The Hilton Dublin Airport is my preference when staying in Dublin. The Radisson is closer and easier but I really don’t enjoy my stays – Good and Bad. I switched a couple of stay to the Hilton just for a change. The downside is that the Hilton requires a ten minute shuttle bus to and from the airport which runs only about every 45 minutes. That’s a long wait on a rainy day as when I arrived for a stay recently.

Luckily I arrived at the bus station at Terminal 1, Zone 14,  about 5 minutes before the bus came. You can see how wet is was!

Bus times from the airport are 0415, 0445, 0515, 0545, 0615, 0645, 0725, 0810, 0900, 0940, 1025, 1110, 1155, 1240, 1325, 1410, 1455, 1540, 1625, 1710, 1755, 1840, 1925, 2010, 2055, 2140, 2220, 2300 and 2340 (as of September 2015).

The hotel is set on a crossroads, back from the intersection.

Check-in was quick and friendly with the agent giving me a drink and a breakfast coupon as well as the code for the WiFi. If you want to use the shuttle back to the airport you need to book a time at check-in and confirm that you are happy to pay the EUR2 fee.

I had pre-selected a room on the top floor (5th) and despite being full the hotel had given me an upgrade. The room was close to the lifts but had an internal door between the bedroom and bathroom which removed any noise from the corridor.

The room itself was a large corner room:

There was a bed, an easy chair and foot stall and a desk, as well as the TV on a sideboard.

The glass table held a small welcome amenity

In the area between the main door and the bedroom door was a hanging closet, with bathrobe and access to a pretty standard Hilton bathroom, with a bath.

I had trouble logging on to the WiFi and despite speaking to the front desk it was not resolved. After about ten minutes however, the front desk called me back and told me that they had created a new WiFi code for me and hoped that it would work. It did, and I was pretty impressed that they had made that effort.

After a good night’s sleep, and with a lunchtime flight, I was in no rush to get back to the airport so I went for breakfast. Although the reception had provided a Continental Breakfast coupon they were more than happy to allow me full range of the hot items too.

The restaurant is on the ground floor to the left of the entrance. It’s fairly large and I had no problem getting a seat. The hot items were as expected, a range of sausages, hash browns, eggs, tomatoes, bacon and black and white pudding. It was fresh and tasty. There were a wide range of breads and pastries as well as ham and cheese to go with them. Self service juices and cereals were also offered with the staff circulating with Tea and Coffee.

Check-out was simple and the hotel ran two coaches that morning due to demand. Sitting with the driver of the liveried van, I found out that their big new bus was being repaired after a general recall and that the makers were picking up the cost of the second bus. The staff sensibly took one bus to Terminal 1 and the other to Terminal 2 where I was dropped off right by the Aer Lingus check-in.

All around a good stay – it’s such as shame that the property is so far from the airport, but on this occasion, with no early flight, it was so much better than the Radisson.