Actually, if you have the Club Carlson card, you could have stayed here for 44K points for TWO night

We decided to spend our first two nights in Dublin at the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Dublin because the price was right, the hotel looked nice, and the location was walkable to many of the spots within Dublin that we wanted to visit. Basically there was no good reason not to stay there!
The hotel s website describes the location as being a five minute walk from Grafton Street, St. Stephen s Green and Temple Bar. Located 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating just off South St. Georges Street the hotel has instant access to the city s most stylish bars and well known restaurants. Located on the doorstep of Dublin Castle, the hotel is surrounded by a wide range of tourist attractions including St. Patricks Cathedral and Trinity 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating College as well as Dublin s most famous theatres, 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating The Gaiety and The Olympia. There are some hotels that are a couple of blocks closer to the action 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating of the Temple Bar area of town, but this hotel really was pretty central to several different popular 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating attractions.
The lobby was open and modern and within a minute or two I was convinced we had picked 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating a good hotel for the first part of our Ireland trip. The hotel was decorated in the minimalistic but modern style that I like and the service was friendly and attentive. At check-in we were told that our e-standby upgrade option for a Business Class room had been approved I have a tendency to put in requests for discounted space-available upgrades on special trips . I believe the upgrade surcharge was around 30 €, which was a little pricey, but since it included 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating a slightly larger room, free breakfast for two, and in-room movies ( no, not that kind of movie I don t think ), we really got our money s worth.
We were on what seemed to be a Business Class floor, and we hardly ever ran into anyone else in the hallway or elevator and certainly never heard any noise. The room continued in the style of that lobby modern, clean, and simple. I thought it was great. There was an extra sitting area that was next to the large window. They had some US-friendly electrical outlets in case you forgot to bring your adapter.
There were both a shower and a tub to choose from, though I remember the shower not getting as hot as I would have liked. The flushing button on the toilet 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating also fell off (into the toilet yuck) when we pushed it to flush. 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating Maintenance did come up promptly to fix it, but it never felt truly fixed.
00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating For those who are interested in staying here with their children, it seems the max occupancy when you search on the website is two adults and one child in a standard room.  However, the hotel website also says this Children under 17 years old stay free when sharing existing bedding with parents. Extra beds are subject to availability, at a cost of 45 EUR for adults or children.   So, they seem to have a pretty friendly attitude toward children in the room.
As part of our Business Class Room, buffet breakfast for both of us was included. They also said we could have ordered our breakfast via room service, 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating but we never got around to trying that option. The buffet breakfast included pastries, 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating cereals, smoothies, fruit, 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating meats/cheeses, and many hot options. I heard them telling another guest that if you wanted something that was not on the buffet to let them know and they will make it. We very much enjoyed the breakfast selections, and it could easily serve as both breakfast and lunch if you time it correctly. I remember really loving the pastries, while my husband favored some of the traditional Irish breakfast selections.
We also had a tea and desserts in the restaurant one night, and while they were good, we liked the breakfast foods a little better. However, 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating having a decent restaurant in the hotel was a godsend for us as we were sometimes too tired to want to search around 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating for a snack (though we did also visit several very good restaurants 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating around Dublin stay tuned for a future post on those).
We booked two nights at this hotel using a cash and points rate of 10,000 Club Carlson Gold Points + about €90 per night. This was roughly a €50-€60 savings per night over the going rate just by using 10K points per night. I could have used 44,000 points per night to stay purely on points, but cash and points seemed like the better 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating deal to me. However, if I had the Club Carlson card that gave me the second award night free then I absolutely would have booked one night at 44K points and gotten the second for free. I have that card now, but didn t at the time of this trip.
I thought this hotel was a very good deal for what we paid. It was a good location, a modern look, and good service at a very reasonable price. I would not hesitate to stay here again on a future trip to Dublin especially now that I have the awesome last award night free benefit with the Club Carlson card!
Do you think this hotel would be ok with kids too? We have 2 kids and are planning a trip for next summer. Hoping to use all miles points, but I ve read that it s harder to find a room for 4 people in Europe. Thanks!
Actually, if you have the Club Carlson card, you could have stayed here for 44K points for TWO nights or 66K for TWO nights in a business class room. The cash and points is still a good deal, but the free night benefit makes it worthwhile to just use points at some of the more expensive European hotels.
Was it €30 per night for the upgrade or the whole stay? And the website says that the business rooms come with a Nespresso machine, did yours have one? That might make it worth it, but otherwise $20 per person for a hotel buffet breakfast seems high.
@Ken, Yes, as gold biz class and breakfast were complimentary. I actually turned down the biz class room to get an Eiffel tower view as they are only far corner rooms which are smaller, but I was solo on this trip. I have a full review on my blog. This was a paid stay, 197Euro for two nights in July using the gold weekend extend rate a great value IMO. I wouldn t recommend the Blu-Bologne on points, but for paid it was a steal.
We stayed at the Radisson Blu s in Galway and Letterkenney on cash points. Breakfast was included 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating in our room nights as that was a feature of the standard rooms. In Letterkenney, I was upgraded to a business class room for my Gold status. The rooms were the same, but they gave me robes for the room and 2 small bottles of wine. My BIL was happy with the wine, as I don t drink.
I really 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating think you would have enjoyed and experienced Dublin much more if you d gone with a bed and breakfast/type or home stay. Would ve cost about the same and not had to use any points to boot. And with a much better likelihood of getting to make some great Irish friends and get a lot of free inside travel advice 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating from actual Dubliners over that breakfast. Not a Rick Steves fan but I do agree with him wholeheartedly about avoiding the Radisson Blues/Hiltons/Marriott chain-type places of the travel world and not missing one of the best ways to experience the place you are traveling 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating to: stay in a local s actual home! Personally, I save my hotel points for the bigger American cities where I m already pretty familiar 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating with the culture 00 am 6 theatre chicago broadway tickets seating but can t usually afford to pay the cash prices.
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