Hilton Dublin Airport, Dublin

...for one of the regular Hilton Hotel deals which they send by email. This offered a £50 Visa card for free if you stayed in 3 Hilton Group hotels between December and January. Not a bad offer.

I already had one stay from December so once my Dublin trip finally firmed up I decided to go for the £50 award by using 2 Hilton hotels during my short visit. It didn't work out any more expensive and the free £50 definitely made up for having ...
...Hilton offers for HiltonHonors members (the scheme is free to join) are a real plus point in my view. As usual, I went into the Hilton site at http://hhonors.hilton.com via the Quidco website, (www.quidco.com) which meant I got 6% cashback, not to be sneezed at even if it does take a while to come through! I had decided to stay my first night at the Hilton Dublin Airport: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/DUBAPHI-Hilton-Dublin-Airport-hotel/i ... more

Booking:

I had the possibility of going over to Dublin for a concert, but unfortunately everything ended up being very last minute, which of course meant not being able to pick up the best deals available for early booking. Nevertheless, back in November I had signed up for one of the regular Hilton Hotel deals which they send by email. This offered a £50 Visa card for free if you stayed in 3 Hilton Group hotels between December and January. Not a bad offer.

I already had one stay from December so once my Dublin trip finally firmed up I decided to go for the £50 award by using 2 Hilton hotels during my short visit. It didn't work out any more expensive and the free £50 definitely made up for having to pay more at the last minute. These regular Hilton offers for HiltonHonors members (the scheme is free to join) are a real plus point in my view. As usual, I went into the Hilton site at http://hhonors.hilton.com via the Quidco website, (www.quidco.com) which meant I got 6% cashback, not to be sneezed at even if it does take a while to come through! I had decided to stay my first night at the Hilton Dublin Airport: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/DUBAPHI-Hilton-Dublin-Airport-hotel/i ndex.do

I was in a hurry to book, as everything was a bit frenetic and so did not spend time checking exact hotel location details - my mistake!

The booking process went through painlessly as usual - a fully flexible bed and breakfast rate for roughly £93 and I was soon holding my reservation confirmation in my hands. However, I noticed that for some reason, despite having specified a non-smoking room, my print-out said I had a smoking room, urrggh! Deciding it was best to sort things out before I travelled the next day, a quick phone call to a very efficient helpline soon confirmed this was just a glitch in their system.

Arrival/getting to hotel:

Uh oh! Have you ever had that "Déjà vu All Over Again" feeling?

If you've read my recent review of the "Croydon" Hilton, you will know I am just a bit picky about accurate hotel location descriptions... Anyway, I got off my flight and was wandering slightly aimlessly around the arrivals area of Dublin Airport looking for anything directing me to the Hilton Dublin Airport. Eventually I asked at the Information desk and was told to go to the Hotel/Accommodation Infopoint (a big yellow backlit noticeboard, unmissable...) where I could call up a courtesy bus to get me to the Hilton. At this point I started to wonder... A quick look at the easy to find details on the Infopoint said I had to dial 101 on the freephone for the Hilton. Immediate answer and told that a courtesy bus was already on way to airport and would be there in about 2 minutes. I was to make way out of airport, walk under the garage, then I'd be able to see the bus-stop for the Hilton minibus.

OK. Seemed simple enough. Followed the instructions, walked out the terminal (PLEASE NOTE: if it is raining, you and your luggage will get wet, so have umbrellas handy!) There was signage to the bus park pointing to the passageway under the garage so simple enough not to get lost. However, coming out the OTHER side of the garage, one was confronted with a huge expanse of bus stops as far as one could see. No specific signage to show where the Hilton stop was, or indeed any other stop, and even more ominously, no sign of the actual hotel either... Hmmm.

Fortunately a couple of airport employees pointed me to a distant stop about 150m away, again this involves walking in the open air and the bus shelter is open-sided, so if you are less lucky with the weather than I was, you'll get wet and cold.

The bus appeared a few minutes later and a helpful driver assisted with my bags. Then the fun began.

I was expecting maybe a 5 minute or less hop to the hotel, going on previous experience with airport hotels. But, oh no, it wasn't to be. We left the airport perimeter roads, and started driving well away from the airport, along a dual carriageway, then turning off and going down some minor roads out into the lush, green Irish countryside. Very pleasant indeed, but not what I had been expecting. Eventually, after almost 15 minutes we turned into an industrial estate type built up area and arrived at the Hilton Dublin Airport Hotel, an imposing modern glass fronted building - but with Dublin Airport nowhere to be seen (or heard.)

