Hotels
Part 1: Dublin to Shannon
| Hotel 1: Conrad,
Dublin |
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| Sunday 03 Apr to
Monday 04 Apr
(1 night) |
| Room 528
(King Superior) |
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The Conrad Dublin is situated in Earlsfort Terrace, more or
less opposite the National Concert Hall and a very short
walk from St Stephen's Green. Convenient on-site parking is
available, although I had no need of it on this first day of
the trip. The hotel had started a programme of major
refurbishment at the time of my stay, but this was not
sufficiently advanced to have yielded visible results. My
unrefurbished room was reasonably comfortable, but lacked
any feeling of being something special, which I would expect
at a Conrad. Alfie Byrne's bar and restaurant was a lively
place with a great atmosphere. The hotel-operated bar, even
in its temporary home pending completion of the new
Lemuel's, provided a more sophisticated venue for a
quiet nightcap. It will be interesting to see what emerges
once all the remodelling work at this property has been
completed. |
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| Hotel 2:
Hilton, Dublin Airport |
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| Monday 04 Apr to
Tuesday 05 Apr (1
night) |
| Room 443
(King Deluxe) |
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This hotel is situated around 7km from the airport and a
scheduled shuttle service is provided. My purpose in moving
from the Conrad - apart from clocking up another stay credit!
- was to
be in a good position to pick up a rental car the following
morning and set off on the road with a minimum of fuss. The
bedroom was fairly typical of a European Hilton and was
comfortable enough. Catering centred around the Burnell Bar
& Grill, adjacent to the lobby. On my one previous stay, at
the weekend, this had been really busy and noisy, with
crowds of people enjoying live music and dancing. On this
occasion it was very much quieter, and this suited me just
fine. |
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| Hotel 3: Powerscourt
Hotel,
Resort & Spa, Enniskerry |
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| Tuesday 05 Apr to
Wednesday 06 Apr
(1 night) |
| Room 422
(King Corner Suite) |
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Standing in the historic Powerscourt Estate with views of
the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain, this five-star hotel,
marketed by Marriott as part of its Autograph Collection,
was always going to be one of the accommodation highlights
of the trip. What made it absolutely outstanding, however,
was the fact that when I rolled up as a 'Marriott Nobody', I
was given an upgrade to a fabulous corner suite. The only
explanation I can think of is that the hotel was extremely
busy with conference attendees.
My spacious and beautifully decorated accommodation
consisted of an entrance hallway and visitors' toilet, an
L-shaped sitting/working area which included a fireplace and
desk, with this in turn leading to the bedroom and en-suite
bathroom. I had dinner in McGill's Bar, which seemed a
little more relaxing than the formal dining room. |
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| Hotel 4:
Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny |
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| Wednesday 06 Apr to
Thursday 07 Apr (1
night) |
| Room 228
(Double+Single) |
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This hotel is situated right in the centre of Kilkenny and
makes use of covered public parking directly across the street,
offering this at a
reduced price. While almost any new base was bound to feel a
little strange coming directly after the sheer luxury of Powerscourt, this was in fact a perfectly acceptable and
convenient one-night stop. I enjoyed the food at the
in-house Savour restaurant. I was allocated a
triple room instead of the booked double. |
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| Hotel 5: Ferrycarrig
Hotel,
Wexford |
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| Thursday 07 Apr to
Friday 08 Apr
(1 night) |
| Room 503
(Double) |
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There were two main reasons why this hotel turned out to be
delightful. First, the property is situated in a scenic
location overlooking the River Slaney, just outside Wexford.
Secondly, Reeds Restaurant, the hotel's fine dining
venue, proved to be highly enjoyable. On top of that,
factors such as convenient parking, friendly staff and a
reasonably comfortable room all contributed to a pleasing
stay. The only off-key note came from the old-style cathode
ray tube TV. |
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| Hotel 6: Radisson Blu
Hotel & Spa, Cork |
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| Friday 08 Apr to
Monday 11 Apr (3
nights) |
| Room 127
(King Business Class) |
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This 126-room modern hotel is accessed from an industrial
estate on the eastern edge of Cork, at Little Island. It is
situated on 9 acres of land that once formed the grounds of
a country house. The lobby was stylish, as were Banks
Bar and the Island Grillroom restaurant. I was
also happy enough with my Business Class room. The main
issue here - and it was a pattern that I would soon see
repeated at Hotel 9 below - was that the hotel appeared to
be highly successful in attracting large events, which
tended to swamp in-house facilities to the detriment of
regular guests. Because of this, the experience did not
fully live up to my expectations. |
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| Hotel 7: Brehon Hotel
& Angsana Spa, Killarney |
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| Monday 11 Apr to
Wednesday 13 Apr
(2 nights) |
| Room 236
(King Deluxe) |
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On the other hand, this thoroughly stylish, modern property, situated in the
main tourist centre of southwest Ireland, certainly
was one of the
accommodation highlights of the trip. The hotel is on the
southern outskirts of the town, next to the Killarney
Convention Centre. A soaring, tastefully decorated atrium
greets arriving guests, quickly followed by a warm welcome
from the friendly staff. My room was comfortable and did not
suffer from extraneous noise. The on-site Brehon Bar and
Danú restaurant were delightful places in which to
spend time. Both maintained the highest standards,
commensurate with those of the property as a whole. |
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| Hotel 8: The Rose
Hotel,
Tralee |
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| Wednesday 13 Apr to
Thursday 14 Apr (1
night) |
| Room 140
(Double+Single) |
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This newly renamed and refurbished hotel, which I had booked
as 'Fels Point', provided a comfortable and convenient night
stop with easy, on-site parking. The in-house Park
Restaurant provided an elegant venue for dinner and
breakfast. I had no complaints about my room,
but did get the feeling that this was one of those hotels where the quality of the
public areas exceeded that of the accommodation. |
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| Hotel 9: Radisson Blu
Hotel & Spa, Limerick |
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| Thursday 14 Apr to
Friday 15 Apr
(1 night) |
| Room 220
(The Moyhill Suite) |
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This 154-room, modern hotel is situated in 20 acres of
well-tended grounds just west of Limerick, yet in County
Clare. Its website promises "a peaceful retreat just outside
the city", and I genuinely believe that in normal
circumstances, this will probably be the case. Unfortunately
the description did not apply during my short stay.
Apparently the hotel was full and I was the only guest not
associated with a major event - one where the vast majority
of attendees were around age 20. Suffice to say in this
short review that the noise levels and general standards of
behaviour were poor from outset (around 5 o'clock in
the afternoon) and went sharply downhill as the evening wore on,
with
the raucous commotion continuing until around 5am. I had been
upgraded to the Moyhill Suite in anticipation of a
challenging stay, but sadly this failed to insulate me from
the bombardment of drunken screaming and yelling. I have to
say that staff were wonderful about the whole affair, and I
received a substantial discount on my rate, even after such
a generous upgrade. In all honesty, though, I'd rather have
had a good night's sleep.
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