovely seaside cliffs. Not, um, bland brick walls.
Halloween Hotels / Harry Potter Hotels / Hotel Packages / Budget Hotels / Ireland Hotels / Oxford Hotels / → All Tags
Get Your Harry Potter Fix for Halloween at These Hotels
While dressing up in costume and checking into the Hilton San Francisco might win you a free hotel stay, it doesn't include treasure hunts, Harry Potter screenings and an afternoon of witchcraft. Nope, for that you will have to head to the rather luscious-looking Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Ireland.
The castle is having a Harry Potter-inspired Halloween. This might surprise you, given that the place has nothing to do with Harry Potter whatsoever – in fact, the tenuous link they make is that the castle was built in 1228: “a time when magic in Europe was the norm.” Hmm.
Castle Hotels / Hotel Packages / Country Hotels / Ireland Hotels / Booze / → All Tags
Celebrate 250 Years of Guinness In Style At Ashford Castle
Ashford Castle – an actual, 13th-century castle in County Mayo, Ireland, that doubles as as five star hotel – is celebrating its 70th birthday next month. So far, so worthy. Forgive us being slightly more excited about the fact that Guinness is turning 250. Now that’s worth celebrating.
Luckily, the folks at the castle agree with us (it was once the country retreat of the Guinness family, which probably has something to do with it). So they’ve designated October as Guinness Month and 15 October as the date for a five course "Black and White dinner", where the head Brewer will talk about the black stuff.
Themed Hotels / Thanatourism Hotels / Odd Hotels / Titanic Hotels / Belfast Hotels / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
A Titanic-Themed Hotel Might Be Coming to Belfast
Hmm...you definitely can't say it's "too soon" for a Titanic-themed hotel to open in Belfast but we're not so sure if we're loving the idea of a hotel that's built around a tragedy. But thanatourists will love this place.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, a five-star 90-room hotel with a swimming pool, a gymnasium and a Titanic theme has been announced for the old Harland and Wolff Headquarters building at Queen's Island in Belfast, near where the doomed ship was constructed.
The hotel, if plans are approved, will be part of a larger revitalization project called the Titanic Signature Project, which seeks to restore the Thompson Dock and the slipways where the Titanic and her sister ship, The Olympic, were built. This Titanic Quarter, as the area is called, will also have apartments, an entertainment district and an amusement park, Titanic-themed of course.
HotelChatter Reviews / Hotel Video Tours / Dublin Hotel Reviews / Dublin Hotels / Jaunted / → All Tags
Five Mellow Days in Dublin at the Maldron Cardiff Lane
Once again, Jaunted's weekend editor Victor Ozols is back. This time with an in-depth video tour of the Maldron Cardiff Lane Hotel in Dublin. Remember his last killer video from Key West? It's like that but with British robot voices in the elevator and Guinness in the vending machines.
During our recent vacation in Dublin, we stayed in the Maldron Cardiff Lane, a large, seven-story hotel located on the south bank of the River Liffey, near the city center. We stayed there for five nights and came away feeling that we got our money's worth with a hotel that delivered what it promised. It didn't exactly ooze personality, but it gave us what we wanted in terms of location, amenities, and general coolness, and we'd be happy to stay there again.
Also, I didn't seek out this particular hotel. I used Priceline's blind opaque auction site. After a few misfires, I made a successful bid of $170 a night for a four-star hotel in Dublin city center, south of the Liffey. And that's how we ended up at the Maldron.
HotelChatter Reviews / Dublin Hotel Reviews / Bed and Breakfasts / → All Tags
Kilronan House Welcomes Guests with Drunk Cards
On a trip to Dublin recently, we decided to be brave and rent a car. We also decided to shack up one night at a B&B. When we arrived at the Kilronan House in Dublin and didn't see the valet—free parking was a selling point—we pulled our rental into the adjacent driveway. A man from the business that owned said adjacent driveway came out and started screaming while we patiently explained our sitch. Then our concierge/valet/white knight Cormac came out, politely smiled at the screaming man while ignoring his nastiness and parked our car. Talk about service with a smile.
We followed Cormac into the white-pillared Georgian-style bed and breakfast, which blends in nicely with the townhouses on the street. At check-in, we got the rundown of the area and some maps. Cormac also handed us "drunk cards," wallet-sized pamphlets of the B&B with its address prominently displayed, because he knows that even when out-of-towners stay at a classy joint like this, they will inevitably get forget-your-name drunk in Temple Bar.
Hotel Hell / Hotel News / → All Tags
The Scariest Thing That Could Happen at an Airport Hotel...
This is the stuff of nightmares. Via a story reprinted over at Hotels Mag, we just caught wind of an incident in Ireland that is really, really terrifying: Recently-released reports have now confirmed that a commercial jet narrowly avoided disaster in 2007 when it flew towards a Dublin airport hotel after the pilot mistook its rooftop lights for a runway. Seriously.
From a story printed in the Herald today:
The plane, with 112 passengers and six crew, started its approach to Dublin Airport at around 23.24hrs on August 16, 2007. Weather and visibility were good [...] At around five miles from touchdown, the aircraft began to deviate left of the approach course.
The Aviatjet plane was just 200ft above the height of the hotel before the pilot took corrective action, less than 570 yards from the building. "The aircraft continued to descend below the minimum descent altitude, without proper visual identification of the runway in use, and continued to descend to an altitude of 580ft above mean sea level, before executing a go-around," the report said.
Can this happen? Seriously? Apparently, these reports reveal that the pilot had mistakenly identified the lights of the hotel — which has been identified as the Days Hotel Dublin Airport — with the approach lights of the runway he was supposed to be landing on.
Um, this should never happen. Ever.
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