Having stayed at a number of Dublin hotels and often passing by the impressive looking Gresham hotel I was eagerly anticipating my stay there. The hotel is in a very central location at the top of O'Connell Street so it is perfect for day-time persuits of shopping/sightseeing etc. However one drawback about the location is that at night-time O'Connell street is not always the most peaceful location and can tend to be rather noisy and rowdy.

The hotel entrance and lobby are impressive. After a quick check-in which was ok we headed up to the room...and entered a sauna!!! The heat was incredible so I quickly tried to adjust the airconditioning which was showing a nice 21 C down to minimum. After a little while there was no change in temperature, so I call to reception to ask and they promised to send someone right away. After 30 minutes of sweltering heat there was still no sign of anybody so I called again, and again they said they would send someone immediately. Eventually someone did arrive and proceeded to do exactly what I had done previously and said that it would be ok now - something I was not sure of...and no...it made no difference at all. So after another few calls to the reception and another visit the AC was switched off and finally they admitted that it was faulty and would be fixed the next day. The only redeeming factor in all of this was that the worker did actually call by before going home for the evening to check it again. The following day it was fixed.

If it had not been for this problem I would have enjoyed the stay completly. The bar and restaurant are both very good and service is excellent and friendly. The room was nicely furnished and of standard size. However, the incident with the AC and the resulting battle with staff did 'dampen' the stay. I would stay in the Gresham hotel again but I would find it difficult to justify their high fees unless the service was improved. I was lucky to get a special off of 1
00euro per room per night which was worth it but I would not spend the usual 200 or so Euros for a room. If you want to stay there check out their website for specials.