Ireland Travel Guide
Tags: 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.
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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.
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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.
Tags: 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.
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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.
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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.
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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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What a Hotel Designed By a Famous Milliner Looks Like
Ever wondered what the results would be if you were to hand over the interior design of an Irish hotel to a famous milliner? Wonder no longer since the g Hotel in Galway opened in 2007, boasting Philip Treacy as the design mastermind behind its whimsically luxurious decor.
Philip, a hometown boy from Galway county, gained fashion notoriety over the last several decades as he designed hats for fashion houses like Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, and Chanel as well as for the British royal family. As Design Director of the g Hotel, however, Philip had a chance to spread his aesthetic and reflect his influences beyond headgear, turning out chairs in Warhol's pink camouflage pattern and a reception area reminiscent of the interior of a seashell.
Tags: Hotel WiFi / Dublin Hotels / Airport Hotels / Snapshot / → All Tags
Ease Your Hangover With Free Bathroom WiFi at the Clarion Dublin
Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you plan on being in Dublin today or tomorrow, we bet that very shortly you will be nursing a severe hangover. Never fear, in case you feel the need to Tweet every minute of your life, you can vomit assured knowing that a hotel in Dublin has got free WiFi in all parts of its hotel.
This is a shot from the men's room at the Clarion Dublin Airport Hotel. You see that sign? It says "Free WiFi." Yes, the WiFi at the hotel is so free that you're free to log on from the public toilet. How 'bout that?
This photo comes to us from Flickr user 8lettersuk, who says, "Now I'm all for free wifi but in the gents of the hotel? The Clarion at Dublin Airport gets top marks for effort!"
Yeah, you know what? If an airport Clarion's got it together enough to give you free WiFi from the public toilets, we think other hotels should at least give us WiFi that we can log onto from the privacy of our guestroom toilets. Sometimes the newspaper just don't cut it, ya know?
The WiFi crusade continues.
[Photo: 8lettersuk]
Tags: Anti-View / Dublin Hotels / → All Tags
A Dublin View That Will Still Be Unattractive After Ten Guinesses
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 at 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.
So, you fly to Dublin and it's dark when you check into your hotel. When you wake up in the morning and look out your window, what do you expect to see? Rolling green hills, sheep meandering about in the light rain, a rainbow here and there ... you know, the stuff on the Lucky Charms box.
But no. None of this. Imagine opening the curtains of your hotel room and finding this view. Makes you wanna drink ten beers, right?
Tags: Hotel Spas / Ireland Hotels / → All Tags
Ireland's Cliff House Hotel a Surprising Spa Destination
Ireland's definitely not the first place we'd think of when we're planning a spa vacation but the new Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, south of Limerick, is putting up a good fight.
A recent UK Times review reported hearing plenty of American accents among the guests too so the secret seems to have got out into the world already. How come nobody told us before?
Anyhow, Cliff House's spa complex is called "The Well" and it's full of nice stuff like:
an indoor infinity pool, outdoor Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, fully-equipped gym, and treatment rooms staffed by expert therapists. Cedar- clad steps lead to a natural rock pool for that refreshing dip in the sea.
And their therapies use products made from seaweed growing off the Irish coast. There are currently no all-inclusive spa packages to speak of, but FYI rooms start at €200 (US$255) and you can add a serenity spa package for €115 (US$150).
Just as a side note, we are big on hotels that keep an eye on guest feedback, and at Cliff House they're smart enough to give a management response to TripAdvisor reviews. It's nice to feel like you get heard when you're complaining or complimenting.
[Photo: disheaka]
Tags: Conrad Hotels / Ireland Hotels / Hotel Animals / → All Tags
Giddy Up: Mount Juliet Conrad Hotel Perfect For Horse-Lovers
Calling all horse lovers: the Mount Juliet Conrad Hotel in Ireland is doing everything right for you. Not too many hotels have an equestrian center on site, but Mount Juliet does, complete with new stables, two arenas and both of those fence-jumping trails (show jumping and cross country fences, for those in the know).
The new equestrian center has just been officially opened and added to the list of reasons to book in to Mount Juliet. Those lucky enough to get to the opening saw all kinds of horsey stuff, including Ukrainian Cossack riding and, as they describe it, some "stylish side-saddle" demonstrations. We're sorry we missed it.
Mount Juliet is a pretty huge estate about two hours from Dublin, in County Kilkenny, and it's got a golf course, spa and a variety of kinds of accommodation. They offer equestrian packages that include bed and breakfast, lunch, a one-hour trail ride and a one-hour riding lesson--with riding hats and boots provided, so novices like us are welcome--starting at €245 (US$380) a night.
Non-horse-lovers are also welcome as they have a stack of other packages that might match your preference.
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