Due to a flight change, my wife and I now have a 9 hour layover (5:50 a.m. to 4:25 p.m.) in Dublin on way from Chicago to Venice. Since our arrival is at about midnight our time, I expect we will be exhausted. It would be nice to check into a nearby hotel with a shuttle and catch 6 hours of sleep but the time period spans the usual checkout time. I don't know that I'm willing to pay for two nights stay for six hours sleep. Any ideas on what we could do?

There are several hotels at the airport check out on the airport wenbsite and contact them. I am sure they will not be all booked out and happy to make the money on a room that would be lying empty. Try the Clarion.

Tiller

We had the same problem a few weeks back, we flew up from Cork to Dublin to catch a very early morning flight, the only flight we could get from Cork arrived in Dublin Airport at 1am, and our flight to Venice from Dublin didnt leave Dublin until 7am ( requiring a 5am check-in)

The staff at Dublin airport supplied us with nice blankets and allowed us & others to lay across the long padded seats, it wasnt ideal, but we managed to if not sleep deeply, at least doze and rest up.