The Grafton Guesthouse

Remodeling going on when we got there. Problems throughout our stay. The water was out for several hours at one point, followed by spotty then non existent heat. Clean enought but it was not a pleasurable stay for us.

Cute little place with decent Internet connection, but that didn’t really matter cause I was out walking around all week anyways! :-) They include a full Irish Breakfast (which would’ve made me fatter by the end of the yep had I not been walking so much!). Very nice people and I’d stay there again. Just FYI, no lift and the «first floor» is actually the second floor to us Americans so my room was on the 4^th floor! Just something to keep in mind :-)

Two stars for the location of the hotel… and that is about the only reason why to recommend the hotel it all (which of course means I cannot recommend it).
If you are travelling on a budget, you soon realize tgat a decent hotel room is hard to come by unless you pay 150 Euro per night. But even in the cheapest hotel, I would expect the following:
1. A somewhat well maintained hotel room. Our travel guidebook praised the psychedelic character of the wallpaper — it appears that this is true merely because it seems to have been put up during the 70s. Also, I realize that it is very expensive to keep a hotel, but to have decent towel hooks in the bathroom should not empoverish any hotel owner. The window needs maintenance badly, as do the blinds.
2. A sound information policy. We were in Dublin while there was a water shortage and it took two days and a complaint at reception for the guests to even become informed about this. Day one, we were caught cold in the middle of the shower and had to use the last water left in the kettle to wash off the soap. The second day, there was no water at all. On the third day, finally, we were told that in fact there is water sometimes during the day, so we could retain some in order to be able at least to brush our teeth during the next day.
Oh, and you can have your choice whether you want a loud room overlooking the street, or a loud room in the back (due to some dodgy air conditioning device or whatever in the back yard which keeps turning on and off all through the night).
Despite what may be advertised, there is no Wi-​Fi at the Grafton Guesthouse! There is some, however, at the sister hotel nearby (Kellys) and at the breakfast facility.