Best Hotel *Room* in Ireland

Buckeye

Ireland has a lot of really great hotels & resorts, with impressive old buildings & locations and amenities like spas & restaurants, but even in some of the better hotels, the actual rooms are often just the same as everywhere else.

Which hotels have the best rooms? A few wish-list items:

• emperor size beds (84 x 84, longer & wider than king) with good-quality, reasonably-new mattresses
• linens that are clean but don't still smell of bleach
• heated floors, especially in the bathrooms
• large walk-in showers with good water pressure and multiple shower head or a "rain shower" head
• lots of outlets
• smoking terrace in the room or at least on each floor
• good cable/satellite tv with lots of movie selections
• good wifi (preferably free - we all know that charging €10/night for wifi is the biggest scam since Ponzi - but at least provide a strong signal and modern bandwidth levels!)

Friends are doing an Ireland road trip for their anniversary and I'd like to get them a great hotel room for two of the nights mid-trip for some R&R from the hostels & campsites and for a proper anniversary celebration.

Has anyone stayed in a hotel with a room so great they didn't want to bother leaving it?

Thanks!

The Earl of Thomand Suite at Dromoland Castle, spectactular.
Another fav is the Princess grace Suite at the Shelbourne.

Sir Arthur Daley

Any Travelodge.

Pro Hoc Vice

The presidential suite in the Westin, was nice to have its own steam room and gym (but wasted on me lol). The Presidential suite in the Sheraton Athlone is nice very moderne. Also either of the bigger suites in Fota Island resort, lovely wrap around terrace.

The Clarion Cork penthouse suite is amazing, and very good value.

Holsten

Presidential Suite @ Powerscourt or Westbury.

Ruu

Moved from After Hours.

Mince Pie

I would be happy to test out the rooms for you. For research pursposes of course.

Lapin

G

sunflower27

Lapin wrote: »

G

Wow!!!! I think I am going to book that for my birthday this year.

Pro Hoc Vice

Lapin wrote: »

G

I think I have never been more disappointed in a hotel, and it have stayed in some kips. Its Galway a beautiful city, but its an industrial/retail park for crying out loud, who in their right mind even in the celtic tiger thought it was a good idea to put a pretend 5 star hotel in a retail park.

pwurple

The Evangelista Suite in The G Hotel galway.

Clarion Cork Penthouse.

pwurple

infosys wrote: »

I think I have never been more disappointed in a hotel, and it have stayed in some kips. Its Galway a beautiful city, but its an industrial/retail park for crying out loud, who in their right mind even in the celtic tiger thought it was a good idea to put a pretend 5 star hotel in a retail park.

Anytime i stay there I don't usually leave the hotel. It could be in siberia for all i see outside it.

Pro Hoc Vice

pwurple wrote: »

Anytime i stay there I don't usually leave the hotel. It could be in siberia for all i see outside it.

Having to pass a Eddie rockets, and Atlantic home care and cinema to get to parking just put me off. If I'm paying a large wedge for a room I want to know its in a good location and a retail park is not a good location in my view. Its celtic tiger bad planning all over. But each to their own but it takes more than a homemade cookie and slightly kitsch furniture to impress.

sunflower27

infosys wrote: »

Having to pass a Eddie rockets, and Atlantic home care and cinema to get to parking just put me off. If I'm paying a large wedge for a room I want to know its in a good location and a retail park is not a good location in my view. Its celtic tiger bad planning all over. But each to their own but it takes more than a homemade cookie and slightly kitchen furniture to impress.

I think it is a bit more than a homemade cookie... be fair now.

I would not be leaving either if I was there for a night. I'd be making the most of the room Looks absolutely gorgeous

pwurple

infosys wrote: »

Having to pass a Eddie rockets, and Atlantic home care and cinema to get to parking just put me off. If I'm paying a large wedge for a room I want to know its in a good location and a retail park is not a good location in my view. Its celtic tiger bad planning all over. But each to their own but it takes more than a homemade cookie and slightly kitsch furniture to impress.

Location wasn't on OP's list. It clearly is on yours, but it wasn't the spec. Big bed, fancy shower, heated floors etc were. I think the linda evangelista suite meets the req. It may not be their style, but it's an option.

Ps, when did the tray of iced cakes get switched to a 'cookie'? Boo to that!

Clarion does fit the spec too. Not mad about fota island myself... Fairly bland business hotel imho, but as you say, each to their own.

FizzleSticks

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jt_dublin

What about the K-Club in Straffan, Kildare. I have stayed in some lovely hotels and this has to be one of the best. The room was amazing. Their website says the rooms have King size beds. I have a king size bed at home and but I can tell you that the K-club bed was a LOT bigger... It was at least 7 foot wide. You could check this with them. It says that each room is individually styled, so maybe they have different bed sizes.


You can see the great reviews here on TripAdvisor.
http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g212518-d212716-Reviews-The_Kildare_Hotel_Spa_Country_Club-Straffan_County_Kildare.html

Another place that I hear great things about but haven't tried yet is the Lodge at Doonbeg, Co. Clare. Some other posters on here might be able to give their view on it.

http://www.doonbeglodge.com/

JT

Gatica

I don't know what the bedrooms are like at the G, but the hotel downstairs definitely fails to impress, I'm with infosys on that one. I've no idea who they paid off to get a 5 star rating...
However, pwurple makes a good point, if all the OP cares about is a good room, then the ratings about the rest of the hotel matter little and I can't comment on the bedrooms.
You'll also find that presidential suites or luxury suites in most hotels will be much nicer than the bog standard rooms. So recommendations for suites are really only comparing apples with oranges in my opinion.

OP, if you're planning on giving this as a gift then I would recommend that you do look at other factors outside the room. It may be something you care about a lot and maybe so do your friends, but I'd imagine they might want to go out of the hotel or even in the hotel.
The Merrion in Dublin has beautiful suites with marble bathroom, his/hers sinks and vintage bathtub in addition to spacious shower. I'd happily stay in a room like that myself and only go out for dinner.

PS: I don't know of any hotel that meets your specs in a standard room.

roadsmart

By far the finest and most luxurious place I have ever stayed is Ballynahinch Castle. We had a huge room with separate lounge area and walk in dressing room and 4 poster, overlooking the river. The food was unbelievable, and the cost was very reasonable at the time. The walks around the lake are incredible. They do very good special offers. I could go on for pages, but I'll just give the link.

http://www.ballynahinch-castle.com/photo-gallery

jinkybhoy

FizzleSticks wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I was thinking of booking this - anyone checked out the suite? 180 for the night - looks nice