You could accuse me of being Little Miss Picky, but the seeming inaccuracy of the location description WAS inconvenient, as I had hoped to meet someone at the airport that evening, thinking it was just a short walk away, so I had to reorganise that plan. Additionally, I was aiming to get an express Airport bus to Dublin city centre the next morning, but having to go such a distance to get back to the airport from the hotel, that plan had to be altered too. Is it too much to expect that if a hotel says "Dublin Airport" it should be on the airport premises (such as the Chicago Airport Hilton) or at least only a few minutes away by foot? In my personal opinion I don't think it is too much to expect. Admittedly, at least in this case the website does say that the hotel is 5 miles from the airport (that must be as the crow flies...) but if you are in a hurry booking as I was... it is easy to miss such things.

Check-in:

Fortunately my spirits rose a bit once I got out the mini-bus. The hotel is super-modern and has a very inviting light and airy reception area. Although I was arriving at a busy time of day, I did not have to wait more than a minute to be checked in, and the usual efficient Hilton procedure was done in a couple of minutes. I asked for some info on any public transport links into Dublin city centre and the friendly, cheery receptionist was happy to help with a timetable - always nice to have a smiley face serving you.

Room:
Room cardkey worked, and I immediately noticed how light and airy the room was, not stuffy at all and not too hot. Lots of natural sunlight from a full length window at one end of the room and pretty big - 23m squared apparently. Usual Hilton beige/cream toned decor, twin beds unfortunately for me this time as no king or queen bedrooms available, big desk with all usual hotel information, plenty storage space with hangars, iron, ironing board, full length mirror, hairdryer, minibar, large tv with fairly small selection of free to view channels and additional "pay for" services which I don't use, including films etc. Very comfortable easy chair and everything was clean and tidy. The bathroom is the usual Hilton marble combo, big bath tub, lovely power shower and heated mirror/floor, small make up mirror, the normal La Source, Crabtree & Evelyn bath and hair goodies and plenty of towels. Also good to have exact directions on how to alter the heating/air conditioning.

However, the towels were quite scratchy feeling against the skin, the way towels get when they've been in the tumble dryer too long with not enough fabric conditioner. Only a small thing but the difference between a good hotel and a REALLY good hotel.

I think the Hilton single beds are a bit harder than the doubles/king sized but I slept well anyway! The rooms are well sound insulated and no noise was noticeable, I even felt comfortable enough about that to do a couple of hours violin practice.

Hotel facilities observed:

There is dial-up internet connection in the rooms, with modem cable available, I didn't have my laptop with me so can't comment on speed etc, one could also buy wi-fi access from the reception. There is a fitness room which looked well equipped. I was pretty hungry so went down to the bar area which was quite large and very pleasant - a cheese and ham panini with chocolate brownie and vanilla ice cream was ordered and the waitress kindly brought it up to my room without charging room service (BIG plus!) The panini could have done with more filling and side salad but was OK, but the dessert was excellent, perfect gooey and crumbly brownie with good quaity ice cream, yummy and not bad value for about £8.

I noticed a lot of businessmen/women at the hotel and it does seem to offer excellent business faciltiies. Helpfully, the hotel does have a live link to the departures and arrival screen at the airport. The shuttle bus seems to run every 15 minutes or so from 4.45 in the morning.

One minus point - I ordered my complimentary newspaper, but it didn't arrive, however newspapers were available for sale at the reception.

Breakfast:
Excellent! Everything and more that you could expect, served in the large restaurant area. Plenty of room for everyone and tables were laid out and cleared up with great speed and efficiency by friendly, smiling staff. Very good service. Lots of choices for cereals including "make your own" muesli as well as Kelloggs, and of course my favouite perfectly cooked full English (or in this case Irish!) breakfast. No waffles sadly, but some very tasty white pudding which I really enjoyed. Needless to say I stuffed myself and stocked up for the day. In particular the bread rolls were of very high quality - crisp fluffy rolls were especially tasty. Full marks for choice, quality and cleanliness.

Checkout:

Quick and painless. Everything was OK with my bill, and having chosen express check-out I was done in just a few seconds. Great function, and good to see extra staff at the reception to deal with guests. I asked for a taxi to be booked as I didn't feel happy to take the bus not knowing exactly my bearings and the taxi arrived very quickly. It costs around €24/£17 to get to Dublin City Centre and took about 40 minutes in rush-hour traffic, even using buslanes etc. Incidentally, the driver said that she often had passengers from the AIrport Hilton complaining about the location being a bit misleading. Goes to show that people don't always read all the fine print - the guest's fault perhaps but even so...

You can park at the hotel for €5 a day and the bus into Dublin City Centre is €1.70 single.

General conclusions:

1) I must read hotel location descriptions better before booking, though I still feel that 5 miles away is not "at the airport". But the shuttle minibus link is good - so perhaps I am being a bit harsh.

2) This is a good, well run hotel with decent facilities and good service. However, it is a way from Dublin City Centre and is probably best used as a starting point for maybe driving around Ireland etc, rather than a visit to the city itself. 

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