Originally Posted by
BigLar
In case others missed it, the 8K/night rate is good until April 15.
We went by using the the AA 40K r/t off-peak rates and spent the Choice points (it was 10K/night at the time, but still ...) for the hotel. AA has direct flights ORD-DUB. Got to be the cheapest Eurovacation we've ever taken.
And well worth it.
I've been meaning to check the pool and will try to do so tomorrow. It appears to be connected with some sort of spa operation that may run independently from the hotel--I'm not sure if the hotel management leases out the space to the spa or the spa decided to increase their business by joining forces with the hotel to offer pool access for free and then get people to buy facials, etc.
Not to turn this into an AA thread, but I agree. And the truly valuable part of that AA redemption is that it's not limited to several weeks in January and February, like US's offpeak rates, but instead runs from mid-October to mid-May. And availability seems generally good so long as you aren't expecting Christmas and Easter break availability to be as good as mid-January to mid-March is.
I'll also be interested in your thoughts about the Westin. I wouldn't normally compare a Choice property to an SPG property, but the Clarion's rooms are pretty nice. A big fancy lobby, a hip vibe--yeah, those the Clarion doesn't have. And the Westin's location is certainly closer to the center of things, but given Dublin's reputation for late-night partying, I'm a little leery of trying to sleep in the center of things.