Great for the cost! (Kinlay House)

Member Name: Belfastgirl

Product:	Kinlay House
Date:	07/07/01 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Clean

Disadvantages: Mixed Bathroom, On a busy Street

Recently, myself and my boyfriend went to Dublin for a concert, and being students, we needed somewhere reasonably priced to stay.

I logged onto http://www.usitnow.co.uk - one of the main student travel companies in the UK, which provides the International Student Identity cards, did a quick search and up came Kinlay House. Kinlay House is recommended by Usit, and so we were confident that it would be a clean, reasonable place.

It was easy to book, just one phone call and providing your credit or debit card details by way of deposit.

Kinlay House is right in the centre of the City, near a lot of the attractions - literally across the road from Dublin Castle. It is situated just up the road a bit from the well known shopping area, Graftan Street.

When we arrived we found that USIT actually run Kinlay house and so it was brilliant if you needed to find out anything, such as directions to places.

Kinlay House is a really big hostel, with 4 floors. Our room was on the top floor - one big disadvantage was that due to the high ceilings it was quite a trek up old wooden stairs to the top.

We managed to get a twin room, as I didn?t want to share with strangers, but there are large dorms available which can either be single or mixed. Obviously the twin room was more expensive than if you opted for a larger room, but it was still very reasonable - £40 (Irish punts) for the two of us, and included a basic breakfast of toast, tea or coffee, orange juice, cereal and a piece of fruit. Not too bad for the price!

The room itself was very basic - 2 beds (with clean bed sheets, pillow and duvet) and 1 desk with 4 drawers. The floor was carpeted and the walls were painted a friendly yellow. It is a very secure room with your door locking as you leave, so you need to remember to take your key card with you at all times.

The one big downside is that the bathrooms are shared , as are the toilets. On each flo
or there is a female bathroom, and there is one that is mixed - so if you're female and don't want men walking in while you are in the shower, be careful of which bathroom that you use.

Another complaint that people have is that it is beside a main road and is very noisy - I personally didn't find this to be the case, as after a busy day walking around Dublin nothing could wake me!!!

Having to leave your room late at night or early in the morning can be a bit annoying.

The hostel is open 24 hours and there is always someone at the front desk.

Check out time is 10.30 - a little early for some, and check in can be anytime after midday.

There is a luggage room that is opened every hour where you can safely store your belongings. No need to worry about them, they have a tag system where your bag has a number taped to it and you are given a ticket with that number on it. The bag can only be reclaimed with the correct ticket.

A safe is also available, costing 50 p, and are basically small lockers. We never used them as we weren't convinced of their security, but there is 24hr CCTV, so they should be safe enough.

In all, if you don't mind the bare essentials, then Kinlay house is great, and is a cheap way to see around Dublin, but if you prefer luxuries, you will not find them here. Kinlay House is cheap, clean and very basic - it is perfect for Holidays on a shoe string.

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