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Dublin Marathon 2013: Clarion IFSC Dublin Hotel Review

Clarion IFSC Dublin Hotel Review

Clarion hotels is among a chain of Choice Privileges. My friend told me about this chain of hotels. As part of a travel deal a few months back, he purchased a large amount of points. He says that the deals are usually in Europe.

After speaking with him, I found that this hotel was only 8k points for the dates around the Marathon. It was a great deal! Choice Privileges is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards.

On the last day, there wasn’t any reward availability in Dublin but I had to fly out early in the morning so I booked a similar room at Clarion Dublin Airport, which was s short safe walk to Terminal 1.

 

The Clarion Hotel is a few blocks from the Dublin International Financial Services Centre. It is only about a 15 minute walk to O’ Connell Street so it is in a decent location for 8k points. It is on the route of the Dublin Airport Express (link to PDF), which makes it very convenient. On the last day, I had my luggage stored there and walked back there after sightseeing to pick it up before hopping on a bus back to the airport.

The check in area was nicely decorated for Halloween. The bar is to the right of the picture of the lounge area. The restaurant is beyond the bar.

The room was of a nice size and the bathroom was pretty big. There was a dedicated tub and shower. I didn’t get a chance to use it. I was thinking about having a hot bath to loosen up my muscles before the Dublin Marathon but didn’t have time.

There were chocolates in the room as a check-in amenity.

This room also had a balcony. It was too cold to be sitting outside but during the summer it should be very nice to be sitting outside and having a view of the river (to the left of the picture of the balcony).

Across the alleyway of the hotel were some restaurants. I stopped into a cafe to get a breakfast sandwich.

Asian food is quite popular here, much more than I expected. The Clarion Hotel had an Asian Fusion restaurant while the below two restaurants, one Malaysian and one sushi, were just across the street.

I managed to snap a few pictures of the gym before I was told I wasn’t supposed to. I had similar troubles at the Clarion Hotel at Dublin Airport. This gym was quite large. I believe that they sell membership to the gym as this looks too big for just hotel guests.

 

The pool was quite long as well but only at a depth of about 4 feet. There was a hot tub to the left of the pool. There is a reception desk to hand you a towel for the pool at the left entrance closest to the window.

It was a very good hotel and great price on points for it. The location was good. The only one I know of that has a better location is the Westin, which is just outside of the Temple Bar area, but also a few blocks away from Trinity College, Book of Kells, and College Park, which are all in the same park area.

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