Backpacker's CitiHostel
("Chelsea Accommodation")
61-62 LWR Gardiner Street
Phone: (00353) (01) 855 0035
The price is right at just £7 in the center of Dublin, but this place is unimpressive. The kitchen is poorly stocked (very few glasses, virtually no silverware, no soap for washing up), showers are closed from midnight to 7am and from 11am to 5pm. The staff are on the whole totally unfriendly and stressed out. (The on-duty staff person whom I asked for a card, pamphlet, or any information at all with the number and address of this place acted like I had asked him to carry my luggage across town. He found a piece of scrap paper and stamped the above address on it.) The rooms are crammed full and not entirely clean. The bathrooms are not clean. The kitchen is not clean. The only clean rooms are... okay, face it, there aren't any clean rooms. The linens are clean, I'm not so sure about the duvet covers.
There's no curfew, and they do have fairly good safe storage for valuables, and the location is great, just a few minutes' walk from the absolute center of "what's happening." No need to take a taxi home if you're staying here, unless you're too drunk to walk. The showers, though the hours are a drag, are free and have good temperature control. The television in the commons room has cable, if you like to watch TV instead of getting out and enjoying the city.
Right next door is Isaacs, which seemed like a more respectable place, but was a little steeper, at £9.25. Supposedly they have cheaper rooms as well (with more beds, I presume), but all they had when I asked was 6-bed rooms for the above price. These are both, incidentally, low-season prices.
To top off my dislike of this place, the staff person came in and woke everybody up this morning, announcing "it's 8 o'clock." My unspoken response was "and your point is?" (Check out is "firm" at 11:00am.)