The Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire

First, the positives: our room was quiet and the beds were comfortable. Now, the rest: There don't seem to be that many staff. Those we found were friendly and helpful enough, but they're hard to find and/or at the end of a long line. One of the elevators smelled very unpleasant, while another elevator's doors didn't close/open properly. The latter was quickly sorted, thankfully, while the former was not. The public, open spaces were comfortable, but kind of tired looking and pretty noisy with kids running around and loads of people camping out with their luggage waiting for their rooms or whatever. The hotel touts its swimming pool on its website's "About Us - FAQ" page. The pool was a big selling point for us. Sadly, though, we later learned the pool is only open for limited times if you're traveling with anyone under 18. There is no mention of the pool's limited availability/open times in the FAQ section... that bit of very useful info is off in another website section, "Health Club" page, where "Family Swim Time" is listed. There's no definition there of what "Family Swim Time" is, though, so even if you were to somehow find that page you still wouldn't know if/when you can use the pool. Anyway, we didn't learn of the pool's limited availability until we checked in. Not a good set-up at all, as we were all very much looking forward to a swim after our travels.

Nice hotel but rooms were not 4 star. Shabby, small and dated. Very small TV with very limited cable. Maid service did not put new towels but instead hung up the ones we already used to be used again. The grounds and lobby are nice and there is a bus to the airport for 10 Euros.

Beware, airport transportation is not a courtesy shuttle, and this hotel is nowhere near the Dublin Airport. hotel itself is shabby, views and neighborhood nice.

While the location of this hotel is fantastic, the service was less than great. I had called ahead to make the hotel aware that we had 2 rooms and that the purpose of this trip was a celebration of my sisters birthday. Upon checkin, the had us on opposite ends of the floor, told us they would have to move us to the first floor and there would be a 10 minute wait. It took 40 minutes. No effort had been made to acknowledge the celebration, and when we enquired about it, a fruit salad was sent to the room. You can hear every door bang shut and they do so right through the night. If you want to have a view, you have to pay an additional 20 Euro. We got a very good price, and for that it is worth staying.

Very pleasant experience. Located about 1 block from train to Dublin.