Dublin Hotel Advice & Construction
 

Looking for input from residents or those who have traveled to Dublin during the LUAS transit extension construction. We would prefer to keep the nightly rate to 350 E or so. Our requirements: central, walkable location not too close to the construction; king-sized bed, AC (I know, it's rarely necessary, but we have that kind of luck); WIFI, in-room safe, hairdryer, prefer breakfast included. The Merrion looks perfect but appears to be well beyond our budget. Thanks for any first-hand experience you can provide.

Note: the LUAS construction seems to detract from a lot of visitors' enjoyment of the city; while beyond the hotels control, might we be better off postponing our visit until after it is completed in 2017? This would likely be our one and only trip to Dublin. We've crossed many nice hotels off our list because they are suffering the effects of being proximate to the construction.

http://www.maldronhotelsmithfield.com/

no construction but the luas is a short walk away.
We are staying in an apartment next to this hotel in Sept.
Christchurch area is construction free. We were not bothered by it last year. We like the Trinity area also. Buswell's is our go to place but might not be fancy enough for you.

A couple of notes:

"King" beds in europe are the same size as queen size beds in the US. (I have only found real king beds a couple of time in europe and that has been in 5*+ luxury palace style hotels - not sure what they call the size but it's very rare)

Very few hotels have AC in Ireland since it rarely gets really warm, although it can get uncomfortable sticky and AC can help with. But I think you have to definitely pay for an upscale hotel to get it.

Can't help with the construction.

Our hotel of choice is the Westbury due to the great location and large rooms.

I was in Dublin in June. Yes LUAS construction was a pain. However, whether it is relevant to you depends on what you are doing.
The construction cuts off the existing tram going East-West in the center of town. You take buses running alternate routes if you don't want to walk. The public transport info in usual tourists maps are not useful navigating in the core at this time.

On the south side, the construction reduces the trunk street capacity in large area in the core.The attractions are still there. It is that you just have to walk around the construction sites via pedestrian cut-offs. It is not like major monuments shrouded by scaffolding.

Many major cities around the world are like this. You can end up waiting until you can't travel anymore irrespective of the constructions.

Many thanks for the recommendations and the recent firsthand report on the construction. Very helpful. Sounds like we would enjoy walking around more if we wait a year or so.

It's more than a year away to completion according to the official web site. However, when I asked the locals about the schedule, they were ho hum about the credibility.

North American king size beds are called Super King in the UK, perhaps the same in Ireland. They are vary rare.

We always get king beds in Germany, like two twins together. Just book twin rooms and you will get a double and a twin or two doubles. My first visit to Ireland many moons ago a B&B operator told me that. Never had a problem in Germany with beds but Ireland yes.

https://www.luascrosscity.ie/map/# I don't think it is that big of a deal. Many areas are fine. Take the dart to Howth for the day or to Dalky. We are staying in Smithfield and it is ok there.

We stayed at The Spencer Hotel on our first night in Dublin and really enjoyed it. Mistakenly booked another hotel for the last night in Dublin - wish we had stayed at The Spencer again.

It is not near the construction but on the River Liffey.

http://www.thespencerhotel.com

I also stayed at The Spencer Hotel. It is very modern and found it to be convenient to everything. My friend and I did a lot of walking and we also wanted to be near the bus and train stations which are within walking distance. Breakfast was included in our rate. There are several restaurants near the Hotel as well.