Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Dublin — Hotel in Dublin

When you're staying in a hotel that costs $400/night, you're going to have really high expectations. This review will show you what you get for that price at the Radisson Blu Royal Dublin.

Dublin Hotel Review: Radisson Blu Royal Checking-In After surviving through the cold Wow Air flight, stopping in Dublin for 19-hours and powering through the Dublin airport I was finally at my destination with a comfortable bed waiting for me. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready yet.

I arrived at the hotel at noon but requested an early check-in. As a Gold member with Radisson Rewards, you have that as an amenity...which I absolutely take advantage of.

The receptionist informed me to come back in an hour and the room would be ready. I happily agreed and asked where I could get the best Irish meal nearby. She pointed me in the direction of a top rated place and I made my way there for my first Irish meal.

Cost I don't pay for any stays at the Radisson, but achieved Gold status by having the Radisson credit card.  For a $75 annual fee, you get Gold status and 40,000 points each time you renew.  On June 18, 2018 the cost to stay at the Radisson Blu Royal Dublin was €335 ($393 USD at the time)...or you could just pay 50,000 Radisson points. Of course, I chose to use points. If you average out the cost of points with the annual fee, I paid $93.75 USD to stay at the Radisson Blu (with free breakfast) for one night.

The Room Before getting to the room, the receptionist said she upgraded me to an executive business class room.  When I got there, it was a regular looking room.

Breakfast Buffet Breakfast was served from 6:00-10:30 and in the classic Radisson buffet style. I only eat at hotel breakfast buffets when it's included and even then I don't eat much of the free food. It's normally pretty basic eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and bread...but at this Radisson Blu there was something different!  They had waffles! It happened to be the really sweet dessert waffles, but I threw it in the toaster anyway and heated it up. Delicious.

They also had servers bringing out coffee and other breakfast drinks. I think I've only seen this at the higher end Radisson hotels...even though it's still mediocre. For reference, Hyatt, Starwood, Marriott and Hilton do things at a much higher quality level.

On my way out of the breakfast buffet, I picked up a granola bar to-go. At some hotels, they tell you not to take anything from the breakfast area. I wasn't sure if it was okay or not...so I went for it anyway. As I was walking out of the eating area, an employee standing at the exit says something to me. I have no idea what he said. I'm not sure if it was even English. Some Irish people have a very thick accent that I'm not used to hearing.

I responded with a very aggressive "What did you say to me?" I realized this sounded aggressive right after the guy responded. He slowly and politely said "Have a nice day."

The Fitness Center When I'm jet-lagged, I can only sleep a few hours before waking up again and having a tired day. To resolve this, I try to exercise so much that my body has to sleep to recover.

The hotel advertises that they have a fitness center. They do not. They have a PARTNERSHIP with a NEARBY fitness center (Iveagh Fitness Club) which is only open from 6am-10pm.

Incident: Early the next morning, I'm abruptly awaken again by a very loud fire alarm and flashing lights. There was no announcement about this being a test. I quickly dressed, picked up my cell phone, wallet, passport and ran out of the building. The rest of my belongings remained in the room because I thought this was a real fire.

Of course, there was no fire that I could see. Maybe a gas leak? After waiting outside for 30 minutes (it was summer but still pretty chilly in the morning) they announced we could go back inside. They said a nearby building had a small fire which triggered...

DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL FROM HELL! I don't even know where to start about this horrible scam of a hotel. So for our last 2 nights in beautiful Ireland we decided to rent the Suite with a balcony, one of the most expensive besides the Presidential suite. I definitely didn't mind shelling out over $400 per night plus parking, but this was a big failure on my part and should have spent a little more and chosen the Shelbourne or intercontinental. We wanted to have something a bit nice on the last 2 days, boy was I wrong! The mental, and physical tolls this place took is still with me especially the physical. After a 4.5 journey we were excited to get to our hotel, relax, have a spa, and nice dinner. I had called the hotel before booking to make sure they had on-site parking. Upon arrival the lot said full, so I go inside and spoke with Amar(I believe that's her name) I quickly asked about the parking and was told we would have to park out front for $4/ hour or drive 5 minutes away, again I called to make sure because I have medical issues. She was very callus, and noticed I was having extreme distress, so I asked to cancel and was told NO! I go out to speak with my husband and he comes in with me. I asked to speak with the manager and he popped out to the garage and said its not full. Amar was standing right beside the manager and had no interest in even asking him or checking herself! That problem was solved. Then on up to the room, when I opened the doors 4 of the, I was shocked because motel 6 was nicer than this awful place. This was NOT what I booked according to the pictures on the website, not even close! Dirty, dingy, floors were awful, toilets didn't flush, both toilet seats were loose. I promptly went down to talk to the manager and he said he would do something and did not! He said it was a new renovation 🤢 Lies! The room we booked had a comfy vibe with a sectional and we got concrete furniture (we bounced when you sat on it) awful just awful! I was assured Maintenance would be there to service the 2 toilets with the seats coming off and the flushing problem! This never happened. We lost about 5 hours of our day dealing with this horrible staff! Time is money and wasted vacation time. The next day the suite still had not been addressed! That evening the toilet seat came off while using it and I hurt my back badly and my ribs! We shall address this later. Amanda, did come to the room after I called and gave them the what for! She was kind and apologizing, but that doesn't get my body, my time and money back! The worst experience in Dublin ever. Thanks Raddison Royal Blu (nothing Royal here) for ruining our last 2 days on vacation and a very painful trip back home. I'll be sending you my medical bills😉 Whatever you do don't stay here! I hate to make reviews like this, but don't be a dummy like me. Pictures are not what...

We are currently finishing up a 10 night stay here. Overall we have been pleased with our stay. The staff has been super friendly and I especially want to point out Kristina at the breakfast and Mr David who I believe works the bell hop desk. These 2 went above and beyond what we would expect in terms of your normal hospitality. They both really made our 4 year old enjoy our stay even more. Each morning Kristina would greet our son and hug him. Usually in the afternoons we would see Mr David and our son loved the attention he gave him and the biscuits.

The only areas of our stay we were disappointed was the original room we got didn’t have hot water or heat for the room. I will admit the staff worked to get us a new room as fast as we could so we appreciate that. On our second to last night we experienced a lot of noise. The people above were walking with what sounded like heels on all night and the rooms have wood floors. Apparently they didn’t sleep because it was the entire night into the next morning.

The last thing I will mention is I think the smoking area in front of the hotel on either side of the door should be moved. Number 1 we had to wheel our child in his buggy through several people smoking to use the disability access ramp. Many times the ramp is blocked by people smoking who don’t move out of the way. We even had one young guy and his girlfriend who were right near the doorway smoking harass us as I waited for my wife pushing my son in his buggy up the ramp. This was New Years Eve. I am not even 100% sure he was a guest of the hotel, he was coming from the restaurant. But we spent several thousand euros to stay for 10 nights and didn’t expect to be harassed at the doorway by young kids smoking. There’s no reason to have the smoking areas by the front door when employees do it on the side of the building or there is a courtyard.

But again, overall the hospitality of all staff was very friendly and welcoming and the room was nice. We would be back but hopeful for a few changes.

Thank you especially to Kristina...