Quality Hotel Leisure Centre, Dublin

...of these nights at the Quality Hotel, located a ten - fifteen minute walk from the central O'Connell Street, and just across the Liffey from Conolly Station (both rail, busand LUAS services are available from here.)

Upon arrival, I was immediately impressed by the clean, spacious surroundings and adjoining bar which was, at the time, playing host to a doubtlessly talented jazz/blues trio whose music was unintrusive but pleasant.
...otherwise good experience with the Quality Hotel Dublin - I had generally enjoyed my stay. Our rooms had been cleaned daily and staff had maintained a high standard of hygiene. The gym was excellent, especially given the reasonably prices of rooms. Staff were predominantly friendly and helpful, with an obvious exception.

I wrote a polite letter to the hotel detailing my problems and asking for some sort of resolution; whilst complimenting ... more

Although I should perhaps only detail the gym as the product title 'Quality Hotel Leisure Centre' suggests such things, I thought it perhaps more helpful to offer readers a more introspective overview of the hotel as a whole; gym included.

I recently spent New Year with my fiance in Dublin and opted to spend three of these nights at the Quality Hotel, located a ten - fifteen minute walk from the central O'Connell Street, and just across the Liffey from Conolly Station (both rail, busand LUAS services are available from here.)

Upon arrival, I was immediately impressed by the clean, spacious surroundings and adjoining bar which was, at the time, playing host to a doubtlessly talented jazz/blues trio whose music was unintrusive but pleasant.

We were able to check in at 2p.m and found our room to be incredibly good value - for roughly £45 a night we were supplied with a very reasonably sized room with a sofa, comfortable armchair, tea and coffee facilities, a double bed, television with built-in jukebox and an immaculate bathroom with a bath and powerful shower.

Our stay also entitled us to use of the leisure centre and gym, which admittedly, was impressive. It boasts a 22m swimming pool for you, a small pool for the kids, sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, weights, a fully equipped gym with treadmills, exercise bikes and all manner of cardio machines. There were, in addition, various classes beginning at different times of day - although we didn't participate in any of these!

The downside is that you are often obliged to wear a swimming hat as the policy dictates - inconvenient if you haven't thought to bring one! These can be bought there; however I'm not sure they suit everyone's look ;)

We dined at the hotel whilst there, both from room service and the ground floor bar. For a very reasonable price, you could have two courses and a side dish - I opted for a roasted vegetable bake which was delicious, but incredibly oily and thus not so enjoyable.

There is also a restaurant on the top floor with wi-fi service; which is useful if abroad with a laptop. Internet access via your television is available for a small surcharge also, although the hefty wireless keyboards can be difficult to use and navigate with.

The room service we ordered arrived in time, although the pizza my other half ordered was lacking a lot in the way of topping. On our final morning, however, we ordered room service breakfast - 'fresh fruit salad', 'basket selection of continental bread' , tea/coffee and a fried breakfast option.

Well, apparently fresh fruit salad now comprises some sour berries, a few hazelnuts and a dried apricot. No oranges, no apples, no pineapple, no grapes - nothing of the sort. Absolutely nothing fresh in sight, in fact.

'Continental fresh bread' was two slices of soggy toast each, served on a plate - no sign of this basket!

The bacon was inedible and more than crispy; the tomato was uncooked and my fiance left almost all his breakfast.

We were not provided with additional sugar for our tea, either.

Upon checking out and paying our final invoice, we mentioned this to the member of staff dealing with us - I noticed his name was Raivis. It was pleasantly brought to his attention that our breakfast had definitely been substandard. This was greeted with a grunt and having the invoice shoved towards us to sign. We were stunned - that's not good customer service, surely? My other half, as a customer service manager, found it beyond belief that in such an industry customers could be treated with such total disregard.

This marred my otherwise good experience with the Quality Hotel Dublin - I had generally enjoyed my stay. Our rooms had been cleaned daily and staff had maintained a high standard of hygiene. The gym was excellent, especially given the reasonably prices of rooms. Staff were predominantly friendly and helpful, with an obvious exception.

I wrote a polite letter to the hotel detailing my problems and asking for some sort of resolution; whilst complimenting their other services. This was six weeks ago - still no response, and I'm beginning to wonder if the hotel was not so 'Quality' after all...

 

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