Ashbourne Marriott Hotel - Ireland
 

I've done a search and can't find this hotel being discussed at all, am planning a short trip to Ireland next week and this hotel is the lowest cost of the Marriott's there and wondered if anyone had stayed there and if so any advice/comments?

Kind Regards

Does anyone have any experience with this property? I can barely find a mention of it on here.. I'm considering using my Visa Cat 1-5 certificate here in January, but not sure if there is anything worthwhile in the area.

I stayed there in Sept of this year the night before I was flying out of DUB. It was a relatively new hotel. There was a small town a couple miles away, but ABSOLUTELY nothing within walking distance. About 20 min from Dublin and 20 from DUB. I was upgraded to a very large corner room.

Considering how cheap the rates were I would gladly stay here again over paying several hundred for Shelbourne on St Stephens Green.

I've stayed there a couple of times.
Very modern property, nice, well sized rooms. They make their money with weddings, etc. so golds and plats are rare and are frequently upgraded. At my first stay they gave me an upgrade because I was silver :p.
They have of course no executive lounge, but breakfast in the restaurant is good.
The stuff is friendly and the rooms are clean.
BUT:
You'll need a car! This hotel is really bad placed, but there are many parking spaces in front of the hotel (I never saw them more than half-full) and parking is for free. Driving from DUB to the Marriott is easy, it's located at the N2 and you can't miss it (there's a roundabout with own exit for the hotel).
Conclusion:
If you have a car, stay there! It has the best value for money in the whole Dublin area.

I have been there twice and would not hesitate to go back again if i am in the area. The Fitness Club "Clann" is state of the art and does offer a nice pool area. Also i found the food offerings in the grill restaurant quite appealing.

While it is more convenient to have a own car if staying there one can also use the hotel shuttle to/from DUB or even take a local bus to get around. Also one can walk into Ashbourne (20min).

Some info if possible

Im heading over for 2 nights, the free shuttle helps but ideally I want to simply walk around Dublin itself.

The rate of this place cant be beat especially when using a Premium Pound with the 89 euro ai rate per night.

Wont have a car, so I will need to bus it back and forth into the City. Anyone know how often the public buses run and what they charge? has anyone used the public transport and would you do it again if you had the choice.

An example; in BFS the other week I was toying between staying in the city or paying the $64 and staying at the airport. I went with 1 night at both, Glad I didnt do the airport for both nights it took over 40 mins into town and much more during rush hour. Dont want to find out theres an hour bus ride to the city from Ashbourne or that I need to change buses etc

I thought about staying at this property for one night in January before an early flight out of DUB, but ended up taking advantage of the Hilton sale and staying downtown.

When I was considering it, I found this bus to the hotel - I believe it is 4 EUR each way. I'm not entirely sure how close it comes to the hotel, but I think it's pretty close. It looks like it runs about every 20 minutes or so.

thanks, I was in DUB this past Sun/Mon ended up staying at The Shelbourne (Renaissance) got it for 138.75 Euro as a LNF instead of 189 euro. Being able to walk back and change clothes or simply grab a rest by lying down in bed was worth the extra $$, besides it was only a 15 min walk to the Temple Bar pubs or Arlington Hotel where theres plenty of good Music and dance to be seen. I wouldnt have been able to do that if I ended up in Ashbourne. Next over I will probably stay in Ashbourne to try it out.

Yes, we ended up very glad that we didn't stay at Ashbourne - both Hiltons in Dublin are in pretty good locations - convenient to the LUAS, etc - and that made a big difference for us. We stopped in the Shelbourne and it looked great, so maybe we'll try that out next time around.

Stayed here on a one night award. Used this as a place to visit the Boyne Valley tourist sites and had just stayed at the Shelbourne previously so was not going into Dublin.Got upgraded to a corner room which was quite large and nice with a small balcony overlooking the traffic circle. The hotel is nice with a nice spa/fitness centre. Right off the N2 but not much else around it. Short 5 min drive to town with serveral nice pubs and restaurants. Did not eat at the hotel. The hotel bar/restaurant was happenining on a Sunday night in November. The bar is all in the colour red which for me was to hard to handle. I had to pick up family at the airport the next morning. About a 20 minute drive (no traffic) w/ no mistakes due to construction at the N2/M50 interchange and all along the M50 to the airport exit. Nice for what I needed but would probably stay elsewhere if going into Dublin.

I found a weekend rate of €89, or €99 incl. breakfast at the Marriott Ashbourne and decided to give it a try - with 9 nights this year, I figured Silver status (imagine!) would be nice; and the Megabonus may have had a slight bearing also! ;)

Now, straight to the point - the hotel is in the middle of nowhere. Really. That said, it's close enough to the airport to be useful for die-hard Marriott fans. Great location for the Boyne Valley. And for those who want to escape the city - I was just a half hour from home. The village of Ashbourne is a 5 minute drive - it used to be a non-entity of a place - but since the property boom, has a new town centre, a few restaurants and a couple of large supermarkets. It's not the centre of the universe, but it's better than before.

I booked a standard room with 2 doubles - for 2 adults and 2 young children. The room was quite a good size - definitely exceeded my expectations - and the beds very comfortable. Bright airy room with the window going from floor to ceiling and very good in-room lighting. Unusually for an Irish hotel, the heating/air-con was very fast, very responsive and very efficient. Flat-screen TV with about 20 channels, including a few film channels and childrens channels. No entertainment on demand, but you can view your bill. Fridge, safe, iron etc. No mini-bar.

Bathroom was also spacious and felt comfortable - as well as having under-floor heating. The usual amenities - shampoo, bubble bath and lotion. No conditioner.

The property has an absolutely first rate swimming pool; there's an area with water jets (and they are very powerful); jacuzzi, kiddies pool, steam room and sauna. Swimming hats are required and cost €2.

Children's play room available on the 1st floor with Playstation, Table football, colouring materials, a selection of singing baby toys etc. ^

The main bar is, as mentioned above, very red - and it is a little hard to take. The bar menu is reasonably priced and, for residents, kids eat free with adults. Good selection of salads, healthy options and deep-fried usuals. Kids menu is very reasonably priced in itself also and the portions are adults size. Drinks are well priced for a hotel.

We ate in the main restaurant also - a pleasant space doen i darks woods and bright spacious pale warm marble. Service was good and the menu was varied and well throught through. The food was between ok and good, though it didn't knock my socks off. Perhaps very slightly overpriced, but that's probably because my duck was so-so - and that can happen anywhere.

Breakfast was very good! A nice selction of healthy options, pastries, cerials and good old fashoned bacon and eggs!

The staff deserve a shout oput - they were really quite good and pro-actively helpful.

Would I go back?

For a down-time short-break : Yes.
Airport: Yes, this is an option - but it is a little bit further than you might think.
Dublin visit: No way, go to the Shelbourne.

GoldCircle, thanks so much for the update! Will be very helpful to your fellow FTers.

Cheers.